Hunting

A Look At The Groundbreaking Women Hunt Program

For many reasons, the fastest-growing segment in the hunter/conservationist community today is women, and as mentioned in my May 2022 article in FishGame.com: The Outdoor Nation, I’m the Chair of the Wild Sheep Foundation’s (WSF) Women Hunt® (WH) Committee and Program. Our mission is to engage and help more women cross barriers on their journey into fields and the mountains, and we work to help even more Women in Hunting™ (WIH) enjoy the rich benefits of this lifestyle.

2021 saw the WH Committee successfully launch an inaugural class of 12 women from across the United States and Canada who attended a New Hunter course designed and delivered by the FTW Ranch in the Hill Country of Texas. There they learned everything one needs to know to start hunting, but better yet left empowered and having gained more confidence to continue along their personal hunting and conservation journeys. The WH Committee also made efforts to find mentors for the 12 women and facilitated fostering an on-line community where they could find support or just have a chat.

Finally, the WH Committee incorporated what I deem to be the most important part of the program. Participants are expected to demonstrate accountability and gratitude and to give back. We asked that they find ways that resonate with them to give back to the WSF, the WH Program, and of course within their own communities. We encouraged them to consider how they could inspire, engage, and bring along more Women in Hunting™, youth or others into the hunting and conservation community. Their responses have been tremendous and are truly impacting not only the lives of so many others but through their conservation efforts, they are also positively impacting wildlife and the landscapes they inhabit! Talk about giving back in spades!

As I was thinking of all the work these 12 women have been doing, I suddenly remembered a commercial from my youth in the 1970s and early 1980s. Some of you may remember it too, where a woman has used Faberge Organics shampoo and loves it so much that she tells two friends who tell two more friends, and so on, and so on, until the TV screen was filled with duplicated images of the woman.

The viewer in that moment understood that the Ripple Effect from the actions or words of one person can cascade into a near incalculable impact on the lives of so many others. As I was tripping down memory lane watching a YouTube video of that popular commercial, I learned that what used to be called the Ripple Effect is now being called Virality, certainly appropriate in this day and age. And that is precisely what has happened because of the program requirement that the participants be accountable, grateful and to give back. Their actions, words and choices are viral in nature, and they are spreading virally to the benefit of our hunting and conservation community, and to the wild creatures we treasure and the wild spaces they inhabit. Check out below some of the amazing work being done by the Class of 2021 of the Wild Sheep Foundation’s Women Hunt® Program!

This October we’re going to be hosting the Class of 2022 at the New Hunter course, and I look forward to writing about that unique group of women and their experiences at the FTW Ranch learning to shoot, hunt and prepare wild game. It’ll also be a fascinating journey to watch how they develop over the next year and how they harness their enthusiasm, energy and gratitude, and impact even more lives through the power of Virality!

Renee Thornton

Connect with us!

https://www.wildsheepfoundation.org/womenhunt

womenhunt@wildsheepfoundation.org

Class of 2021, FTW Ranch (Texas)

Inaugural New Hunter Course Participants with Chef Josh

Stacey Dauwalter (Idaho)

2021 Project Work (Idaho Wild Sheep Foundation)

Capture, collaring and ultrasound on a ram

Laura Houser (Colorado) and Danette Henderson (Colorado)

Beginner’s Shotgun Clinic

April Elwell (Nevada)