Maximizing women’s participation in hunting and fishing in the Intermountain West

Photo Credit

Olga Helmy

Participants of the 2023 Women's Hunting and Fishing Community of Practice discuss results during a group activity.

A major challenge facing wildlife management today is the significant decline in hunting and fishing participation given that state wildlife agencies rely on license and equipment sales for revenue. Despite trending declines in overall hunting participation rates and slight increases in fishing participation rates, women are making in-roads in these historically male-dominated sports. Women’s participation in hunting and fishing is growing, though there remains a significant participation gap given that women comprise 50% of potential participants. As a result, women are increasingly recognized as a key target demographic to support the American hunting and fishing heritage.

Women face unique challenges to full participation in hunting and shooting sports, though the scope and scale of those challenges are poorly understood. Additionally, as a growing number of women’s mentoring programs have been established, much research is needed to understand programmatic and systematic gaps in reaching interested participants. This research, a collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek at South Dakota State University, aims to improve women’s ability to participate in hunting and fishing by advancing knowledge about the decisions women make in order to participate in these sports and to identify what makes for effective women’s hunting and fishing group programming.