The surprise expressed by both men and women when they see or hear of a woman hunting is similar to what I heard when I enlisted in the military "many moons" ago. Comments ranged from, "you're not the type" to "you must be looking for a husband" and then there was the "Hmmmm, you know what they say about women in the military".Perhaps when we act in a way that upsets people's judgments of us, it proves just how superficial we can be with one another.Most of us aren't aware what people (especially the quiet, introverted, low-key types) are capable of. We make assumptions pretty quickly based on the way people look, how they talk and how 'Madison Avenue' says we should look/talk/act etc.Perhaps that's one of the reasons why folks are so underutilized at work or why we don't allow our kids to fail now and then. We make assumptions of what people are capable of and it cheats them of the opportunity to prove themselves.Personally, I love being in the outdoors, watching the herds in their natural state, experiencing the camraderie and testing myself so I don't turn into a soft, fearful, timid person.We only get so many experiences in life and we all get to choose how we'll test ourselves. I'd rather have something in the freezer to show for it!Kim, this is a great topic and sadly, one that will have a life of it's own for many years to come!

I agree that these articles can be a double-edged sword. But overall, I think that the more women see women hunting, the more they will be interested. I do think that the women's articles take on a different slant, and maybe us gals are more open to talking about our clumsiness versus our kills.A few years ago I went to Becoming an Outdoorswoman (terrific program if you have the chance to go) and a local female sports writer did a great article on it. What I liked was how the article talked about camraderie, about learning new skills, about getting out and meeting people with the same interests. I would like to see more of those articles that encourage women from all walks of life to try something new in the outdoors. The tough part - they probably aren't very newsworthy unless they feature something different and unusual. I guess I will be ready for my photo op in my sytlish camo shirt and orange boonie cap!

I agree with Jan's comment about some of these articles coming across as patronizing, mainly because 9 times out of 10 the article wouldn't be written if it was a guy. Again, like Kim said, it is good for women to get the coverage, but at what cost. I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it too, so any coverage is good.I'm not the most accomplished huntress out there and have lots to learn, but I am reminded that lots of guys aren't that accomplished either when I have helped out some of our friends who come to hunt with us on occasion. Perhaps this is the true angle of the media and us gals just rise to the top as the best sellers.FYI, our deer haven't been moving much and I have my sidekick Shawn with me, keep happy thoughts for us since she thinks she may be ready to shoot this year. With some luck we'll be sending pictures of her first deer.

I think it's going to take a while.But you're right - we're hunters first. When I started my blog last year, I thought it was going to be all about being a woman hunter and that my readers would all be women. And sometimes it's very female focused. But I quickly learned that 90 percent of what I had to say about the experience of hunting was relevant to all of us - men, women and children alike.While I'm not optimistic about women getting anywhere close to 50 percent anytime soon, one thing I would like to see that is achievable is more focus on experienced women hunters. So many of these stories - for good reason, I suppose - are about women's first experiences, which reinforces an image of clumsiness that I'd like to see go away. I mean, we're all clumsy when we're new at something, but let's focus on some hotshots so readers don't get the idea that gender, not newness, is the issue.Good thing is that we have people like you presenting the breadth of our experiences, and every little bit counts.