sponsored by OWU and a variety of hunting ences can find a way to reconnect with
industry sponsors.
these activities, can expand their outdoors
knowledge, and can help bring a new gen“I got two deer,” Heather says, still excited eration into the shooting sports.
at the memory even though it was over
two years ago. “Two does. That was a really Several years ago, for example, a job change
good experience. Our guides really helped brought Jennifer Meadows to Elmore
us and I learned so much. So, now, I want to County, Alabama, where OWU was foundgo out and get a big deer!”
ed and is based. Meadows met Rebecca
Wood, discovered OWU and decided to
Mentoring, hands-on experiences, and attend some OWU offerings.
spending time with other women are all
very important facets of the OWU program. Now, Meadows grew up in a hunting and
And all of this is exactly what large, nation- shooting family. But her job, prior to moving
al conservation organizations have found to Alabama, was located in a very urbanthemselves doing to try to attract women to ized part of the country, with hunting and
their sport.
shooting opportunities extremely difficult
to find. Then she moved and found OWU,
Delta Waterfowl, for instance, launched its went to some courses and brought along
“First Hunt” initiative to introduce women her daughter, Justine, who was 11 years old
and youth to waterfowl hunting a few years at the time.
ago. While participation in big game hunting has remained fairly stable, waterfowling “We went and learned a lot of new things,
lost 27 percent of its hunters nationwide like how to shoot pistols, hatchet throwbetween 2001 and 2006, notes Scott Terning, ing, and shotguns and trap shooting,” says
Delta’s First Hunt Coordinator.
Meadows. “Justine fell in love with the shotgun and clay shooting, and at the time she
“We’re looking down a scary shotgun bar- had no outdoor or hunting experiences.”
rel,” says Terning, “a conservation crisis in
Meadows continues, “We have been
the making.”
involved in Outdoor Women Unlimited
While youth are very important to hunting’s since that day, so much so that two years
future, “With adult women, you can have ago we got with the Boy Scouts and charan immediate impact,” Terning explains. tered a Venture Crew (the coed division
“They have the money and the time to hunt. of the Boy Scouts) and since the chartered
What they need is the mentoring to show organization (OWU) was for women and
them how to do it. It comes down to existing families, our crew was an all girl crew. One
waterfowler hunters to take on that role.”
of the big activities that the girls