Article courtesy of Field & Stream Magazine
These 11 outdoors women—pro anglers, big-game guides, badass hunters, deadeyes, and divas—are inspiring other females to take to the outdoors in record numbers.
Article by Barbara Baird, Erin Block, Holly Heyser, Dave Hurteau, Stephanie Mallory, and Hilary Ribons
Photo by Chris Crisman From left: Mia Anstine, Kate Taylor, and Whitney Fouts.
In 1951 Joan Wulff won the National Fisherman’s Distance Casting event against an all-male field by casting a fly 131 feet. Brenda Valentine was shooting 10-rings with a compound bow in the ’80s. It was more than 25 years ago that Christine Thomas founded Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, and Melissa Bachman launched Deadly Passion Productions back in 2010. In short, highly skilled women excelling at hunting and fishing are nothing new.
But let’s face it: Historically, women have been underrepresented in the outdoor sports, and too often marginalized. That’s all changing. Thanks to the aforementioned pioneers and others like them, the number of outdoorswomen is now exploding—to the point that increased female participation is the biggest trend in our sports today. Just as important, women are carving their own space in the outdoors.
You already know some of the most prominent female faces, but a legion of women are making a difference on the grassroots level. Here are 11 hardcore hunters, anglers, and shooters, who by example and by outreach are making the outdoors a place where more women want to be.
The Mountain Mom: Mia Anstine
Big-game guide and co-owner of Wolf Creek Outfitters Inc., Anstine writes a blog called Mia & the Little Gal, about raising her daughter in the outdoors.
The Woman of Steel: Kate Taylor
A flyfishing guide specializing in steelhead, Taylor cofounded Frigate Adventure Travel, covering the waters of Bristol Bay in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Baja, and Christmas Island.
The Whitetail Fanatic: Whitney Fouts
One of the country’s top whitetail guides, Fouts helps run Wicked Outfitters in La Cygne, Kan., with her fiancé, Clint Walker.
Seven More Game-Changing Women
These seven women are transforming the face of hunting and fishing.
Article courtesy of Field & Stream Magazine