Women are being welcomed to join the hunting game

In the wilds of Yuba County before World War II, Ellie Sharp would join her male hunting partners for a drink at their club after a day of duck hunting.

The men were civil. Including her husband. And her father.

"I was just another member," she said.

But it was still a men's club.

For the longest time, she had to don hunting gear in a closet at the club. Sharp overlooked slights like that and trekked into wetlands for 60 more years, bagging her share of ducks until she turned 97.

In 1959, Sports Illustrated hailed her for breaking barriers into a traditional male bastion.

More than six decades after Sharp's groundbreaking feat, women still represent only a sliver of all hunters, barely 13 percent, according to national surveys. Roughly, a little more than 2 million women in the United States hunt with firearms, according to government and industry surveys.

The overall population of hunters is shrinking, largely because of competition from other activities and urban sprawl, hunters say. Those dwindling numbers forecast more than a dying sport, they say. Hunters and their vast network of organizations pour millions of dollars annually into conservation efforts.

The future of those efforts will be threatened if fewer people take up hunting. So, to revive a moribund sport, some hunting groups are focusing on women to boost their ranks. Women and children.

"If we want more hunters, you have to target the women, and they will bring the kids," said Susan Herrgesell, who hunts ducks, pheasants and quail.

The sport's image needs a tune-up, said Herrgesell, who organizes hunter education programs for the California Department of Fish and Game.

"I think women and men both have to realize that if she goes hunting, she doesn't have to be a Rambo," said Herrgesell, 57.

To reach children, a North American group, Ducks Unlimited, which spent $162 million in 2006 on preserving 170,000 wildland acres, is offering materials to elementary schools to generate interest in conservation and the outdoors.

The organization targets schools near wetlands, such as Elk Grove schools, said Lewis M. Ruddick, state chairman for the group.

The day of the white-male-dominated image of hunting needs to sunset, said Bob McLanderss, president of the California Waterfowl Association. That would include hunting clubs that subtly or not-so-subtly bar women.

"It's not helping us if we want hunting to continue," he said.

It also means promoting diverse aspects of the hunting culture, which includes environmental stewardship, how to cook wild game and artistic depictions such as wood carvings, McLanderss said.

The nonprofit association is launching the Women's Outdoor Connections initiative to find ways to appeal more to women, who now represent 20 percent of the membership.

As part of the effort, the group created an annual award to recognize a woman's contributions to the outdoors. The first Artemis Award, named for the Greek goddess of the hunt, will go to Sharp. The former San Francisco socialite from a prominent banking family is now 101 and lives in Orinda.

Women have asked for training headed by women, McLanderss said. Women have also said they prefer integrating into activities rather than "women-only" functions.

"One of the goals is to show it's OK to go out and hunt and fish. I'm speaking of the whole outdoor experience," said Carla Bonderson-Hulse, who is heading a committee for the Waterfowl Association that will explore ways to encourage women.

Born into a family of hunters, Bonderson-Hulse, of Orange- vale, grew up hunting deer, duck and pheasant, and still gathers with an extended family for hunting outings.

"I strongly support it as a family activity," said Bonderson-Hulse, 58. "It's not just the hunting. My best memories are of camping and fishing and the outdoor experiences."

Herrgesell, who stages Fish and Game training for hunters to hone their skills, said there is no definitive way to tell how many California hunters are female because license applications don't ask for gender. She estimates that 5 percent of training enrollees are female.

Herrgesell is also the state president for Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, a growing network of skills programs offering training and guided events for women.

It's an easy sell for Herrgesell.

"The prize is being out there when the whole world comes alive. The sights and sounds, it's a whole world in itself," she said. "You see what's going on around you, and you really want to preserve that."

What's at stake is millions raised for preserving or restoring wildlands, said Lorna Bernard, a marketing spokeswoman for state Fish and Game.

Since 1937, license fees have raised $7 billion for enforcement of conservation laws or for conservation projects, she said.

Groups such as Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited and the California Waterfowl Association, which raises $20 million annually, contribute heavily, she said.

"They literally come to us and say, 'We have some money, do you have a project that you want funded?' " Bernard said.

The environmental aspect and debunking the myth that hunting depletes a species – urban growth and habitat degradation are the biggest threats – could help to generate more diverse interest in hunting, she said.

California is marking 100 years of conservation this fiscal year, recognizing the 100th anniversary of the first state- issued hunting license. The license in 1907 was sold to pay for wardens who enforced a new raft of hunting laws – including no sneaking up on birds from behind a cow.

"It really all started with hunters," Bernard said. "They're the ones that realized wildlife is a limited resource. It has to be managed if we want to keep it."

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