With an embarrassment of riches in lakes, rivers, forests and mountains, Arkansas supports an outdoor culture unrivaled by any other state in the union. From mountain biking and hiking to fishing, camping and all manner of hunting, the Natural State is aptly named, and the moniker is worn proudly by consumptive and non-consumptive enthusiasts alike.
The face of the Arkansas outdoors consumer, however, is changing and changing fast, particularly in the arena of hunting. Once dominated by white men, hunting is becoming much more diverse, particularly among women who are taking to the turkey fields, deer woods and duck blinds in growing numbers.
Brandy Robinson of Cabot is one such enthusiast whose hunting and fishing experiences comprise some of her earliest memories of growing up in Jacksonville.
Brandy Robinson
My dad was a hunter, and I fished with him until he passed away when I was 7,” she said. “After that, I didn’t really have any males in my life growing up, but when I met my husband, he took me deer hunting, and I’ve killed several deer of my own.”
Robinson’s husband, Matt, is also a duck hunting enthusiast and an active participant in Ducks Unlimited, including as past Arkansas state chairman and current Region 4 vice president for the national organization. As such, the couple have been familiar sights at DU events and fundraising efforts throughout their relationship over the years, including heading a successful calendar program, sales from which have raised substantial funds.
All of that inspired Brandy to take on a new cause, reviving Ducks Unlimited activities just for women in central Arkansas.
“As Matt and I would help out with these events all over the state, I started to realize there weren’t any events locally just for the ladies,” she said. “The main DU events do have ladies raffles and stuff, but nothing that’s just specifically all about the women. I decided I wanted to kick one off.”
Across the state and nation, women are being hailed as a new force in outdoor activities. According to the National Rifle Association Hunters’ Leadership Forum, participation in hunting among men has been on the wane since the 1980s, when numbers dropped 16 percent for the decade. Meanwhile, female hunters doubled in number during the same time period, and today, women account for as much as 15 percent of total hunters in the U.S., the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found.
The trend has continued as perceptions and attitudes about women in the blind or on the stand continue to change. The NRA notes that nearly half of the households in the U.S. have a firearm and about a third of U.S. adults personally own a gun, which has led to a surge in women in some kind of shooting sports. To be precise, the organization puts the number of women in recreational shooting in the neighborhood of 15 million. Perhaps more important are the number of newcomers these sports attract every year. In target shooting alone, women ranked fifth among demographic categories for new target shooters in 2022, trailing African Americans, Democrats, Hispanics and 18- to 34-year-olds, respectively. Of women who participated in the activity that year, 1 in 4 was a first-timer.
Other recent studies show interest is high to try hunting, as well. Outdoor Life reported that in a recent survey of college students who had never hunted but indicated they might like to, nearly half were women. In another recent study from June 2023, Seattle Pacific University researchers found that among 63 modern hunter-gatherer cultures, 73 percent of women not only participated in hunting but taught others to hunt, used a wider variety of weapons than men and were key to providing wild meat for their families.
In Arkansas, hunting culture reflects a similar trend of more women heading out to track their quarry, both with their families and with each other and both formally and informally. Groups that have popped up, including Shoot Like a Girl, Sisterhood Outdoors and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Becoming an Outdoors Woman program, have all given women the chance to learn, enjoy and pass on outdoor skills, including hunting, in the company of other women.
Ducks Unlimited has long welcomed women to its work to preserve and protect habitat in the U.S. and Canada.
The rising tide of women in the outdoors is also reflected in the governance of the AGFC itself, where in 2019, Commission Vice Chairman Anne Marie Doramus was the first woman appointed to a full term as commissioner in the state’s history. She was joined by ex-officio commissioner Michelle Evans-White, a professor and community/ecosystem ecologist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Ducks Unlimited has long welcomed women to its work to preserve and protect habitat in the U.S. and Canada. In Arkansas, in fact, the state group currently features women in positions of leadership at the district level and on the state board of directors and has dedicated co-chairpersons who specifically serve women members.
Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization, with more than 4,000 grassroots fundraising events each year across the nation,” Brandy Robinson said. “It is mostly volunteer based; the chapters are run by volunteers, and they cover all the grassroots events in Arkansas. DU spends 80 percent of its revenue directly on conservation, and since its inception in 1937, it has conserved more than 18 million acres of waterfowl habitat throughout North America.”
Central Arkansas once had a thriving female DU presence, complete with its own events just for women, an effort that has laid dormant for more than a decade. Robinson is currently looking to revive those efforts with Ducks and Divas, an event that will take place in spring at the Jacksonville Community Center ballroom. The April 19 event will welcome female hunters, conservationists and outdoors enthusiasts of all ages to an evening of food and fun for which all proceeds will directly support the work of Ducks Unlimited.
Tickets for the event are $40 for adults and $25 for ages 17 and younger. Sponsorship opportunities and full-table packages are also available.
Brandy said in addition to raising money, she wants the event to be a launchpad for female hunters to find others of similar interests in central Arkansas, joining a like-minded community that supports all women in the outdoors, regardless of experience. She said even women who do not duck hunt can get behind DU’s message of wetlands and habitat protection.
“My biggest thing is I want this land to be here for my kids and my grandkids, for future generations,” she said. “I think all women kind of feel that way. We want the best for our children and future generations. We want that land to be there and for our kids to be able to enjoy the same things that we got to enjoy.
“What I’ve always been told is if it’s good for the ducks, it’s good for other wildlife and people, so even if you aren’t a duck hunter and you don’t really care if the ducks come through, if you care about other species and about just nature in general, this is a way to preserve that.”
To purchase tickets to Ducks and Divas or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, scan the QR code below.
