More women are fishing and hunting in Michigan like never before

It was misty the day Sarah Szymanski shot her first deer near Eaton Rapids in 2019.

The 10-point buck was standing next to a soybean field where Szymanski had watched deer congregate for weeks.

She was tucked behind some trees for an hour before seeing something pass from the corner of her eye: The buck with five points on each of its antlers stood 28 yards in front of her.

It was cold. Szymanski’s clothes were wet and she couldn’t get a good shot from where she was standing. Instinctively, she crouched down, drew her arrow and quickly stood up. With her eyes still on the buck, Szymanski adjusted her aim and anchor points — her hands, arms and the strings of her bow all in the position she’d practiced over and over again.

She fired and struck the buck, which ran into the woods. Realizing what just happened, Szymanski started to shake.

“That’s called buck fever. It’s like you’re hyperventilating; Your heart is going so fast,” Szymanski said. “I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.”

She’d later track the buck across a cornfield and into a marshy area 250 yards away to collect her kill.

Szymanski is among 73,268 women who purchased hunting licenses this year, up 14% from last year, and a record-breaking 126,975 women who purchased fishing licenses, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Stacey Welling-Hughey, an Upper Peninsula DNR field officer, said the increase shows more women are developing an interest in outdoor recreation, and the COVID-19 pandemic has gotten more people outside to participate.

Michigan’s natural resources, its dense forests and the Great Lakes, make it a popular state for outdoor recreation overall — 666,422 hunters purchased licenses from the DNR this year, including 29,346 from out of state. The number of new hunters grew 67% from last year, another record.

Fishing and hunting have long been male-dominated hobbies in Michigan, but Welling-Hughey said more women are taking part with the help of family, friends and recreation programs.

Hunting is a tradition in Welling-Hughey’s family. She grew up playing on her grandparent’s land just 30 miles outside of her small hometown, Powers in Menominee County. Her grandmother, Josephine Welch, would take the kids to her hunting blind and show them how to watch for deer behavior.

“It was a passion for our family. We were ingrained in doing it,” Welling-Hughey said.

But some women discover activities like hunting and fishing during adulthood, without having the family background in either sport, Welling-Hughey said.

Syzmanksi, 36, bought her Bowtech Carbon Rose compound bow, camouflage with purple metallic detailing, after discovering a passion for shooting arrows while helping a friend with a virtual shoot for a sporting goods store.

She joined several Facebook groups, followed Instagram accounts and watched YouTube videos, but gained most of her hands-on experience practicing on her friend’s land.

“I have noticed that fishing and hunting is being marketed towards women more,” she said, noting that Orvis Fly Fishing, a gear retailer, has a 50/50 on The Water Campaign to support women getting into the sport.

“You’re starting to see a real change in the industry,” Szymanski said.

In 1998, the Michigan DNR created the Becoming an Outdoors Woman initiative to teach women interested in the outdoors how to start hunting, fishing and bird watching. Thirty-eight states and six Canadian provinces offer the program. In Michigan, BOW offers programs like the Pictured Rocks hike, salmon fishing and pheasant hunting.

Jennifer Davis, a former participant in the program, said her interest in hunting was sparked by a passion for conservation.

As a kid, Davis spent a lot of time playing with her friends in the woods and riding bikes in her hometown of Saline. Her mother stayed home during her early childhood before working in restaurants, and her father worked for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Saline is a small city in a rural area, so Davis said hunting was part of her community’s culture, but her immediate family didn’t partake. She started learning more about hunting in 2008, when she developed a fascination with locally sourced food.

“I got really interested in what I was eating and where it was coming from in 2008,” Davis said. “That led to local food and organic food, gardening, foraging, and the next natural step was into hunting. There wasn’t a way I could feel comfortable with the slaughter process, so it came down to going full vegan, vegetarian or hunting.”

Her first time hunting was a bit anti-climactic. She didn’t harvest an animal.

“Knowing what I know now, I should have been hiking and covering much more ground,” Davis said. “But at the time, I just went out there with my gun and hunting license. Even though I just sat down for most of it, it was rewarding to find a connection with nature through that solitude.”

It took two full seasons of hunting before Davis shot a squirrel at the Sharonville State Game Area in 2014. That same year, she bagged a turkey. The Sharonville game area is public land where Davis hunts often.

Hunting turkey required a lot of legwork, Davis found. She researched the weather, the gear she would need, and whatever else she could do to prepare for the hunt.

“I had one of those peak adrenaline moments,” Davis said. “It was so exciting and overwhelming. That’s when things started clicking for me.”

The act of taking an animal’s life is not, in itself, fun, Davis said, but the reward of harvesting your own food is unmatched.

“It’s never fun to take an animal’s life. I don’t want to give that impression, but the elation is based on the amount of effort that’s been put in and finally meeting your goal,” Davis said. “It’s a powerful feeling.”

Davis said she became aware of her role in the ecosystem while processing the first turkey she harvested.

“The first time I processed an animal, it felt like second nature. I really didn’t see that coming. I am an integral part of the natural process,” Davis said.

More information on fishing and hunting seasons can be found on the DNR’s website.