Number of Female Hunters is on the Rise in PA and NJ

In just one week, hunters throughout the region will begin heading afield for the most popular hunting event of year, the white-tailed deer firearms season.

And while most of the individuals you’ll see on opening day will be fathers, sons and other males, chances are increasingly good that at least a few of the sportsmen you pass won’t actually be men at all.

While hunting has long been a primarily male pursuit, statistics show that the number of women who enjoy the sport, especially when it comes to deer hunting, is on the rise. According to the report “Women in the Outdoors in 2012” from Southwick Associates of Florida, women are the fastest growing segment of the hunting and shooting community, now comprising as much as 11 percent of all hunters.

Statistics from local fish & wildlife agencies support these findings with the number of female hunters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey increasing substantially in recent years.

According to hunting license sales figures from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the number of female license buyers in the Commonwealth increased from 67,165 in 2009 to 79,181 in 2012, a growth of 18 percent. In the Garden State, the number of women buying licenses has gone up even more with a nearly 30 percent increase in the number of resident archery and firearms license sales over the past four years.

Donna Leonard, communications director for Southwick Associates, one of the leading research firms supporting the outdoors community, said there is a variety of factors that are helping fuel the growth in the number of women hunters.

“There are no specific reasons why women are hunting more but the availability of better fitting products, hunting clubs and women’s clinics are making hunting more accessible and enjoyable to women in general,” Leonard says.

At age 60, Forks Township resident Toni Geleta is a relative newcomer to the sport, having taken up hunting only four years ago. Geleta says she got involved after her husband, Bruce, convinced her to try shooting a crossbow.

Today, Geleta enjoys going after not only deer but also turkeys as well.

“My husband and I have been married 40 years,” says Geleta, who only hunts with a crossbow. “We’re both retired now and it’s wonderful to have a hobby together. I love the outdoors.”

In addition to providing opportunities to spend time with her husband, Geleta says she enjoys hunting as a way to help provide food for others. Both she and Bruce are also part of a professional culling operation that helps to control the deer populations in three Somerset County, N.J., communities.

During the season, she’ll donate deer to families in the Lehigh Valley and as part of the culling program, Somerset County gives the whitetails that are harvested to food banks, shelters and soup kitchens in that area.

“We feed so many people,” Geleta says. “We have people in our church, if it wasn’t for us hunting, they wouldn’t have meat for the winter. It’s one of the reasons I love to hunt.”

For Justine Wessner, the path to becoming a huntress followed the more traditional route, with the 24-year-old learning from her dad, Buddy, while she was growing up. After only 11 years of hunting, the New Tripoli resident already has a 9-pointer, two 8-pointers and several other deer to her credit.

“I really like to sit out in the woods and be in a quiet place,” Wessner says. “It gives me time to think about things and watch the animals.”

For Geleta and Wessner, the opportunity to spend time in the woods highlights the No. 1 reason women enjoy hunting. According to the Southwick report, more than 85 percent of its survey respondents said they hunted to spend time outdoors.

“Top reasons why women and men hunt are to spend time outdoors, to enjoy the peace and quiet of the outdoors and to see wildlife,” Leonard says. “The differences after those reasons are the men then choose hunting for the challenge of it and spending time with friends and family while women chose to provide food, then spend time with family and friends.”

Like Geleta, Wessner notes that spending time with loved ones is a primary reason she enjoys the sport. Whether they head out in pursuit of geese, or take to the woods in search of a bruiser buck, hunting is usually a family affair.

“It’s me, my dad and my brother Brandon,” Wessner says. “Every time we go out, we go out in the woods together.”

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