It’s 10 AM on the edge of a sorghum field in South Dakota, and I’m standing head-down in a circle of first-time female hunters.
asserted
I → ’ → hunters
Soon, we will load our guns and attempt to shoot wild pheasants out of the September sky.
But first, Karen Butler, the founder of the female hunting and riflery organization Shoot Like a Girl, asks us to close our eyes.
asserted
Butler → load → eyes
Butler leads us through an exercise meant to ground us in nature.
asserted
Butler → lead → nature
What do I hear?
asserted
I → hear → What
What do I smell?
asserted
I → smell → What
What do I feel?
asserted
I → feel → What
What do I wonder?
“Am I going to kill a bird?”
asserted
I → wonder → bird
As guns are distributed, Butler tells us to walk “like brides” through the shoulder-high grass; we move at the pace of both wedding processions and funeral marches.
asserted
we → distribute → processions
At the rallying cry of rooster, we shoulder and aim our shotguns at the male birds who rise into target range.
asserted
who → aim → range
We are encouraged but not required to shoot.
asserted
We → encourage → ?
Either way, research shows that the act of hunting builds confidence and provides a wealth of physical and mental health benefits.
asserted
act → show → benefits
Because it forces us to be fully present and fully responsible for each other’s safety, hunting offers an unexpected lesson in mindfulness — and women are increasingly taking aim.
asserted
women → force → aim
Organizations like Shoot Like a Girl and hunting outfitters across the country are harnessing the boom in wellness travel to turn the shooting range and the hunting field into the next frontiers of female focused, feel-good travel.
asserted
Organizations → shoot → travel
In addition to its mental health benefits, experts maintain that women are increasingly being drawn to hunting for the “field to fork” appeal — think “farm to table,” but with a kill shot— of providing an organic food source for themselves and their family.
asserted
women → maintain → themselves
“When people first see me, I’m not what they imagine a hunter would be,” she told The Post.
Trespeses-Mercer, 32, is the daughter of Filipino immigrants.
asserted
Mercer → see → immigrants
Raised in southern New Jersey, she had never handled a gun before meeting her husband, whose family has been hunting and ranching in Texas for generations.
asserted
family → raise → generations
Open to learning a new skill and eager for “quality time” (her self-professed love language) with her partner, Trespeses-Mercer joined her husband on a deer hunt.
asserted
Mercer → learn → hunt
“It was very peaceful, and at the same time every sense was heightened,” she said.
asserted
she → heighten → time
“You hear all the insects, every little rustle of leaves.
asserted
You → hear → leaves
Even though she didn’t shoot anything, the quietude called her back.
asserted
quietude → shoot → her
“In my day job, I’m sitting in front of the computer screen,” said Trespeses-Mercer, a copywriter and marketing professional.
asserted
Mercer → sit → screen
“Being able to absorb nature and have that intentional focus for a few hours is so refreshing.”
asserted
Being → absorb → hours
When Trespeses-Mercer became a mother a year and a half ago, she named her daughter Artemis in honor of the Greek goddess of the hunt.
asserted
she → become → hunt
And now, her desire to provide her child with healthy food has deepened her commitment to the practice.
asserted
desire → provide → practice
“Women are becoming more conscious about what goes on the dinner table.
asserted
what → become → table
When you put in the physical sweat to harvest and prepare the food yourself, the value of that meal completely transforms,” she said.
asserted
she → put → meal
In a similar vein Butler, 60, began hunting in the wake of a painful divorce.
asserted
Butler → begin → divorce
She found the satisfaction of hitting an archery target — and later being able to feed her sons with an animal she “harvested” — healing.
asserted
she → find → animal
“When I have a really rough day, I will close my eyes and think back to a time when I was in nature,” Butler told The Post.
asserted
Butler → have → Post
Hunting, she says, helps her “remember who I am and what I’m capable of.”
asserted
I → say → ?
The uptick in female hunters may be more a return to form than a modern revolution, as recent research has challenged the binary concept of men as hunters and women as gatherers.
uncertain
research → challenge → gatherers
A 2023 study found that in both modern and ancient societies, 79% of women hunt alongside men.
asserted
% → find → men
An enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho with Big Pine Paiute ancestry, Harris-Baldes has lived most of her life on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation, where buffalo were reintroduced in 2016.
asserted
buffalo → live → 2016
As their numbers have grown over the past decade, she has participated in buffalo hunts.
asserted
she → grow → hunts
“There are no words to explain how much growth and healing it’s brought,” said Harris-Baldes, 47, who began hunting with her father at a young age.
asserted
who → be → age
In the tribal tradition, a woman makes the first cut when a buffalo is harvested, an honor that connects Harris-Baldes to her ancestors.
asserted
that → make → ancestors
A mother of six, Harris-Baldes has been joined on buffalo hunts by her children and grandchildren, braiding past and future.
“I feel so much pride, watching them and watching them watch me; it’s a beautiful, full circle,” she said.
asserted
she → join → me
Harris-Baldes routinely leads and participates in women-only hunts, which she says carry a different energy.
asserted
she → lead → energy
For lack of a better word, it feels like magic,” she said.
asserted
she → feel → magic
But that magic is slow to spread.
asserted
magic → spread → ?
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
