Archery or bowhunting is a versatile sport. It can be enjoyed by everyone; women are no exception.
Over the past several years, the number of women participating in the sport of hunting has witnessed a substantial increase. Currently, they represent about 9 percent of the total number of hunters in the United States.
Undoubtedly, there are a few differences between men and women, like size, fit, and temperature rating of clothing and equipment.
However, the biggest difference might be something as mundane but vitally important as answering nature’s call. The actual skill set, however, for hunting doesn’t change.
The female huntress is no longer a mystery. Women entering a world which is considered as a man dominated sport can be intimidating. . If you haven’t participated in your first hunt, but are curious about it, go for it.
Take some training to practice, learn about hunting safety, hunting laws for your state, and game management. This article will guide you through your hunting expedition.
1. Acquaint Yourself With The Proper Equipment
Determining your proper archery equipment is imperative to success. Selecting proper bowhunting equipment can be confusing for anyone new to the sport of archery.
Research on the internet or take someone’s help in deciding what all equipment to use.
Learn about the equipment you’re about to use, or you will make a mistake. Gain an understanding of the basics of bows and archery mechanics. The equipment you are going to use should fit you.
There is women-specific equipment in the market, or else you can also use men’s equipment.
Once you’ve prepared yourself with the right knowledge, the mechanics of bowhunting and then familiarized yourself with the terms related to archery, you should be ready to move on.
Read: 4 Tips For Buying Archery Gear For Beginners
2. Find A Good Club With Experienced Coaches
Bowhunting is not an easy sport. It requires specialized techniques and tricks that only an experienced guide or coach can help you with.
Coaching can be utilized to strengthen and develop a sense of connection with the sport. Coaching will help you to develop in the following areas:
- A clearly defined technical framework.
- Rigorous practice with proper guidance and direction.
- Personalized attention to deal with your strength and weakness.
- A new range of continued learning opportunities for archers and coaches to develop.
Read: Archery For Beginners In 3 Easy Steps
3. Learn Bow Assembly And Maintenance
We need to know the mechanism of the bow in terms of assembly is to string it.
Any type of bow, either traditional longbow or modern-day recurve or compound bow, requires you to learn how to assemble them, string them and care for them.
Read the instruction manual for your bows carefully when they come. When in doubt, you can ask any real expert online or offline.
Assemble and disassemble them a few times to get used to the process and familiarize yourself with the problem areas. Or you can take professional help.
Everything in this world requires some maintenance to last long. Similarly, your equipment will also need some maintenance and care to survive.
4. Physical Training
Training is extremely important and should form an integral part of all elite athlete’s daily routines.
Training allows the body to gradually build up strength and endurance, improve skill levels and build motivation, ambition, and confidence.
Training also allows athletes to gain more knowledge of their sport as well as enabling them to learn about the importance of having a healthy mind and body.
When the weather gets cold, pulling back a bow can be more difficult, especially when you have lots of clothes on. Make sure you are strong enough to pull enough weight to kill a deer is important.
Read: Archery Drills: 4 Exercises To Improve Your Form
5. Master The Basic Techniques
Bowhunting is half hunting and half archery. Mastering the basics of archery will allow you to become a more proficient and successful bowhunter.
Practice basic archery to such an extent that your accuracy comes to nearly infallible.
Most instructional books refer to 10 basic steps to shoot an arrow, from stance, finger placement, hand placement, bow arm, drawing, anchoring, holding, aiming, and release and follow through.
These need to be mastered, but to use it to improve, the archer also needs physical and mental fitness.
Read: Bowhunting For Beginners
6. Don’t Rush In
Learning archery takes time.
You have to be self-motivated, determined, and patient to survive in archery because initially, there will be a lot of misses but, with time and practice, you will definitely see a gradual improvement in your performance.
Even the act of shooting itself requires patience. You must wait for just the right moment to release the string; I’ve never heard of anyone who can remain 100% still for a few seconds without moving at all. Throw several pounds in their outstretched hands, and it gets even harder.
Archery, as a skill, comes with its own challenges. Discipline and patience are definitely requirements, and any person can improve their own qualities by taking archery up as a hobby.
7. Choose The Right Equipment
One of the best things about archery is that it’s not only lots of fun, but the gear you need to get started is fairly inexpensive and easy to select.
One cool perk archers enjoy: being able to choose between compound bows and recurve bows, kind of like choosing downhill skiing or cross-country. There’s no right or wrong choice. Just do what you enjoy most.
Once you’ve decided whether to shoot a compound or recurve, it’s time to choose arrows. Most people start with aluminum arrows, which are perfect for indoor or outdoor shooting.
Choose a beginner’s sight for their first bow to help them aim at the target and hit it more successfully. No archer is complete without these key accessories: armguard, quiver, and finger tab or release aid.
Read: Essential Gear For Hunting
8. Conceal
It’s tough not to spook an animal when you’re shooting from only 20 to 30 yards away. Show as little skin as possible when doing hunting use camouflage clothes. Make sure you have gloves and face covering.
9. Use A Bow Hanger
You cannot hold your bow the entire time you’re in a tree stand. Plan and be prepared.
Strategically screw a bow hanger in the tree for a safe, convenient place to rest your hunting bow. You could be out there for hours, waiting for the perfect moment.
10. Determine Draw Weight For Success
Draw weight is the amount of force needed to pull a bow. The reason that draw weight is important to an archer is that, in the case of a traditional bow, it works in conjunction with arrow weight to determine arrow speed.
Whereas, in the case of a compound bow, it works in conjunction with both cam design and arrow weight to determine arrow speed.
11. Practice Until You Are Perfect
Practicing archery helps you to gain control over your balance as you focus on trying to hit the center of the targets you shoot at.
The more you practice, the more your core muscles will become accustomed to balancing your body and keeping you steady as you aim and release your arrow.
Read: 3 Actionable Techniques to Become Good at Archery
12. Stance Is Important
Your Archery stance is important as it is needed to keep you stable. This will help you get the rotation and alignment needed. Without proper form, you will also struggle to get the power needed. The following are the basics to a good stance.
- Stand up straight with your feet the same width apart as your shoulders
- Distribute your weight evenly on both feet (so you are not leaning one way or another)
- Don’t lock or bend your knees; keep your legs relaxed
- Straighten your back, with relaxed shoulders
- Ensure you do not lean forward or backward (many feel the bow is heavier, so they compensate – DON’T DO IT)
Read: Importance Of Archery Form
Read: Why Is Archery Stance Important?
13. A Good Grip
Grip strength is required to perform daily activities such as drinking a glass of water or lifting a bag. We all know that grip strength plays a part in proper archery technique, but its true importance is often overlooked.
The ability to consistently hook the string on the fingers and maintain this throughout the shot is a crucial skill. It will be hard to do this if your grip strength is too weak.
Some simple arm, shoulder, and finger exercises can help in building up the grip.
14. Drawing Is Different For The Ladies
Drawing the bow can be different for men and women due to their body structure. How you draw the bow is the key to your success as a female bowhunter.
Some women express a certain problem that affects them. As women have breasts, the string gets stuck in between, and its release can cause a tremendous amount of pain.
Therefore many women have to change the way they draw the bow. The technique for female archers is that you don’t draw the bow around the chest. Instead, you draw the bow into the side of the chest.
So instead of coming around and getting in between, you have to take it to your side. This decreases the chance of you getting hurt in the archery process.
A chest guard specifically designed for archery helps a lot in this regard.
15. Make Notes Of Your Progress
Keeping a record of training sessions, writing down how many arrows you have shot, your scores, the weather conditions, and any minor adjustments made — everything that will let you know how you are progressing.
To remind yourself how far you’ve come will help with your motivation to improve further.
16. Smell Control
Having any smell during the hunt is a bad idea. Game animals, especially deer, have a high sense of smell. Any odor can be a turn off for them. Avoid using any shampoo, detergent, nail polish; rather, use scent blockers.
17. Learn Animals’ Anatomy
An ethical hunter always wants to inflict a minimal amount of suffering on an animal. Knowing game habitat and anatomy is essential to place a shot for a clean kill.
- The most effective shots are delivered to an animal’s vital organs— i.e., heart and lung
- The area of the vital organs also contains major blood vessels and arteries. A shot in this area causes considerable bleeding. If the animal doesn’t die immediately and tries to flee, it will leave a blood trail that’s easy to track.
18. The Knowledge Of Wind
The wind is something that all archers have to contend with from time to time. It does two things to an arrow. Headwinds or tailwinds cause it to shoot high or low, and side winds cause it to drift away from your aiming line.
Light arrows fly downrange more quickly and give the wind less time to affect them. But they also have less mass to resist the wind forces that they do encounter.
Heavier arrows almost always perform better. If two different weight arrows are shot at the same speed, the heavy arrow is the clear winner.
19. Practice For A Short Release
If you want your arrow to move faster and farther, try to make short releases. Short releases require a lot of practice.
Practice your release without an arrow and with an arrow. The release may mean the difference between a crack shot and a lost arrow.
20. Train In Different Lighting Conditions
Shooting your bow in low light compared to in the bright sunshine of the day are two extremely different experiences.
Also, if you are using night-vision (if legal in your jurisdiction) to hunt, that, too, takes adjustment and practice. Make sure you practice in all types of lighting conditions.
21. Don’t Go Alone
If you are a beginner, make an effort to go with an experienced hunter. Listen and learn from those who are more experienced in hunting.
Guided hunts are another great way to learn while doing. Even if you are an experienced hunter, going with at least one partner can be helpful so that you can watch out for each other.
22. Know When To Call Off A Day
All the days are not the same; some are good, and some are bad. Know when to call it a day. If you are in a bad mood, or had an argument with someone, or are hungry, then it’s ok not to pressurize yourself and practice.
23. Enjoy The Sport
The most important thing is that you should enjoy and have fun with the sport. You are supposed to make mistakes. Don’t think about it too much, or the next arrow will be just as bad, if not worse.
Conclusion
Hunting has become a popular sport, and women have been an active component of it. They have been increasingly taking an interest and participating in the sport all around the world.
There might be a few differences between men and women in terms of their physical abilities, but the actual skill set required for hunting remains the same.
Above mentioned tips and advice will help you extensively throughout your hunting journey. There is no exact formula for success in hunting; your experience will teach you more. Have fun!
References:
- Scent Control Hunting Tactics
- How to Improve Your Grip Strength & Wrist Mobility: The 6 Best Exercises
- HUNTING DEER IN THE WIND: UNDERSTANDING WIND, THERMAL AND WHITETAILS
Hi, I’m Vineet. Creator of DivinioWorld. I am an outdoor enthusiast and absolutely love researching, learning, and applying skills and knowledge in the real world. I started DivinioWorld to share everything I know so that even a beginner can follow the ropes and master the subtle art of outdoors adventure and survival.
