“Course, we’re gon’ eat ‘em!”
The southern drawl and defined beard of our Delta Waterfowl lead, Cornell Professor Dr Orin Robinson, make him stand out here in upstate New York. “If Delta doesn’t let us cook the ducks and geese we shoot, we’ll cook at my house! Gotta lotta good recipes,” he chuckles, nodding at me and the 8 other young hunters-to-be.
“Game stew, burgers, roast, chili poppers, pastrami…” Orin rambles on.
Orin knows his audience well; our Delta Waterfowl group includes 4 men and a whopping 5 women. Women are the fastest-growing shooting sports demographic in America, despite only making up 10% of all hunters. Women may also be more likely than men to be motivated by meat when deciding to take up hunting (see research from New York State and South Dakota).
Listening to Orin, I nod my head, thinking of my efforts to eat local and ethically sourced foods. I was regularly visiting local farmers’ markets and had even started calling myself a “locavore.” I also know many younger Americans—especially women—swear by hunting for meat and sustainability. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, one of the fastest-growing hunting organizations in the US, has 65% of its members below the age of 45 (meanwhile, 55% of American hunters are 45 years old and older). Their annual Rendezvous gathering brings in famous chefs from around the country to perform cooking demonstrations with all types of game meat. MeatEater is a 12-season TV show depicting Steven Rinella hunting with a variety of guests, where afterward they prepare the harvested meats together. The show attracts latte-sipping progressives from urban areas, many of whom distance themselves from the predominantly conservative, older demographic that safari hunting organizations like Safari Club attract.
Day one of the Delta Waterfowl program begins. On a frigid and rainy November morning, my fellow newbie hunters and I drive to Greene, New York, a farm town with a population of 6,000. On our host family’s back porch, I hold my loaded shotgun for the first time. My female hunting mentor, Shirley, helps me position the gun just right. A machine ejects a clay pigeon into the air. I miss the pigeon by a long shot.
Shirley doesn’t bat an eye. “Follow where the pigeon is going, and shoot just ahead of it,” she tells me. “You’ll get it. Just need more practice.” She hands me more ammo.
“Set your gun not quite at your armpit, but just before your shoulder,” she says another time. She repositions me slightly. I am still a novice at handling guns. Being in a new location and with unfamiliar people makes the experience all the more daunting. But I trust Shirley to guide me.
While women are among the fastest-growing demographics of US hunters, they have faced many gaps in entry into hunting. Precisely because of this, Dr Christine Thomas, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, established Becoming an Outdoorswoman. The non-profit educational program offers 1-3 day hands-on outdoor skills workshops for adult women in casual, non-threatening environments. It’s now in 38 US states and 6 Canadian provinces and is part of state fish and wildlife agencies’ R3 curriculums. Though not exclusively geared toward females, programs like Delta Waterfowl have also made a point to include opportunities and even requirements for recruits to have female mentorship.
Extrapolating to Africa, the lack of female hunting mentors is even more profound. Becoming an Outdoorswoman offers many outdoor international trips for Americans, but they have yet to have an African hunting one. Delta Waterfowl doesn’t either. Additionally, I have encountered very few female African professional hunters (PHs). PHs lead safari hunting clients from dawn to dusk and are responsible for hunting safety and rules, transport, food, provisions, and entertainment. The question is: would some female safari hunting clients be comfortable hunting with a male PH, especially if they are traveling alone? Otherwise, the female PH options are slim. In Zimbabwe, Tanya Blake is the first and only female PH. In Namibia, there are only 5 female PHs, and in South Africa, there is a handful (depending on whom I ask, I get numbers ranging from 5-10).
Day one ends with a bang – quite literally. “Francine’s first clay pigeon of the day!” Shirley hollers. My classmates clap, then cheer, “Whoop whoop!” Within an hour and a half, all of us newbies go from uncoordinated novices to clay pigeon conquerors.
Day two is when the Delta Waterfowl fun begins. At 3:30 AM, my classmates and I start our drive. The sky begins to brighten as we arrive at a ploughed farm field. We take our guns out of the truck as I follow Shirley into one of the hunting blinds. The blinds are so well camouflaged I didn’t even know they were there.
What becomes of our day? Waiting. Lots of waiting. Also, quietness, stillness, and peace at hearing the sounds of the buzzing insects and chirping robins and blackbirds. Unity with other hunters. We layer and re-layer ourselves, talk about what we love about the outdoors, and sit in solemn reverence as the sun peeps over the distant mountaintops, revealing its initial morning glory.
Now and again, one of the Delta Waterfowl staff spots a flock of geese from afar. “Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da-da. Da-da-da.” Our mentors play their goose calls well enough that, two hours in, a flock finally takes notice. It turns toward us, then comes closer. But it’s no use. It sees another nearby flock and turns away. We finish the day without a single shot fired.
Delta Waterfowl knew we might be unlucky. We drive back to the same house we visited for clay pigeon shooting. There, the Delta Waterfowl staff each hand us a dead goose.
“Just in case you guys didn’t get anything today, we shot you some geese,” one says. “It’s important to know how to use the animal.”
I initially wince upon feeling the soft, blood-ridden feathers, the leathery webbed feet, and the small yet delicate head and beak. But then we put it all to good use. The heart, liver, breasts, and legs I learn to cut out for meat.