If you have found yourself immersed in the social media side of waterfowl hunting, there is a fair chance that you have encountered pages or persons with questionable intentions. Men and women alike, the wave of fame-seeking Instagram hunters has continued to rise season after season. For ladies in particular though, the negative stigma surrounding women in the outdoors has gone from a dull hum to an obnoxious roar. So much so that even the term “huntress” is now mocked and married to cynical connotations, and publicity or passion is often questioned the second a woman expresses interest in the sport. While I have a deep and profound respect for the brotherhood woven into the culture of waterfowl hunting, I am thrilled to welcome a Sisterhood to the table.
Best friends Laurel York and Jaycey Stone created and developed the program ‘Sisterhood of the Hunt’ in an attempt to reach other women who hunt for the genuine love of the sport, like themselves. “I’m a big Christian and I’ve been looking for a way to spread God’s word. How can we share our message but combine it with hunting at the same time?” Laurel thought. As both Laurel and Jaycey were introduced to waterfowl hunting later in life, they have experienced firsthand the negative stigma that has become associated with females in the industry in recent years. The few with less than ideal intentions now somehow represent the whole, and this is something the Sisterhood of the Hunt program hopes to alter for the next generation of women in waterfowl. “I would like to see the community grow in a positive way. We hear all about women doing it for the wrong reasons, our hope is to give girls more opportunities to connect with one another while keeping faith at the center of it all” said Jaycey.
So, what is Sisterhood of the Hunt? Laurel and Jaycey have partnered with an array of waterfowl brands to essentially create a pile of goodies that can be passed from woman to woman on hunts. Brands such as American Flyway Waterfowl, VPC lanyards, Dixie Creek Outdoors, Bragging Rights Cutdown Calls, Ground Bound Calls, Swamp Dog Outfitters, Hardy Face Paint, Carlson’s Choke Tubes, Locked in Productions, and more have partnered with these women in a combined effort to reach girls of all ages and experiences. “I didn’t have cool stuff to hunt in, I didn’t know what gear I needed. These brands have donated items to allow us to give to other girls in that same position. Maybe they can’t afford it, maybe they’ve outgrown their hand-me-downs. We want to bless those girls, especially those that are brand new to waterfowl hunting” remarked Jaycey. “Girls who have been hunting for their entire lives, and girls who are just getting into it- there is a support group out there for you, and we’re it” added Laurel.
We so often see programs geared towards men taking young boys hunting, but rarely do these exist for the opposite sex. This leads to the majority of women in waterfowl beginning their hunting tenure at the age of 18 or older. Being new to the sport as a young woman presents its own set of challenges, “I was intimidated, I thought every girl would see me as a poser. I learned that you just have to jump in and do it, get over that hump. We want to help girls make that leap,” said Jaycey. “We want other girls to know that there is a place where you can feel safe and accepted within the hunting community,” stated Laurel. If you get the chance to share a blind with these two prepare to be blessed, in more ways than one. As they close out this season, and in the seasons to come, with them will travel a cooler. Adorned with stickers from each woman who has been inducted into the Sisterhood of the Hunt. It is my hope that this cooler is unrecognizable by the end of its journey. That it someday becomes retired and replaced by another, and another, and so on, until we see a day that women in waterfowl are so commonplace it hardly merits a conversation. Don’t worry though, we’ll still be talking about it.
