Why Women are the Fastest Growing Demographic in Shooting Sports

    Kathy was in her late teens when she first signed up at her local gun club. Back then, she was one of the only women at the club.

    “I was winning almost every tournament in my class, because there were no other women around,” she says.

    But since then, things have changed quite a bit.

    While it’s a bit more difficult to bring home the trophies, Kathy says that she welcomes the new found competition.

    According to some prominent firearms instructors, classes can be up to 60 to 80 percent women.  This is especially true for classes with female instructors.

    “I think back when I started women were a lot more hesitant to join a male dominated sport. But now, it seems to be widely accepted that women can compete at the same level as men. I think it helps women feel comfortable that there are many female instructors to choose from now”, Kathy reminisces.

    More and more often women are taking an interest in the sport. Sometimes they have a friend who has tried it, sometimes they want to learn to hunt, and sometimes they just want to have some plain old fun!

    Shooting has been a firearm tradition here in Canada for a couple of centuries now and enthusiasts everywhere are happy to see the growing interest from women in the shooting sports. This probably also means that more families are getting to enjoy nature and the wilderness as the go shoot and hunt together.

    As the sport continues to grow and become more widely accepted, we hope to continue to see the strong presence of women joining the community.