How can shooting encourage more women into the sport?

A Gun is a Gun is a Gun, isn’t it? If you’re out shooting on a game day, you are known as a Gun, end of.” So says Tracy Meston, senior coach at the Roxburghe Shooting School in the Scottish Borders, 
one of a growing number of women 
in the UK who shoot.

As other industries begin to look closely at their treatment of women — questioning gender pay gaps, inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment — some in the shooting community are wondering if it is time to do the same.

“The way that shooting is going, it’s going to end up being licensed,” says gamekeeper Jonathan Davis, who works on the Babworth estate in Nottinghamshire. “You can talk about biodiversity and sustainability all you like, but there needs to be equality throughout and that includes an 
equal number of male and female Guns on each of the drives.”

Women shoot few days a year than men, but their average bag size on a driven day is likely to be bigger

There are a variety of causes of growing perceived inequality in shooting. Jonathan blames social media in part. “I’m sick of seeing genuine comments from women who want a little bit of advice, then straight away there’s 150 men jumping in with their patronising comments,” he says. “I’m not some raving liberal, but there has to be equality within the game shooting industry.”

Others say the infamous helicopter-and-cigar City boy client days of shooting folklore are preventing women from wanting to join in. Says one Gun who is often tasked with taking clients out on driven days: “There has been a huge boom in male-only parties that end up with the most spectacular lousy, louche chat. It’s fun to be part of, 
but it would be a field day if it were 
to get out.”

Women really ought to be welcome on these days, he adds: “There is nothing quite like the refreshing presence of female Shots to keep you on your toes. It brings out the best 
in both sexes.” A keen grouse man 
adds: “Some of the girls I know go on these big shoots and they absolutely love it — they get lots of attention.”

Liam Stokes, head of shooting at the Countryside Alliance, urges critics to look upon commercialisation of the sport as a positive not negative idea. “When I first got involved in shooting about 14 years ago, it was a lot harder to go shooting than it is now,” he says. “You had to know the right people. 
If you want to go shooting now, you can find a day that suits what you 
can afford.” With more people shooting, more women are inevitably going to join in, he says. “Increasing the accessibility will increase the diversity in terms of women over time.”

Victoria Knowles Lacks, gounder of the Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club shooting group

Gender is irrelevant

Some women feel this debate is a little over-egged. Lady Violet Manners, the eldest of the 11th Duke of Rutland’s five children, grew up on the Belvoir Castle estate in Leicestershire. “We always had women shooting at home,” she says. “My experiences have generally been very positive. For the past four years I’ve just loaded, for men and women, but over the past year or so I’ve been shooting more and had an amazing couple of days on friends’ shoots, where there have been women in 
the line with their own guns.”

Gender is irrelevant, she says. “Shooting is such an accessible sport in the sense that it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, it’s down to co-ordination. I don’t think it’s hugely sexist in that sense.”

Fieldsports writer Kate Fensterstock agrees. “It’s not that [men] don’t like [women being in the field], but it’s not something they are used to and often they don’t know how to handle it. They want to be able to make you feel included but [some of them] are not quite there yet. Every day that I show up with a gun they assume that I’m beating or loading 
for someone, and then I [stand] 
next to them on the peg.”

Kate is pretty robust about the whole thing. “When you get a bunch of guys together doing something ‘manly’, they’re going to be men no matter what. I don’t think that’s limited to shooting, it has to do with how men are.”