The new face of safari hunters
Local convention teems with female gamers from a once all-male club
By SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES


She's bagged the five trophy animals safari hunters covet — elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, Cape buffalo and lion — and searched for quarry on six continents.

Thirty years ago Sadler's presence on such expeditions would have been rare, but, today, female safari hunters are common on the savannas. So common that Sadler heads the Houston Safari Club, an 800-member organization started in the 1970s as a men's hunting club.

"I enjoy the challenge," said Sadler, who is presiding at the club's annual convention this weekend in The Woodlands. "You get to see all the different cultures."


Active women
The shift in the sport won't just be evident in the number of women swapping hunting stories this weekend at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott. The convention includes a ladies luncheon, and a group called the DIVAS will promote outdoor and shooting sports. The pages of the club's souvenir book features just as many women smiling with their downed prey as men.

Mike Simpson, a past president of the Houston Safari Club and president-elect of the Safari Club International, said, at first, women accompanied their husbands on trips where they either stayed behind in camp or tagged along to take pictures of the scenery. But now women pick up their own crossbows or rifles. One local all-female big-game hunting group calls itself the Bear Babes.

"Women are going on safari and hunting dangerous animals," Simpson said. "Sometimes you'll find that the woman is a hunter and the husband isn't a hunter at all."

Big-game hunting is physically demanding, treacherous, costly and not without its critics. Groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, label it a blood sport no matter who is firing the fatal shot.

"It's a big contest to them to see how they can shoot the rarest animal in the world. It's monstrous," said PETA spokeswoman Stephanie Boyles.


'Hunters care'
But big-game hunters say they help protect animals in the wild and follow all hunting regulations. The Houston Safari Club uses proceeds from its convention to fund scholarships for students majoring in wildlife programs, hunter education and animal habitat conservation.

"Hunters care. Poachers don't care," Sadler said. "The animals aren't butchered and left to die."

But Boyles accused big gamers of putting money into the wild to keep their sport going.

Despite the controversy, big game hunters at this weekend's convention vowed to continue the sport they feel passionate about. Even, say women hunters, if that means enduring prejudice from some men.

"I like showing the guys that I can do everything they can do and sometimes better," said Sandra Green, who hunts with her husband, Larry. "It's for the satisfaction of knowing I can do it."

To recognize the growing role of women in hunting, Safari Club International now presents the Diana — goddess of hunting — Award to women who excel in the sport and are committed to conservation efforts.

Sadler will receive the Diana later this month.

"Hunting has always been a man's world but now we have a lot of women who are hunting," said Marilyn Seegmiller of Salt Lake City and chairwoman of the Diana Award Committee. "They are finding out that they are not a bad shot."

All you have to do is to meet Joan Cotton, wife of the deceased PH Cotton Gordon. I saw her in Dallas a week ago and she told me Cotton booked 6 safaris for her before he died and that she had booked several more. She is not a spring chicken but she is still very much in the hunt and looking forward to the next one.
Atta Girl Joan!!!

Kathi

Power to the women hunter ... as the saying goes woman can do anything ...

Maybe I can do a special plains game hunt in SA for first timers ( Women Only ) with lady PH to guide ...



Dene SA & Zambia registered PH ... Joanne SA registered PH

Photo kind permission of Bwanahile / taken @ Houston Show [ Balla-Balla Safaris booth ]

Maybe I can try to arrange for Joanne to guide the Ladies hunt in SA whilst Dene is in Zambia with the cape buffalo philes, logistics permitting

Any takers for something along those lines and if there is an interest I can maybe look at stringing togther a deal maybe !!!