Women represent one of the fastest-growing demographics in all of hunting, thanks to myriad efforts, including a decade-old annual Women’s Javelina Hunt in Southern Arizona.
Recently, the SCI Arizona Chapter became more involved with this special hunt. The camp began about 10 years ago by Amanda Moors. Kathy Greene has been coordinating the event for the last four years. From the javelina camp’s beginning, the camp was always fortunate to be able to use the SCI AZ trailer complete with tables, awnings, grills and other equipment.
“We just joined the AZ Safari Club Chapter and will be working with them, trying to really promote it next year. We also are looking for more women mentors.” said Greene.
The Women’s Javelina Hunting Camp is a free camp, due to a grant from Arizona Game and Fish. The goal of this camp is to provide a safe, fun hunting experience for novice adult women hunters (18 and older). Experienced hunters (mentors) are matched with novice women hunters.
The novices learn skills for hunting javelina. Many of these skills can be applied to hunting other game species.
“We try to get the novice women — their first time out — women who have never hunted before,” Greene explained. “We set them up with a mentor, and the mentor tells them about hunting, glassing, stalking, what to look for in the field, and we show them how to take care of the animals in the field.”
“The camp has an average of 30 novice hunters and 15 mentors.” Greene added. “It is the same concept as the Chapter’s Junior Camps.”
Volunteers also help by setting up and taking down camp, cooking and food prep, gathering wood and other duties around camp. So, all in all there are about 60 people at the camp.
The camp is usually held during the second weekend of the HAM (Handgun, Archery, Muzzleloader) season. It is a fairly easy application to get drawn for, compared to elk and deer. Being a two-week hunt, mentors can hunt the first week if they choose. As they hunt, they can scout areas where they may want to take the novice hunters.
To learn more about the Women’s Javelina Hunt Camp, contact Kathy Greene at [email protected].–Steve Comus
