Believe it or not, there are barriers to upland hunting. For a new hunter, it can be daunting to navigate the pathways to our incredible outdoor sport, especially for women. I’ve had women tell me they didn’t know how to pick out the right gun or equipment. They weren’t sure where to go or they didn’t feel safe going alone and none of their girlfriends shared their interest in the sport. These answers always make me wish there was way more free time in my schedule. I absolutely relish the chance to get a new hunter on birds and my dogs are more than happy to oblige.
HerUpland, a 501(c)(3) national organization is helping to breakdown those barriers and create an easier path to walk. As a coordinatHer for the organization, part of my responsibility is to host events and help form that path. On September 20-21, I did just that and welcomed 11 new female hunters to Bacon Farms for a highly immersive and exciting weekend of upland hunting.
HerUpland and Its Mission
HerUpland is a women-led organization dedicated to furthering education and providing opportunities for women and youth in upland hunting, bird dog training, conservation, and mentorship. The organization provides affordable and free opportunities in dog training and hunting settings for women and youth to gain or elevate skills and confidence on their path into the uplands.
In creating these opportunities, it allows women and youth to learn more about conservation efforts to protect the birds, their habitat and the lands they inhabit. HerUpland empowers women to take on leadership and mentor roles to enable them to encourage and inspire others creating an expansive community of support.
Courtney Bastian, founder and executive director started HerUpland in 2022 realizing there were indeed other organizations helping to chisel out the path to the uplands for women, but none offered a comprehensive curriculum that also embraced the core values of stewardship, mentorship, leadership, inclusion, conservation and integrity.
You may know her from her podcast, The Bird Dog Babe where she hosts men and women from across the upland industry. Courtney avidly chases feathers at home in Montana and across the country with her Bracco Italiano, GWP and English cocker spaniels. She and her husband, William also run a kennel (Claddagh Kennels) training client dogs as they are both active in NAVHDA as well as AKC, often dual titling their dogs. As we all well know, upland hunting is a family affair and her son, Burke and daughter, Blayre are often found walking the hunt fields right beside mom and dad. Burke has even acquired his own ECS that he is now training and working towards his first title.
Breaking It Down for the Beginner
Female Hunter
For the fledgling upland hunter, HerUpland offers a full menu of clinics, training opportunities and access to some of the top products and professionals in the industry. Courtney has created a unique and thoughtful format for a bevy of clinics including wing-shooting, NAVHDA training, grouse camp, pointing dog camp, flushing dog camp and quail camp as well as rendezvous hunts and various meet ups and training activities.
Given my career path and ownership of Virginia Shooting Sports, I naturally tend to host a wing-shooting clinic. These clinics are always a two-day format and components include live fire along with various classroom seminars for a fully immersive opportunity. The ladies attending learn about bird dog first aid, OnX mapping, shotgun patterns and chokes, and how to prepare and cook their harvests complete with recipes. Other course components include presentations by a local conservation/habitat chapter, wildlife resources, wing-shooting lesson and a mock hunt using either their dog (if steady) or a dog borrowed from a coordinatHer. Syren shotguns proudly supports and sponsors all these events and ships out some of their extraordinary Italian guns made just for women for the ladies to use and enjoy.
At the Bacon Farms event, ladies who were either brand new or only slightly familiar to upland hunting began day one hesitant but finished day two confident and competent in their shooting prowess.
Watching the transformation of these women was incredible. Several had never shot more than a box of shells in their entire lifetime. Some had tried their hand previously at upland hunting but with minimal or no success. All of them were eager to hit the hunt field and hungry for information on how to be a better shot, more conscious steward of the land and proponent for the next generation.
The team and I explained best practices for bird hunting, public land access and how to navigate those roadblocks that have stood in their way for too long. While the organization strongly advocates for wild bird hunting, it realizes the outstanding benefits and value in preserves and clay courses to build confidence and practice safe gun handling.
Partners and Advocates
An undertaking of this magnitude isn’t accomplished by any one person; it takes a community. At the VA wing-shooting clinic that community included myself (HerUpland SE CoordinatHer & Virginia Shooting Sports), Jacob Bacon (Bacon Farms Upland Preserve & Gun Dog Training), Morgan Bennett (HerUpland SE coordinatHer), Marissa Nortz (HerUpland Director of Regional CoordinatHers), Ciera Strickland (VDWR-Virginia Ourdoor Woman Program), Clare Novak (Central VA Chapter Quail Forever) & Alison Menefee (Quail Forever State Coordinator).
HerUpland carefully aligns itself with partners that share the passion for the upland mission. Each partner offers a product to assist the women in their endeavors in the hunt field. Those partners include Boss Shotshells, Dakota 283 Kennels, Syren Shotguns, Decked, MEC, Toyota, Scheel’s, Orvis, Garmin, Crispi, Gun Dog Supply, Sawyer, Cuga and more. There’s never a shortage of “asks” for these companies and for them to willingly and heavily support HerUpland speaks volumes.
Adding Feathers to Their Future
The majority of women in upland hunting are in the segment considered adult on-set hunters. That means they may not have grown up with hunting or even guns in general. Ages can range anywhere from mid-20’s to the 60’s and 70’s. One common reason I’ve noticed is the dog. Many women end up acquiring a bird dog breed for whatever reason and feel compelled to take the dog to its full potential. That means getting feathers in its mouth.
There were several women at the VA wing-shooting clinic that were in attendance for this exact reason. This to me is one of the most powerful reasons and also one of the best motivators. These women tend to be more willing to try new activities, become leaders in the community and advocates for our hunting and 2A rights. There’s a lot to be said for the love of a dog!
If you or someone you know has been trying to find a way to add feathers to your future, definitely click on HerUpland.org and see how to get started on the most amazing adventure with an incredible community.
