Are all-female gun hunts the new meditation hack? Or are we just killing for wellness?

Before we shoot, we meditate. It’s 10 AM on the edge of a sorghum field in South Dakota, and I’m standing head-down in a circle of first-time female hunters.Soon, we will load our guns and attempt to shoot wild pheasants out of the September sky.But first, Karen Butler, the founder of the female hunting and riflery organization Shoot Like a Girl, asks us to close our eyes.Butler leads us through an exercise meant to ground us in nature.What do I hear? The hum of insects, the panting of dogs.

What do I smell? Wet earth.What do I feel? The weight of 14 shotgun shells in my front pocket.What do I wonder? “Am I going to kill a bird?”As guns are distributed, Butler tells us to walk “like brides” through the shoulder-high grass; we move at the pace of both wedding processions and funeral marches.At the rallying cry of rooster, we shoulder and aim our shotguns at the male birds who rise into target range.We are encouraged but not required to shoot.Either way, research shows that the act of hunting builds confidence and provides a wealth of physical and mental health benefits.Because it forces us to be fully present and fully responsible for each other’s safety, hunting offers an unexpected lesson in mindfulness — and women are increasingly taking aim. According to a 2022 survey by the U.S.

Fish & Wildlife Service, we now make up nearly 22% of all hunters in America, more than double the number from 2016.Meanwhile, women who own a firearm increased from 15% to 22% in the last decade.Organizations like Shoot Like a Girl and hunting outfitters across the country are harnessing the boom in wellness travel to turn the shooting range and the hunting field into the next frontiers of female focused, feel-good travel.In addition to its mental health benefits, experts maintain that women are increasingly being drawn to hunting for the “field to fork” appeal — think “farm to table,” but with a kill shot— of providing an organic food source for the...