Hunting in the American west provided families an opportunity to spend quality time together.

The tradition of hunting was passed down from father to son for generations and this era was no different.

As families ventured more and more into the outdoors they started to incorporate activities that were based in the forests and wilderness. Hunting and fishing were a couple of those activities. Fathers and sons would head out together to take this time as an opportunity to bond and develop a better relationship. Browsing through the outdoor magazines and newsletters you will find example after example of photographs of men, both young and old, showing off their recent kill. These images like the ones included here to the left are a snapshot of countless hours spent together between friends but especially between family.

During my research, I came across a touching example of two men, father and son, and how they came closer together through time out in the high country, hunting. I won't use the whole article but just a few points that really emphasize the impact hunting and fishing had on the bond between these two men.

"I was born a sportsman, raised a sportsman, and will die a sportsman. Thanks to Dad. Just like Dad. My first memories are of pheasants, rabbits, setters, and beagles. Of course, before that, there was the hunter safety course and lots of shooting at the range of my Dad’s club. Ezra Smith insisted on that. I’ve never forgotten the experience of shooting my first pheasant, with Dad right beside me, in a field at the end of Maranacook Lake.

And then there was our last year. Dad was hurting but determined to hunt. ... I knew then it would be our last year of hunting together.

Dad was in the Hospice Unit at the Togus VA hospital, unable to hunt the next fall. But he hadn’t given up fishing. I took Dad out five times, and casting from his wheelchair, he caught brook trout. For sure, at the age of 91 and in poor health, he was still a sportsman – and we were able to create more wonderful memories.

Opening day of the deer season in 2014, the day after Dad died, wasn’t the same. But I returned to our favorite spots, thought a lot about Dad, and let the memories flow by me. Today, I wear a piece of his clothing, on all my hunts, so he’s still out there with me." [1]

Hunting was primarily seen as an activity for men and this collection of images demonstrates that quite well: There are two women in the top left photograph, only identified by their husbands' names and featured as a kind of novelty.

One aspect of this discussion that is not all that discussed is the place that women have in outdoor sports. In post World War II America gender roles were being reinforeced on all sides as is quite evident in the whole of this exhibit about domesticity. The idea of a woman doing something as "masculine" as hunting was very foreign to most people at the time.

"Cold War Era sporting journals emphasized hunting as an intensely masculine duty that reinforced nationalistic myths and promoted group discipline and homosocial relationships necessary for defense. A few women contributors to postwar sporting magazines asserted their privilege to enjoy hunting on an equal footing with men, but such feminine demands largely fell on deaf ears. Most hunters, who were overwhelmingly men, resisted suggestions that hunting was an activity to be shared with women. For them, the sport was no longer characterized as simply an activity for men, but a rite of manhood. Postwar hunters argued that women were incapable of experiencing “authentic” hunting emotions that bound men together through shared hardship, pursuit, and triumph of the kill. Women hunters had no place in this new hyper-masculine sphere and were re-cast from being prewar eccentrics who were occasionally tolerated in the hunting world into threatening invaders whose womanly presence undermined essential masculine values hunting instilled in American men." [2]

I would also like to draw your attention to the photograph and caption in the top left of the image included with this section. Two smiling women are seen posing with their latest haul of two impressive bucks draped over the spare tire of their off-road vehicle. Now the most interesting part of this, in my opinion is the caption associated with the photo:

“THE MEN SAID THE DEER WERE SCARCE! Above, Mrs. Jack Taylor and Mrs. Doug Tangren of Moab, Utah with their 1968 deer. They shot, dressed and brought ‘em home… alone! Let’s hear from more ladies!”

This caption truly shows how sexist the world of outdoor sports was at the time. First, it starts off already pointing out that these women are doing something unconventional by saying the men had told them that deer would be hard to find. Then, when referring to the hunters themselves it uses only their title of “Mrs.” and their husbands’ names (unless their names are Jack and Doug, which I doubt). Next making a patronizing comment about how they did this “alone!” kind of like congratulating a kindergarten-aged child for having tied her shoes “all by herself”. I am sure that these two women were well versed in how to kill, dress and transport a deer by this time and they didn’t need a demeaning comment on their abilities. Lastly, a call for more submissions by women as a kind of plea for more attention. I think this photograph is evidence enough of how women were seen as second-class hunters and adventurers.