Sizing up women’s hunt attire

My wife is not a hard-core hunter. She enjoys eating wild game meat such as venison, bison or moose and has participated in a few hunts over the years to contribute to the freezer meat supply. She does not, however, enjoy the taking of a life necessary to put that meat in the freezer. However, she still harvested several Sitka blacktails on Afognak Island over the years.

I mention this now only as background to a dilemma she has recently encountered. My wife hunted on Afognak for deer. She has accompanied me on a few moose hunts after we first moved to the Valley, but only as a spectator, not as a hunter. Up to this time, she had accumulated clothing and gear that served her needs on these trips. Over time, circumstances and her preferences changed when hunting season rolled around, so I found friends to hunt with.

When Fish and Game announced this past fall that folks could apply for up to six moose drawing permit hunts on their application for the 2013 season rather than the historical three, she asked about possibly applying. In previous years, I had applied for my three permit moose hunts, usually all antlerless hunts, and never managed to draw a permit. Our moose meat supply often depended on helping with processing roadkill at a church and getting some of that meat in return or the occasional hunting success of a friend. On a few rare occasions over the years, I even got my own moose.

With the jump to six allowable moose permit hunts on the application and her tentative interest in applying, our odds improved from three to 12 chances to draw a permit. As I have mentioned previously, she drew an antlerless permit for this season. As usual, I did not.

When she started to search for her hunting attire and gear to get ready for the season, she discovered that she was in need of some newer hunting clothing. Shopping locally, she had no trouble finding things like gloves and a hat. She already had a pair of boots and rain gear she planned to wear. However, items like shirts, pants and jackets proved to be in short supply.

While she didn’t look in every possible store locally, she did check the more obvious ones and found a surprising lack of hunting attire sized specifically for women. This frustrated her enough that when I was thinking about topics for this column, she suggested I write about the lack of women’s outdoor clothing available in the local stores.

I know we could have ordered through the outdoor catalog vendors that carry women’s camouflage clothing, for example, but my wife likes to try stuff on to be sure it fits correctly. Apparently, women’s clothing in a specific size varies considerably by manufacturer as to the actual dimensions of the listed size. Having the ability to try an item on significantly reduces the hassle of returning the item later.

Women are the fastest growing segment of the hunting community. This same demographic applies as well for firearms purchasing. Many of those firearms are purchased to go hunting. Several months ago, I wrote about a recently released book from Tony Russ’ Northern Publishing titled “Women Hunting Alaska.” This book, written by Christine Cunningham from the Kenai Peninsula, tells the story of 17 women, each with a memorable hunting adventure in Alaska. Obviously, women are getting out and experiencing Alaska hunting just like their male counterparts.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the lady in your life became interested in hunting and was able to find outdoor attire suited especially for her and available in a local Valley store? That would be good for both her and the local economy.

Being a “Big or Tall” person myself (more big than tall), I have noticed the lack of larger sizes when I go looking for clothes. However, men’s clothing seems to be more consistent in sizing dimensions, so I have never had a problem with catalog ordering.

With the coming of national brand companies like Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop to Anchorage in 2014, a lot of business that otherwise could stay in the Valley will probably shift to Anchorage because of the expected availability of items not currently found locally. I like to support my local economy, but I am not adverse to going elsewhere for an item if I can’t get it here.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.