In Japan, if you run into a woman with a shotgun in the woods, don’t worry; she’s probably just tracking her latest kill courtesy of a government-approved campaign.
According to Reuters, an increasing number of Japanese women are getting into the once-male-dominated sport of hunting.
Instead of simply shooting boar and deer for the thrill of the game, though, Japanese women are being asked by the national government to pitch in on curbing the populations of those animals, because they’re costing local farmers a lot of yen. Boar, deer, and other animals feed on vegetable crops, costing farmers millions ($170 million in damages since 2008, to be exact).
Also, the number of male hunters is dwindling.
Per Reuters, two-thirds of the more than 100,000 hunters in Japan are 60 or older, and only about 1,100 are female. There’s a major campaign in the country underway to try to get women interested in getting out in the woods in camouflage, featuring courses and tours, as well as training exercises.
Watch a short documentary below featuring female Japanese hunters.
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