This year for International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the outdoors and those who make it a better place for all. We want to shine a spotlight on some amazing women in the outdoors – leaders, role models, mentors, mothers, sisters, and daughters – by sharing their stories, words of advice and encouragement for other women. We want to uplift and empower all the women who share the outdoors. One of the women we are proud to call our friend at Savage is Jen Larson. This is her story!

Jen Larson

My name is Jen Larson, I’m a 46-year-old mom to two young boys and married to an avid hunter. 

I am the founder of Demystified Outdoors.  We focus on empowering moms to build confidence and independence in the outdoors while creating family traditions and memories through: 

online connections, hands-on workshops, virtual masterclasses, exclusively curated outdoor kits, and custom tools.

I did not grow up around hunting.  I started getting involved in the outdoors in my late twenties when a girlfriend of mine took me on a deer hunt in Northern Wisconsin.  I shot my first doe on that hunt and was hooked.  I’ve gone on to hunt turkeys, geese, ducks, coyote, pheasants, and more deer.  

The one thing I would share with women interested in hunting is that everyone starts as a beginner and to not be intimidated by those with more experience.  There will always be someone who knows more than you!  Take advantage of that and listen.  Also, there is so much more to hunting than harvesting the animal and so many memories to be made in the process.

I believe the industry must continue to encourage women in the outdoors to enable future generations to hunt.  The more wives supporting their spouses, the better. Highlighting the benefits of outdoor activities surrounding the hunt that can be done as a family is key.

I have created a space on Facebook for women to learn more about things they can do surrounding hunting which includes those activities that don’t involve shooting or killing an animal.

Follow Jen Larson @love_jenlarson

Read more Women in the Outdoors stories!