Eva Shockey Says Femininity and Hunting Can Coexist

Eva Shockey, a prominent figure in the outdoor industry, has faced pushback from the hunting community for not conforming to traditional expectations of what a hunter should look like. Shockey shared on "Tomi Lahren is Fearless" that she has encountered criticism since the beginning of her career, including for maintaining her femininity while pursuing outdoor activities.

Growing up as the daughter of outdoorsman Jim Shockey, Eva initially didn't pursue hunting because she didn't see women who resembled her in that role. When she eventually took up hunting herself, she resisted the idea of abandoning parts of her identity. "I didn't hunt because I didn't know you could be this — have hair and makeup and care about your nails being done — and also love to hunt," Shockey stated. "I love being in the mountains. I love hiking. I love wearing camo, but I also like still looking feminine."

She adopted a philosophy of simply being herself. "If I'm gonna hunt, I'm still me. I'm not gonna change who I am because I want to go hunting," she said. This approach became a central theme as her public profile grew.

Shockey entered the outdoor industry when hunting media was largely male-dominated. While she began on television with her father, social media has since provided a platform for more diverse voices, including women, to connect with outdoor personalities who better represent them. She emphasizes that she did not initiate the trend of increasing female participation in hunting, but rather was able to "ride the wave" of a growing movement.

She credits social media with making the outdoors more accessible to young girls who may not have previously seen women participating in hunting. "If young girls want to see someone shooting a bow or they live out in the country and they've never seen a girl hunt — which was little Eva back in the day — they can open social and see people doing what they want to do," Shockey explained. She believes it is important for these aspiring hunters to see a variety of people, noting, "I'm by no means everybody's style."

Shockey's message centers on the idea that women do not need to adopt a specific persona, appearance, or identity to participate in hunting. She has received feedback from many women over the years who have expressed gratitude for her stance. "I had a lot of girls, thousands and thousands of girls over the years, come up to me with basically relaying that to me," she said. "Like, 'I'm so glad you said that we could hunt and not be embarrassed of who we are or what we look like or where we're from or whatever that looks like.'"

She also observes a broader cultural shift towards appreciating outdoor lifestyles, with increased interest in gardening, sourcing food, and hunting. "It's changed a lot in the last five years," Shockey noted. "I think people are very interested in that lifestyle, and they're very interested in growing things themselves, hunting things themselves."

Instead of gatekeeping participation, Shockey advocates for encouraging this curiosity. "The things that I believe so strongly in — like the outdoor life, the hunting, the gardens, the healthy food for your family, the fresh air, all that — I believe it's such a great thing," she said. "Even if they're doing 10% of it, that's 10% better than not doing it."

Shockey believes that making the outdoors feel more accessible and less foreign to women through diverse representation is a significant achievement.