CANAAN -- Linda McMullen has never been afraid of entering the world of shooting sports. In fact, she was more than happy to kick the door down, start blasting and make a little Maine state history in the process.

Last month, the 59-year-old Oakland woman won the state sporting clay, trap and skeet championships -- making her the first woman in Maine to ever hold all three titles simultaneously. On the final day of the skeet championships at her hometown club, the Arnold Trail Gun Club in Sidney, McMullen broke 90 out of the 100 targets presented to her.

That's not just good for a woman -- that's good for anybody.

"Oh, I happened to get lucky," a modest McMullen said. "Some days it just goes right for you. It's like golf, some days are better than others."

After nearly four decades of shooting, McMullen has made it a practice to not have many bad days. She's also spent four decades showing that shooting sports aren't just for the guys.

At the Silverton Sporting Ranch, some 20 miles north of the Arnold Trail Club on Route 23, Denise Murchison is further proof positive that the outdoors aren't just for the men. Murchison returned to Maine in 2004, purchasing a 400-acre parcel of land that she's turned into an upland game preserve, a shooting sports haven and dog kennel.

And she's done most of it on her own, one single woman against the male-dominated world of shooting and hunting. She would like to encourage more women to give it a try.

"It's empowering for women to do it," Murchison said. "It's a self-esteem builder, and it allows them to feel like they're in control of something. That's a great way to approach it."

BLAZING A PATH

After 16 years of living in New Jersey, running her own veterinary laboratory and working with some of the most accomplished Standardbred race horses in the country, Denise Murchison got bored. She wanted to come home.

"I had just had enough," Murchison said. " 'I'm done here,' I thought, 'but what am I going to do?' "

The Presque Isle native hatched her plan.

She found land and pieced together her vision -- something of a "one-stop shopping" experience for the central Maine outdoorsman. A little upland bird hunting, a few cabins and a lodge, dog breeding and kenneling. Not long after, she entertained the notion of clay shooting.

"I could see where down the road, this was going to be the future for Maine," said Murchison, who moved to Canaan to begin work on the project with her daughter, Megan, who was just 12 at the time. "It grew into the slogan I have -- 'preserve Maine's hunting and sporting tradition.' "

There are not many sporting camps around run exclusively by women, fewer still that saw women construct buildings and clear land themselves. Murchison's determination to see her project through should serve as inspiration to women who otherwise wouldn't consider hunting or shooting for themselves.

"I'm not intimidated at all," said Murchison, a registered Maine hunting and recreation guide. "I've always been in male-dominated worlds. The race horse world is a male-dominated one.

"If you understand your topic and you know your stuff and are knowledgeable, (men) will respect you."

Knowing that some women are intimidated, however, Murchison tries to ease any anxiety.

"You hear it all the time, the husband will say to his wife, 'I don't know why you can't do it. It's easy,' " Murchison said of working shooting lessons with both men and women. "Well, that's not going to help. Maine women are classically strong and independent, but there's still some intimidation. I try to separate the two as much as I can."

RIGHT ON TARGET

Originally, Linda McMullen found companionship in a 12-gauge, over-under shotgun because it was her husband, Jim McMullen, who enjoyed hunting and shooting most. Though Linda dabbled in it for a while in the 1970s she eventually put it on the back burner, allowing Jim to focus on competitions while she tended to their two young boys.

Once the boys were grown and on their own, Linda returned to shooting. Then she met Ina Mae Longley, who quickly turned into her mentor -- a friend, role model and teacher. It was one woman who presented an avenue for another to participate in shooting sports.

"I just went ahead and did it," Linda said. "I liked it. I like competition anyway, and so I liked that part of it. (Ina Mae) and I used to go partridge hunting together. We would take one of the boys with us, and the guys would take the other one. We would walk and talk and just have a great time together."

Jim and Linda McMullen each retired from their respective professions in 2004, and they spent the first five weeks of that retirement in Florida competing in various shooting events. That summer, they returned to Maine and Linda won her first state skeet title -- one she has not relinquished since.

"Here in Maine, I would like to think that we're still a rural state," Linda said. "We go hunting and fishing and do those kinds of things. As women, we marry people like our fathers, people who like to hunt and fish, too. It's about getting outdoors. It's just getting outdoors and enjoying the outdoors with other people."

A WOMAN'S WORLD

"There's no reason women can't compete with the men," Jim McMullen said. "Women can do this. It's the same shotgun, it's the same targets for everybody. There's nothing physical about it. At 16 yards (away from a target), we're all at the same level."

Linda McMullen believes, too, that shooting sports offer women something hunting does not -- the opportunity to avoid killing animals.

"Years ago there more women (shooting) skeet, anyway," Linda said. "At least, it seemed like there were. I would think they would want to (get involved). You're not killing an animal, which some people might not like. You're breaking a target, competing with yourself and seeing how many you can break. It's enjoyable."

Denise Murchison at Silverton Sporting Ranch thinks removing as many intimidating factors from the equation can help new women enjoy shooting and hunting, too.

"For women, I think it's something they'd enjoy more with more exposure to it or if they understood it more," Murchison said, noting that two women-only skeet-shooting events in Hermon were recently canceled due to lack of participation. "I don't know exactly what it will take to do that. If you can get the women out, though, you'll get the kids out, too.

"That's good for the next generation, and it's good for all of us."

It's nearly impossible to quantify how many women have been turned on to shooting sports over the last decade, even more so to find out how many have been turned off for feeling as if they don't belong. But, Murchison reminds us, the outdoors are for everybody.

"It's not something that's only just for women or only just for men," Murchison said. "It's for everybody. It's a great family activity."

Travis Barrett -- 621-5648

tbarrett@centralmaine.com