In this undated photo, Cheryl Frank Sullivan, of Underhill, Vt., poses with deer taken during a hunting trip in New York. More women are taking up the largely male dominated sport of hunting as cultural influences, like movie heroines and marketers, make it more socially acceptable and to stock their freezers with local foods.

MONTPELIER, Vt. — More women are taking up the largely male-dominated sport of hunting.

Many of the new female hunters did not grow up hunting and are joining spouses or boyfriends in the sport, researchers say. Hunting outfitters are tapping into that. Movies like “The Hunger Games,” “The Hobbit,” and “Brave,” which feature skilled female archers, have driven more girls and women to the sport, researchers say.

According to the most recent data from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, the number of female hunters rose from 1.2 million in 2006 to 1.5 million in 2011, a 25 percent increase. From 2001 to 2011, the percentage of hunters who were female rose from 9 percent to 11 percent.

One of them is Tammy Miller, 46, of Fairfax, Vt., a bow hunter who recently got a 931-pound bull moose, setting an archery record in Vermont, after scouting the area for weeks.

She became interested in hunting more than 10 years ago after divorcing and becoming a single parent trying to make ends meet. She met the man who is now her husband, an avid hunter who taught her and bought her first bow.

“Once I started, the experience of being quiet in nature and being able to provide for my family, I was hooked,” Miller said.

For fellow hunter Cheryl Frank Sullivan, 34, of Underhill, Vt., hunting provides a sense of empowerment to be self-sufficient.

Researchers say marketers are helping to lure women to hunting.

“It's almost like the chicken-or-egg thing. There's certainly been a slight increase in female hunters. The marketing folks have grabbed onto that, they've started using images of females hunting and shooting so more and more females are doing it,” said Mark Damian Duda of Virginia-based Responsive Management, which does surveys for federal and state fish and wildlife departments.

Lisa Stinson of Velpen, Ind., got drawn in when she tried hunting about 12 years ago. The 33-year-old likes the peacefulness of being outdoors, away from everyday life. The food is another bonus.

“I like the fact that it is fresh and I know where it came from,” she said. “I know that there's no added hormones.”

More families also are taking their daughters, as well as sons, hunting, said Michelle Cain with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife in Indiana, where the number of licenses sold to women rose from 17,541 in 2006 to 33,922 in 2014, a 93 percent increase.

One explanation for the change is economic, said Mary Zeiss Stange, a professor of women's studies and religion at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and author of “Woman the Hunter.”

Women have more disposable income and a history of entering male-dominated activities, ranging from careers to recreational and other pursuits, she said.