DALLAS—State officials are organizing all-female hunting groups and Wal-Mart sells prettied-up camouflage in an effort to woo girls and reverse a national decline in hunting.

“There are a lot more girls than there used to be,” said Bliss Long, 17, who started hunting with her father and now works at a coed hunting and fishing camp. “They want to get back in the outdoors now ... away from the TVs and video games and shopping.”

About 15 percent of 2008 youth licenses, or 20,000, went to girls under 17. That’s up 6,000 from 2003, when Texas Parks & Wildlife began tracking the information.

The girls could help offset an expected loss of $346,000 next year when some older hunters turn 65 and stop paying full price for licenses, said Tom Newton, who manages license revenue for Texas Parks & Wildlife.

“With the baby boomers coming up in age, the drop will be larger,” Newton told The Dallas Morning News. “We have to have young folks out there to fill a growing decline.”

Nationwide, the number of hunters fell 11 percent from 1991 to 2006, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey. About 9 percent of the nation’s 12.5 million hunters are female, a slight increase since 1991.

Some are as young as Makaylah Loveless of Burleson, who skinned her first deer two years ago, when she was 9. She has a closet full of camouflage clothes, including a T-shirt with orange butterflies.

“Females are the key to our success in the future,” said Jerry Warden, executive director of Texas Wildlife’s youth hunting program.

Not all wildlife enthusiasts see it that way.

“No matter a person’s gender, we hope that people will do wildlife photography, or go hiking or canoeing when they want to enjoy the outdoors and leave violence out of it,” said Nicole Matthews, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.