Don Thomas Spot On!

[Stephen Graf]

#4887

Well, mostly…

So I got my TBM today and uncharacteristically I opened it right away (usually takes me a day or two to get the time it deserves). I just finished the editors note, and now I am typing within minutes…

I totally support the idea that there is a convergence of the whole food traditions and the hunting traditions. But I don’t see them as strange bedfellows. To me it is an obvious match. I was a hunter long before I realized how unhealthy industrial food is. Hunting led me to know my food better.

Conversely, knowing your food better will also lead you to hunting. Case in point, I am mentoring a 40 year old mom in the finer aspects of making meat with a bow. She came to hunting through her pursuit of good food for her family.

Another Case in point: We have a 4th of july party every year. The first year, squirrel stew was the center piece of the spread. Most noses went up, and it didn’t get eaten. The next year (with a full year to think about it and work up courage), folks asked what was in the pot. It was bear. The years after that have seen moose, caribou, elk, deer, rabbit, etc. This year it will be beaver. Now the pot is always empty before dark, and sometimes I don’t even get a taste.

So I say Cheers to Mr. Thomas and to all the “foodies” out there, eyes open to the circle of life. May your garden grow well, and may a tasty doe always come our way!!

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#34841

Haven’t read it yet, Steve, but I’m looking forward to it.

I too have read some opinions in the past by long-time hunters looking down their nose at newcomers to the sport, who are coming at it from the “foodie” angle, and who are often folks who have recently moved to more rural areas and (re)discovered the joys of working for their food. In my opinion we as hunters should be doing exactly the opposite!

The way I see it, the more people we recruit to our ranks, the more advocates for hunting rights, and for habitat protection, that we will have, and that we need. Speaking in broad generalities, most of these folks are not “slob hunters,” but conscientious people who care about the food they eat, and about the environment they spend time in. These are good and laudable things, which should be encouraged, imo.

[James Harvey]

#34870

Well said guys. Down here there is an outfit that shoots a lot of roos every year as part of a government controlled cull. Historically those animals have ended up in dog food aisle’s, but recently these guys have been packaging the best cuts (backstraps mostly) and selling them alongside beef steaks in the markets. They’re growing in popularity all the time and open peoples minds and palette’s to wild game. Also to the idea that a ‘wild’ animal, killed in an imperfect way in the field, is no crueller than an animal perfectly killed at the end of a process of collecting, shipping and prepping for slaughter.

I suppose a concern should always be maintaining the best interests of wildlife once they become a usable economic resource. Money and demand are often motivators for determined poachers.

[Etter1]

#35139

Tailfeather re-posted an article on here recently that he pulled from GA’s most popular hunting forum. It was about how hipster types are getting into the farm-to-table craze and some have gone to taking up hunting to accomplish that goal. You wouldn’t believe the responses from the typical southern, ignorant, redneck, slobs that I read over there. Not surprisingly, they were largely homophobic as well.

Anyway, I welcome those types to the clan. We could use more respectful, open-minded types, rather than the horn porn, food plot, rack tapers that have taken over the “sport”.

PS- I’ve long been banned from that site and proud to say so.

[Wexbow]

#36029

Same foodie movement is occurring over here in terms of hunting, fishing and home-rearing/growing. And I agree with Don, it’s good for supporting ethical hunting.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#41167

The neighbors to the south of our Wisconsin property are a very nice older hippie couple. They are into organic gardening, free range this and that, and foraging off the land. They are also not very keen on the idea of hunting, although they have given me permission to track and recover animals should they cross the property line. Despite our differing ideas about many subjects, we all get along very well.

Both neighbors have free reign from my wife and me to pick blueberries and black berries on our property, and to hunt for mushrooms. Shortly after we bought the place, the lady in the couple told me she likes to pick a wild mushroom called Boletes that apparently grows in the area. I’ve been looking for them ever since, but only found one dried up mushroom a couple years ago.

Yesterday I was shooting on our archery range in the yard when I set down my bow and noticed several pounds of Boletes just inside the edge of our pines. I picked and sorted them into two equal piles, and gave half of them to our neighbors. They were so thrilled they invited me to come back later for dinner, which happened to include some of the mushrooms. Ironically enough, the topic of organic food came up, which included a few comments by me about how meat doesn’t get any more “organic” than wild game.

I now have an unsolicited standing offer to hunt their land whenever I want. I don’t think I’ll accept, but it’s nice to see someone who was once somewhat against the pastime have a minor change of heart.

[David Petersen]

#41257

J. — I would accept the offer, then share the meat with your hosts …not just give them some raw flesh, but invite them over for a nicely prepared venison roast, and invite them to bring contributions from their gardening and gathering. This basic outline is also known as an “Orion dinner,” which that MT group stages (or used to at least) overtly to bring hunters and nonhunters together around a bounty of natural food. Locavorism, IMHO, should and often can trump hunter/nonhunter misunderstandings. Good going.

[Ben M.]

#41638

You know, the venison in my area simply cannot be considered organic. Free range, certainly, but not organic. The deer feed constantly on row crops, waste grain, and bait grain grown with the use of herbicides and pesticides. Every deer I’ve ever killed had corn in its rumen. Near as I can tell, they eat a diet very similar to the cattle in the area.

[James Harvey]

#33596

Webmom my choose to delete the following as it contains rifle hunting, but I thought it was appropriate to this discussion… A news story about confronting the reality of the food on your plate and a well bred foodie getting involved.

[Anonymous]

#33844

These are the attitudes, the conversations, and the thoughts that will not only save hunting but improve it, strengthen it, and pass along a better, viable heritage to our children and grandchildren.

Yes, Don Thomas is correct – absolutely so. So, too, and more so are the comments on this thread.

Oh, and J., accept the offer and share the bounty through an “Orion Dinner”.

[Author]

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