Mother Earth News

[Stumpkiller]

#5500

Nice article and kudos to David Peterson! Highlighting hunting and images featuring traditional archery to an audience not normally keen on hunting (though many Mother Earth readers do so.)

Very nicly done, Dave.

To borrow from John Voelker: “I hunt because I love to, because I love the environs where deer are found . . .”

[Ed Ashby]

#41613

Way to go, Dave! 😀

Ed

[David Petersen]

#42376

Thanks, guys. I was the western editor for MEN back in the ’80s and it’s nice hooking back up with them, via an editor who doesn’t hunt but understands how it fits with the magazine’s “back to the land, take control of your own life, do more with less” theme. Best of all it let’s us get the good news about hunting out to a huge (over a million subscribers) audience of mostly nonhunters. And overall the reaction has been gratifying. Ironically, this past weekend, I received (through the magazine) several letters from disgruntled vegan MEN readers who think I’m evil for praising hunting as an honorable way to feed ourselves … and at the same time I’m writing responses to TBM readers who think I’m a liberal elitist because I set high standards for hunting and wildlife management. The fate of a contrarian, but I don’t mind. 😛 Like an old friend advised, honest men have a right to disagree.

[strait-aero]

#42381

I think it was great that you were able to reach this mass of non-hunters with your message,Dave. I’m sure you handled it well. 😉

Wayne

[CareyE]

#42534

Stay true Dave. God knows there’s very few that do these days.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#42551

David Petersen wrote: Ironically, this past weekend, I received (through the magazine) several letters from disgruntled vegan MEN readers who think I’m evil for praising hunting as an honorable way to feed ourselves … and at the same time I’m writing responses to TBM readers who think I’m a liberal elitist because I set high standards for hunting and wildlife management.

As an old Forest Service employee once told me – “if both sides are pissed off at you, you’re probably doing something right.”

[David Coulter]

#42640

I’ll have to look for that issue. The far, far left and the far, far right are neither liberal or conservative, but I suppose like all the other animals in the forest, they have their place, too. dwcphoto

[David Petersen]

#42734

I like that, David, and may have to steal it from you, maybe as: “Extreme liberals and extreme conservatives are neither liberals nor conservatives, but just extremists.” Something like that …

[David Coulter]

#42755

Feel free, although I’m sure I’m not the first to say it. I look forward to seeing the Mother Jones piece. I’ve enjoyed your writing since I found your interview in the Sun. It’s good to read something by someone who just makes sense.

Best, dwc

[Fallguy]

#42782

Dave Petersen a “Centrist” who would have guessed it.

[JodyS]

#42860

Centrist? Ho! I never thought that ole DP would be considered middle of the road in any of his views. Must be a heck of a wide road. 8)

In all seriousness, one of the great things about Dave is that he doesn’t wear any label very well…and I suspect most of us don’t either. Thank God for that!

[Stumpkiller]

#46288

David Petersen wrote: Ironically, this past weekend, I received (through the magazine) several letters from disgruntled vegan MEN readers who think I’m evil for praising hunting as an honorable way to feed ourselves … and at the same time I’m writing responses to TBM readers who think I’m a liberal elitist because I set high standards for hunting and wildlife management.

Please pass the word back to MEN that, as a carnivore and a subscriber, I am offended and upset by all the images they feature of helpless vegetables just lined up innocently for the slaughter.

It’s just evil.

[CarolinaBob]

#46746

Vegan,wasn’t Hitler a vegan?

[David Petersen]

#47004

Good point, Charlie. I’ll pass it along. But to be clear, my recent pro-hunting articles both in the magazine and on their website, have netted a lot of support as well, from open-minded nonhunters as well as hunters. It’s just that when people are pleased with something they read, we most often just think “nice,” and forget about it. Once in a while we will write the author, which is how I know I have support. But it’s human nature to write in protest when we see something we don’t like. So editors of all magazines get a “hate mail” out of proportion to support mail. Thus, it’s a standard of the industry that one support letter is worth 10 hate letters. Still, it would be nice if folks who approve of a controversial message let the editors know, else there’s a tendency to censor that message and/or writer in the future. The politics of words. 😯

[Fletcher]

#47148

I also was a MEN reader/subscriber back in the 80’s. Still have many issues buried away someplace. I’ll have to find this issue and check it out, maybe write a letter in support.

[bamboo]

#47858

making sense isn’t all that popular these days–and the more extreme your stance is -the more “news worthy” it is!

[Raymond Coffman]

#48092

I have not read M E N in awhile but went and found a copy and enjoyed Davids Article [ as usual]. Explained the TB ethic/hunting style/Raison d’etre etc{ the Why’s & Wherefore’s} very well. I think it is great, that the Mag* allowed it and that Dave did it, and maybe helped our situation {Passion} by speaking to the folks who might not understand or have not formed an opinion yet on “Hunting”.

Thanks Dave for getting the word out to a wider audience !

Scout

* might peruse it more often in the future — looks like they are willing to show diverse viewpoints.

[David Petersen]

#51630

For anyone who’s interested, here’s a direct link to the article online: http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-community/wild-meat-zm0z12fmzalt.aspx

Nicely off-setting the uninformed emotional letters from vegans against my “Why I Eat Wild Meat” article in Mother Earth News, this one just came in. I share it here because I learned a few useful things from the thoughtful writer and thought you might be interested:

Dear Mother;

Bravo for publishing “Why I Eat Wild Meat” in your most recent issue. I have always been puzzled listening to committed locavores bragging to their friends about their favorite source of free-range, grass-fed, organic, local beef, but turning up their noses at the thought of taking to the local woods to humanely harvest a healthier, arguably better-tasting, more sustainable, and much less expensive meat source. David Petersen’s article was spot-on for why wild game should be a staple in any omnivore’s pantry, but he missed two reasons why harvesting wild game is also good for society (vegetarians and omnivores alike). According to the University of Michigan, 14.8 pounds of CO2 is released per pound of beef. When compared with driving 200 miles to my nearest forest to harvest a cow elk that yields 175 pounds of lean meat, I’m releasing only 1.3 pounds of CO2 per pound of elk. My hunting trip prevented more than 2,360 pounds of CO2 from being released into everyone’s atmosphere. Second, a demand for large amounts of harvestable wild game (not just a few animals in zoos and national parks to look at) requires large amounts of wild land to supply it. Wild game demand translates directly into the creation and protection of more public lands. In the private sector, ranchers who can profit from letting hunters use their land provides incentive to keep private lands wild rather than intensively farmed/grazed or developed. It’s time we all start bragging again about wild game.

Colby Barrett

Grand Junction, CO

[new moon]

#51806

Hi Dave,

I to enjoyed reading your article. After learning about it here I went out and bought a copy of MEN. The article is what I have come to expect from you and summed up many of the reasons that I enjoy wandering the wilds with my bow.

Thanks again,

Josh

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#51846

Excellent response from Mr. Barrett. Sums up my thoughts on the subject as well.

And kudos to MEN for running your piece, Dave. I’m going to have to track down a copy of it.

[Stephen Graf]

#52222

Nice picture of grandson with gramps. I expect that’s the biggest fish ol Dave ever caught!

[David Petersen]

#52408

Actually, Steve, it was the boy’s first fish — he caught and

“landed” it, but wasn’t quite ready to hold it for the camera. He’s long had an Osage longbow on his wall, gradually growing toward being able to shoot it. 😀

Biggest fish I ever caught was an 80lb. bluefin, off the Caroline Outer Banks. In fresh water it was a 25lb mud cat, when I was a teen. At least the tuna was edible.

[Stephen Graf]

#53310

I guess I was thinking metaphorically. If I had used the word held instead of the word caught, it might have sounded better.

[Author]

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