Today I'm going to use the last of the meat from an elk my dad shot in 2006. I really like the mild flavor and have been able to use it in many different dishes instead of beef or hamburger.In a lot of ways I feel that hunting takes more responsibility for the animal's life than if I were to buy the meat in a store. I killed it, and if I don't put it to good use, that's my responsibility. I don't feel the same way about meat I buy in the store. At the store, meat is a consumable product, not a breathing, grazing, walking life force. I don't see store bought meat live or die, I have no real conection to it. It somehow tastes better and means more when I am directly connected to the life process. This also means I have a duty to insure that my part of that bull or buck's death is as quick and clean as possible, and this is where the whole process begins.
I need to look over hundreds of square miles, and once I find them, study their habits so that I know when and where to find them on opening morning. To do this I need to understand feeding and bedding habits, which slopes will tend to be better for finding that mature bull, and which herds have the genetics for big antler growth. I need to become not just familiar, but an expert with the weapon I'll be using. I'll need to spend hours deciding which load/arrow weight will have enough energy to penatrate and kill my quarry cleanly, while still being light enough so that I will have the greatest effective range. After that comes the reloading and load development, then practice with it.
8 comments:
Steve,
Welcome to the blogging world! I love any connection to my family and although I know hardly anything about hunting, I can appreciate what you said about being part of the life cycle and feeling a responsibility for that life.
Heres to more of your insights to come!
This is greater than great. What a nice opening to your thesis. Will told me about your blog (and has just shown it to me). I am excited and know that you will excel at this. I look forward to knowing more of your brain and what you are working on.
Beautiful Bro. Really beautiful. Mill's right about this post as a great start. I hadn't thought of this yet, but it really will be great for all of us to learn from you about you and what you really love to do and think about.
We're all off on a great adventure here with you leading the way.
Very interesting. I used to think hunting was cruel and unusual, until I delved into learning about how commercially raised animals are treated and horrible the meat is for us. There was a great chapter in Michael Pollan's omnivores dilemma devoted for hunting and he pointed out some very ethical and incredible arguments about how everyone should hunt if they want to eat meat. Anyway, since then, I've been curious to learn more about what hunters think and look forward to this.
This is definitely the answer to the thesis quandary. As I told you, I have never seen you so motivated and meticulous as you have been with this accurate delivery of a projectile issue. That coupled with your love for outdoor adventure and hunting make this a perfect outlet for your great accumulated and growing knowledge.
Real good vocabulary too dude!
A really nice-looking blog: nice color choice and great pictures. I'g glad you are in the blogesphere.
D.
P.S. I hope this eventually goes beyond a thesis and shares family news as those cute little boogers grow.
D.
Hey Krog! So nice to see that you're a blogger now. I've never been hunting, but I appreciate how you feel about it. I also agree that people would be more responsible about the meat they eat if the had to do all the work involved in getting it to the table. I look forward to your future posts!
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