164
by CHWolff
The meat hunter doesn't kill to eat. The grocery is where the meat hunter gets most food and he/she hunts for reasons beyond subsistence. Hunting's a connection to the past, the outdoors, it's a totally different way to be in nature than hiking trails and it gives an appreciation for animals that non-hunters don't get. There are many reasons to hunt but doing it for food in 2019 USA isn't one of them.
People think it's righteous to "eat what you kill". Eating an elk steak or deer sausage makes hunting OK but that's simply not true. For one thing, hunting doesn't need absolution. The guilt they are trying to assuage is artificial. For another thing most hunters don't eat much of the animal. They'll take the quarters and backstrap. Maybe some other pieces depending on how far it is to carry and how convenient. Lots of this gets ground up and mixed with pig to make burger. They leave ribs, brains, tongue, cheek, stomach contents, lungs, heart, kidney, liver and bone marrow among other things. They often leave the hide or big parts of it. I'm good with them leaving lots of animal where the animal died and even prefer it. I'm not OK with them pretending to be virtuous because they make some steaks and shit.
I've eaten about everything that a deer has to give including toe cartilage, skin, guts, gut contents (great survival food) even fetus from a pregnant doe killed on the highway and I guarantee that nobody in this country eats the whole animal. We just don't do it. We take enough that society says it's O.K. in some sort of commonly agreed, feel good, pat on the back sanctimony. It's bullshit. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny and it's the epitome of human arrogance.
Hunt! Get out there and trophy hunt if you wish. Learn the animals, get in the bush, get close to them and if you're lucky take a shot. The skills you build will serve you well and you will learn something about yourself, about the animal people and about nature. Always remember that nothing goes to waste in the wild. Leaving the animal where it lived gives back to the wild place that raised it and is the best conservation you can do. Way better than hauling it to a town, processing it and flushing many useful calories down some sort of drain.