Sunday, February 14, 2010

Here is my rant!

I always hear people say that hunters don’t need to hunt they just like killing. I can't take it anymore, I am tired of people saying that it costs me more money to hunt than to buy beef by the pound. It is not true for me.  I live in a rural mountain community in E. Tennessee and I can’t afford to buy enough Beef to feed a family of four. So I use reloaded bullets(which I only shoot 10-15 bullets a year which includes sighting in and killing 2-4 deer myself a year) in a 30-06 that my father passed down to me for free to kill deer which I cut up my self. (I did buy a vacuum sealer and an lay down freezer 10 years ago) but it costs me next to nothing to put 6-7 deer in the freezer every year. I also help a friend with a large garden so we can split the bounty (he has land, I have knowledge) It would be like saying I don’t need to grow my own potatoes I just like digging. I think deer meat is much healthier than beef as well. I know the meal. No one else handles it. My family will never have E-Coli from beef or tomatoes. although it does not bother me, I don’t like killing anymore than I like cleaning fish or picking blackberries. I like being outside and I like eating blackberry pie. I like being self sufficient. You have to kill a deer to eat it. I also like shooting guns. I shoot them at targets, coke cans, and furry woodland creatures that taste good. I didn't kill the can but I enjoy the challenge of marksmanship. I have no hard feelings toward trophy hunters. I receive most of my meat from trophy hunters who call me after they shoot a rack buck and I come and get the deer to cut up for my family ( win win situation they get the trophy, I get the meat).  However I do have a problem with the perception that all hunters are trophy hunters. I hunt because it feels natural. As natural as growing tomatoes.  More natural than driving to a large crowded building and pointing to a hunk of meat that another man picks up, wraps and hands to you. Even Though you have no idea where it came from.  I do enjoy my time in the woods........far more than time in the super market.  Your pal the Envirocapitalist.





3 comments:

  1. Hey Gabe,
    Excellent post with which I agree 100%. A lot of the problem with “do gooding, fluffy bunny hugging types” is that half the time they don’t even realise or understand the processes from whence their cellophane Sunday roast comes. To hunt your own food, whether meat or berries, is the best way to respect, understand and appreciate it.
    Regards,
    John

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  2. Thanks for commenting John. I just feel like I am trapped in the middle of the people who worry about their foods emotion or how much pain it suffers before they eat it and the people who waste good food by cutting the antlers off and leaving the rest to spoil. I think one is as wrong as the other. Your Pal the Envirocapitalist.

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  3. I would love to know more about E. Tennessee and the Park. Wondering if you do any stream fishing over there. Thanks for looking me up.

    r.

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