Oct. 17th, Meg and Dad are up at dark-thirty and read to go for a drive up to hunting country, me I didnt get to go this time, Dublin had his puppy evaluation on that Sat.
My Dad never took me hunting when I was a kid, I never hunted until I married my husband. I have harvested a cow elk and two deer in the last 20 years, LOL it doesnt seem like much but it is a lot of fun, and not all about killing the animal either. We wont get to hunt much this year Hubby doesnt have any time off, with his new job and all, so we will go when we can, weekends or what ever. Just to get out and be in the Mtns is good for the soul.
I'm such a wimp. I know it would make me feel sad to kill an elk or other wildlife, but I know I could do it, if I had to provide food for my family.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do understand, that because we humans have helped destroy the top predators, the prey animals, especially deer and elk have produced more than their is food available for them to eat. So, it is necessary to hunt them every year to keep the numbers down.
I've eaten elk before and liked it even better than deer actually.
What sort of meals do you make with the elk and grouse?
I love seeing your family dressed all in camo gear, too.
~Lisa
ps Thanks for stopping by my 'got milk' post and leaving me a nice comment. I replied to you there :)
Ah Lisa, hunting isnt for everyone : ) We eat Elk and Deer steaks and hamburger, that we grind outselves and sometimes a roast, chicken fried steak. The grouse tends to be tuff so has to be simmered slowly, I usually cook it with chicken.
ReplyDeleteYeah I was jealous they were all "camoed" up LOL
Good luck to the hunters!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not for everyone -- I couldn't take a life like that! Heck, I don't even kill spiders in the house anymore because I feel bad if I do. Only yesterday I let a fly out of my car, only to feel bad when I realized I'd probably killed him by letting him out into the cold! :::sigh:::
ReplyDeleteI have to say, though, that I've eaten elk before and really liked it. I do eat meat occasionally and as long as I don't think too hard about where it came from, I'm okay with that.
I dont have a problem harvesting an animal. If my horse broke a leg or I couldnt get the vet out I probably could shoot them if I had to. Its a lot better than watching them suffer for hours and hours, if you have ever seen a horse in the throws of colic, or the aftermath....
ReplyDeleteAnyway I have a wierd desease that makes deer and elk look like the butcher cuts poster LOL LOL backstrap is the best!
All I can say is, each to his or her own.
I do kill spiders and flys with no remorse.
My husband worked with Tibetin buddists for 15 years, an interesting experience.
I've never understood why putting an animal out of its suffering is considered noble, while putting a person out of their suffering is considered murder. I personally think that the idea that suffering is too great to bear is a human concept -- it's how we make ourselves feel better for not making the same efforts to prolong an animal's life, as we would make for a parent or sibling.
ReplyDeleteI sat with Panama's mom after the accident while we waited for the vet, and honestly I'm not sure why her suffering was any greater than that of the four-year-old girl I once saw break her arm on the playground. Do we think that an animal has a greater capacity to feel pain than a little girl? Because I'm pretty sure that little girl didn't have any more understanding of the pain than a horse would.
I dont believe it is noble at all, it is a necesary evil. An animal does not have the mental ability to understand why the pain is so bad and will harm itself farther until ultimatly killing itself, and suffering even more. Why is it noble to put them out of this misery? They do not have the mental capacity to deal with why they are in pain, humans do and can at least rationalize it. Its not that they have more pain or capacity for pain, but they do not have the mental capacity to deal with it and understand it, to understand that the pain meds will help them etc etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is a whole can of worms, and I dont believe in anthromorphizing animals, they do not think or react like a human. To many people get into this train of thought and get caught up with PETA and other extremist groups.Yes I believe they have their own feeling and pleasure and thoughts etc. but it is so different from the human state of being.
This is my blog and my opinion. Sorry if I offended anyone, I wondered if a hunting post would bring something like this out.
Hey Pam, in the spirit of offering our own opinions, I don't think there is actually any proof that animals don't have the mental capacity to understand things like pain. I think the horse's flight instinct is different than a lack of cognitive understanding.
ReplyDeleteI agree that animals don't necessarily think like people, but that doesn't mean that they don't have the cognitive ability to understand an injury. Furthermore, why do they have to understand why pain meds work? Children don't understand that, but that doesn't change the fact that they do work.
Also, if you are saying that we should euthanize animals because (you assume) they don't have the capacity to understand, should we then do the same with babies? There's no way a 3-month-old understands something like a broken arm, let alone pain meds, so should we just kill an injured baby rather than trying to heal it?
I think we need to agree to disagree. There is no end to the timeless argument.
ReplyDeleteYou're right... Probably best! :o)
ReplyDeleteI have never been hunting before, my other half used to hunt way back in the day! My neighbor hunts and has a room above his shop full of heads! It is so interesting seeing all the animals, some were passed down from family members.
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving the sweet comment about my goat Ralph. It is always so hard to lose a pet, and to have to make a decision like that.
Someone sent me a joke that was about an ad placed in a paper that said
ReplyDeleteTo all you hunters who kill animals for food, shame on you: you ought to go to the store and buy the meat that was made there, where no animals were harmed.
Go figure...
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
Linda, LOL I seen that joke and it cracked me up! Some people are that stupid.
ReplyDeleteLOL! What Day Photo said. My Dad sent that e-mail to me a while back and I was shocked by the ignorance of some people.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply about how you prepare the grouse, elk and deer, too. Have you ever made elk or deer sausage? I've always wanted to try some one day.
My grandpa used to hunt and cook squirell(sp?) all the time when I was a child. I always thought it was the strangest tasting meat. Not bad, mind you....just strange. No way to describe it, really. lol!
~Lisa
Yeah Lisa thats a funny one!
ReplyDeleteMY husbands favorite is to have the scrap made into peparoni, that is really good, and we have had thuringer sausage made too, the trick is finding someone who does it like you like it.
Never have had squirrel LOL maybe deep fried with ketchup LOL LOL :0)