Hunting - not for sport/fun

I'm putting this in the doghouse because I know it is going to get a lot of negative comments. It did on my FB page, so I know it will here.

My husband is bird hunting today - duck/goose. He will go dove hunting again when the season opens next week. While he does enjoy going, not because he enjoys killing the animals, he likes getting out in nature and he likes eating the birds he brings home. He doesn't go just to say, "Oh man, I killed x amount of dove this year! look at me, I'm a big man!"

His family has always supplemented their groceries with wild game - from dove to elk. His grandmother used to keep rabbits in the backyard and make meals from them. While I personally do not enjoy the taste of venison, it is part of the family budget to have it in the freezer. So, it goes on the menu.

I posted on my FB that my husband was going duck hunting today, and got some negative responses. I guess this is just me kind of venting and reminding people that not everyone hunts for sport and some people hunt for other reasons - like survival. While our survival doesn't entirely depend on him getting a duck or anything today - it would be nice to have one in our freezer for the days/paydays we just cannot afford to pay for something at the grocery store. The price of food these days is scary, and anything we can do to offset it is a bonus in my book.

I know I will probably get berated for my husband hunting, but as I said... I am just venting a little. He doesn't do it for funsies, but for foodsies.

I hope he enjoys the day. We humans have eliminated many of the natural predators, and so we need people to pick up their role in some areas.

That always amazes me ...particularly from people that eat meat, eating meat that was hunted is so much more humane...tell them to do their homework!

And if people didn't hunt for food, we'd be overrun with wildlife. There will always be the holier-than-thou, and the bleeding hearts to object to this, and I for one would love to tell each and everyone of them to put a sock in it. :mad: Hunting just for the sport of killing a moving target is one thing - to utilize for a good purpose (such as eating :eek:), is entirely another. Your husband is doing absolutely nothing wrong, and for people to preach and criticize is the only wrong I see here.

BTW - I've had dove hunted and cooked by our very own PT Puckstop - and it's delicious. It was a real treat. Hope your hubby bags a bunch! :)

He just called and he's on the way home. My DH didn't get any, but the guy he went with got a couple.

My favorite of the "game" is dove - my father in law fries them in something similar to pancake batter, and they are SO good! Tiny, but good!

While I'm not CRAZY about hunting, I do believe that as long as it's for food, it's okay. What I don't like is when people go hunting just for an ego trip and bragging rights. I also loathe "game farms" that keep big game enclosed so that idiots can pay lots of $$$$$ to kill them, and have their picture taken with the dead carcus. That's just plain stupid and so unfair to those poor animals. Those kinds of places should be shut down.

Ted Nugent is a avid hunter. BUT...he uses every single part of the animal. He uses it for food. What he doesn't take, he donates to needy families, and shelters.

Some people want to believe meat in the grocery store comes from the meat fairy.:rolleyes: People need to grow up.;) As far as hunting, send your hunters my way, way too many deer in the streets here.:(

While hubby doesn't hunt we don't have anything against it. Out here people hunt to fill their freezers for the winter. I love venison and we have a neighbour who is kind enough to always bring us some when he gets his. So far he hasn't missed a year. They rarely eat meat from the butchers, they prefer wild meat.
The bonus is that I get all the leftovers to feed my dog. Nothing goes to waste. Don't understand why people make hunting so ugly when for most it's a way of saving and feeding the family.

Not a dove, but my cousin just brought in a lovely 8 point buck that will feed her and her hubby for quite awhile! I like the idea of my meat having lived wild and being killed humanely rather than being factory farmed...

I have read everyone's comments and can see the truth in them. But I could never let a man touch me who looked any animal in the eye and killed it nor would I have a child wit that man. I would always fear that if he could murder an animal he could murder a human.
I know this is not a popular stance but it is how I feel and I have that right.

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

I have read everyone's comments and can see the truth in them. But I could never let a man touch me who looked any animal in the eye and killed it nor would I have a child wit that man. I would always fear that if he could murder an animal he could murder a human.
I know this is not a popular stance but it is how I feel and I have that right.

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You don't eat meat or poultry purchased at a butcher shop or grocery store? Just curious........

I eat meat, I would rather know where it came from.

As long as he tries to make a clean kill. We have enough deer and geese where I live where I wish I had the money to shoot them and have them made into food rather than buying from the store. You'd have to prepare the meat all on your own in order to save money though and I'm not doing that. Not to mention safety courses, ammo, permits, all cost money. I'd rather our human population was just smaller though so there was more areas for wildlife to live without needing to weed out the animals when their population exceeds what little land we leave for them.

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

I have read everyone's comments and can see the truth in them. But I could never let a man touch me who looked any animal in the eye and killed it nor would I have a child wit that man. I would always fear that if he could murder an animal he could murder a human.
I know this is not a popular stance but it is how I feel and I have that right.

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I share your thoughts. I don't think it is any different of a stance than someone that says, "I could never be with someone that doesn't believe in God", or, "I couldn't ever be with someone that DOES believe in God", or, "I couldn't ever live with a smoker/drinker".

It is a different belief/value system/stance. As long as everyone is afforded their right to have their view, we all should be just fine.

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Originally Posted by IRescue452

We have enough deer and geese where I live where I wish I had the money to shoot them and have them made into food rather than buying from the store.

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I wonder if you could connect with a local hunter, and offer them compensation for game, are you in an area where that might work? Just a thought.

I have no problems with people hunting, especially if they are willing to share. Better venison in the pot than all over my car.:p

I, obviously, have no issue with hunting for food. I don't like hunting for antlers. if you aren't going to use it for food, leave it alone. I enjoy wild game. While I don't think I could hunt (too much waiting around, up too early, and there is no way I could clean it myself lol) I definitely appreciate that hubby can and will and puts delicious food on the table.

I envy those that have hubbies who can hunt and have a freezer full of wild game. I was as glad mine wasn't a hunter because things weren't too strict before and we had a few accidental mishaps where people were killed so I was glad he wasn't wandering the bush.
I would rather be eating wild game than be eating the junk they have on the shelves today though. No harmful antibiotics or hormones . Tastier too in my opinion.

If there weren't hunters in NJ, we'd have an EVEN bigger deer problem then we already do. I, too, believe that every part, if not all parts of the animal should be used. However, alot of people I know are in it for the sport as well as for food. They do both. Like I said, New Jersey had a huge deer population problem. Ask my brother, he got into a huge accident thanks to a 4 point huge buck. Sometimes, they have a bear season as well depending on the population up north.

I never understood why people always said 'if you can't kill your own meat don't eat it' or whatever. That's one of the absurd things I have ever heard. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if you eat meat from a butcher or that comes from a farm (especially huge commercial farms) and are against hunting (even for food), well you might be surprised at what you find out.

I don't mind hunting as long as it is for the meat and not the ego. Last night I made some delicious deer meat chilli that my brother in law gave us.

There are two deer season here starting next week. I have seen sick deer on my hikes due to over population. There was a doe with three fawns running around our area this summer. The dogs ran into a buck in rut two weeks ago. That was a hair raising experience. It took me over half an hour to get the dogs rounded up. The wild meat from wild animals like squirrels, rabbits, raccoon, deer, elk, bear, etc., is very lean & healthy. We all wouldn't be hear if our ancestors hadn't of found wild game to live on. All of the people that I know that hunt do it out of necessity.

I like hunting for antlers-lol. In the winter when the deer shed them naturally. They don't need to lose their lives to lose their antlers.

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Originally Posted by IRescue452

I like hunting for antlers-lol. In the winter when the deer shed them naturally. They don't need to lose their lives to lose their antlers.

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Do you ever find them? I know some critters eat them up for the protein!

DH and his dad went dove hunting today. Hoping they bring home plenty for lunch. They are tasty.

Hardly worth the $$ DH is spending in gas and wear/tear on the car to drive down to where the hunting spot is, but it will also give him time with his 70 year old father that he doesn't get very often anymore. It's well worth it. Plus, my father in law makes yummy fried dove (I mentioned that earlier in the thread), which is my favorite of the wild game meats.

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Originally Posted by Scooter's Mom

DH and his dad went dove hunting today. Hoping they bring home plenty for lunch. They are tasty.

Hardly worth the $$ DH is spending in gas and wear/tear on the car to drive down to where the hunting spot is, but it will also give him time with his 70 year old father that he doesn't get very often anymore. It's well worth it. Plus, my father in law makes yummy fried dove (I mentioned that earlier in the thread), which is my favorite of the wild game meats.

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How does he keep it from having that gamey taste? I've only had it once and didn't like it because it tasted too wild.

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Originally Posted by dukedogsmom

How does he keep it from having that gamey taste? I've only had it once and didn't like it because it tasted too wild.

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I don't cook it, but from what I know - he soaks it in cold water, lets it out, soaks again, etc - repeats until when he soaks them the water doesn't go pink with blood. Once you get the bloodiness out, the gamy taste should be gone.

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Originally Posted by Scooter's Mom

I don't cook it, but from what I know - he soaks it in cold water, lets it out, soaks again, etc - repeats until when he soaks them the water doesn't go pink with blood. Once you get the bloodiness out, the gamy taste should be gone.

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yes this ^^^^... hubby adds a little salt to the water when he does it. I heard milk is also good to soak game in to help with the gamey flavor

My uncle and cousin have always hunted ever since I can remember. While I never really ate too much of what they got, I'm not against it. I am against the "trophys" he has displayed in his house. They just creep me out.

When I was growing up out in the country we raised cows, pigs and chickens to be butchered. We always had a full freezer (or two) of meat. I watched plenty of these animals be butchered. Yet I grew up and I am a huge animal lover. I am not a vegetarian. But at this point in my life....I'd rather not see my meal alive before I'm going to eat it. I would never make it on the show Survivor. And I can't stand to see the lobster tank at the local Chinese restaurant.

Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield.:(

http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...yssey=obinsite

I want to know how this guy hunts for his meat, I have never seen camoflauge that looks like that?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...d-mcdonald.jpg

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Originally Posted by RICHARD

I want to know how this guy hunts for his meat, I have never seen camoflauge that looks like that?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...d-mcdonald.jpg

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LOL! He won't have worry about being shot by another hunter.