Do You Hunt?

[AnnaFloridaLover]

There are other legitimate reasons for hunting besides filling the freezer. I come from a place where predators were a real threat to livestock and even sometimes personal safety and over-populated game such as deer, elk and moose could decimate a garden or significantly damage grazing land or cultivated crops. Exterminating them was a routine part of farming. (And legal, I might add.)

TBH, I'd be tempted to take a bb gun to the squirrels that dig up my tulip and lily bulbs if it was permitted in the city. I now settle for the hose, which doesn't work very well as a permanent deterrent.

I sometimes feed the few squirrels, only in the winter, that come to my back door looking for food.

 

[ronandannette]

I sometimes feed the few squirrels, only in the winter, that come to my back door looking for food.

{{shudder}} If I knew you liked them I'd buy some of these a bus ticket. The ones around here don't need any help finding food, nor do they need any encouragement. The huge spruce trees just outside my back fence are literally crawling with them 12 months a year. The noise they make - chattering back and forth to one another - can be loud enough that we can't sleep with the windows open in summer.

 

[Squirlz]

We don't have to. They come to us.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

{{shudder}} If I knew you liked them I'd buy some of these a bus ticket. The ones around here don't need any help finding food, nor do they need any encouragement. The huge spruce trees just outside my back fence are literally crawling with them 12 months a year. The noise they make - chattering back and forth to one another - can be loud enough that we can't sleep with the windows open in summer.

Too many of anything is like vermin. Yuck. My cottage neighbor has 8 hummingbird feeders and there are hundreds at any given time. It actually makes my skin crawl when I see so many at once. One or two at a time are beautiful though.

 

[RedAngie]

Does clamming and crabbing count as "hunting?" If so, I'm guilty.

I tried venison a few times, not a fan.

 

[rastahomie]

Not my thing and I have little in common with those who do hunt. That said, my son-in-law is a hunter (deer) and I must say the chili he makes with the venison is very good. He also has some of the venison made into a sort of summer sausage that's pretty tasty.

My grandfather made the most delicious venison summer sausage... and he never fired a gun in his life. Always got meat from his work buddies bringing in their kills. I've also had chili made with ground up deer - it's really delicious, actually, but it's not true venison. More like venison that's been ground up and spiced so much that you can't really tell it's not beef, lol.

 

[Kitty 34]

Not a hunter but when I go by a herd of cows I always look for the best hamburger or roast beef!!!

 

[rastahomie]

{{shudder}} If I knew you liked them I'd buy some of these a bus ticket. The ones around here don't need any help finding food, nor do they need any encouragement. The huge spruce trees just outside my back fence are literally crawling with them 12 months a year. The noise they make - chattering back and forth to one another - can be loud enough that we can't sleep with the windows open in summer.

With us it's the chipmunks and the woodpeckers. Spring and fall, the chipmunks chirp incessantly. It was endearing at first, now not so much. We also have a tree that seems to attract every woodpecker in Missouri. Crack of dawn, every morning, knock-knock-knock-knock-knock, over and over again.

 

[smokeyblue]

I do not hunt, nor would I. As long as there is a purpose other than just "sport", I am okay with it. Hunting is huge where I'm from, so much so, that the first day of deer season is treated as a holiday. Most of my family hunts and they do it responsibly. I don't like venison all that much either. When it's made into sausage or snack sticks it's much better.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

No, I don't, but if it was the best way for me to provide meat for my family, I absolutely would!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I don't hunt, but my state is well known for its hunting. I have nothing against your average hunter. I am generally against hunting certain types of animals. For example, several times my state has tried to legalize the hunting of Mourning Doves. I do not see the point (or the sport) in hunting an animal so small you can't eat it, and so dumb that you can easily walk within 3 feet of them before they'll fly off. But hunters of deer and turkey and (non-endangered) duck are totally cool with me.

Big game hunteres I have a problem with. But I've only ever met a few of those in my life. Most folks aren't rich enough to do that.

 

[amberpi]

No I don't hunt, and I'm not close with anyone who hunts, but god, I love pheasant and duck, but we can always get duck at the local butcher, he often calls when he has more unusual things available, and I can always go out to one of a zillion cool, interesting restaurants to eat those things, but I just wanted to say that those things that are supplied to some of my favorite local places, are delicious! Squab is a particular favorite, don't know where its sourced, regardless of where I eat it, (Nashville, New York, Boston, wherever) but its a favorite.

 

[DawnM]

My father hunted while it was still legal. We ate quite a bit of the meat, and we have some skins from some animals.

 

[whitney250]

I do I love having a stocked freezer!

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

No I don't hunt, and I'm not close with anyone who hunts, but god, I love pheasant and duck, but we can always get duck at the local butcher, he often calls when he has more unusual things available, and I can always go out to one of a zillion cool, interesting restaurants to eat those things, but I just wanted to say that those things that are supplied to some of my favorite local places, are delicious! Squab is a particular favorite, don't know where its sourced, regardless of where I eat it, (Nashville, New York, Boston, wherever) but its a favorite.

Wikipedia: The modern squab industry uses utility pigeons. Squabs are raised until they are roughly a month old, when they reach adult size but have not yet flown, before being slaughtered.

 

[amberpi]

Wikipedia: The modern squab industry uses utility pigeons. Squabs are raised until they are roughly a month old, when they reach adult size but have not yet flown, before being slaughtered.

Welp, now I feel let down, since I frequent restaurants who usually tell you what orchard the pears with the cheese plate come from, and the honey, and the cheese, and, and, and. I can't for the life of me think of seeing the sourcing info on squab and now I may know why

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

Welp, now I feel let down, since I frequent restaurants who usually tell you what orchard the pears with the cheese plate come from, and the honey, and the cheese, and, and, and. I can't for the life of me think of seeing the sourcing info on squab and now I may know why

When I was in Egypt, squab was on the menu everywhere, even at their KFC's.

 

[Disney_traveler]

Guns just scare me and I'm not steady enough for a bow and not patient enough for fishing. All of my family hunts and brings home meat for the freezers and has antler mounts, shoulder mounts, a couple boar shoulder mounts and one "dive bombing turkey".

Personally I understand people going 100% vegetarian because they don't want a living thing killed. I also understand people not wanting to hunt because they personally don't want to kill.

What I don't get behind are the people saying they don't eat wild game because it was killed by someone but consuming commercial meats from the grocery store or a restaurant. You can't just harvest a t-bone from beef cattle and they hand it over and grow another.

My degrees are in agriculture and I've watched my share of slaughter videos (pork, beef and poultry). It is done in the most humane and as pain free as possible, but the end result is necessary.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

Guns just scare me and I'm not steady enough for a bow and not patient enough for fishing. All of my family hunts and brings home meat for the freezers and has antler mounts, shoulder mounts, a couple boar shoulder mounts and one "dive bombing turkey".

Personally I understand people going 100% vegetarian because they don't want a living thing killed. I also understand people not wanting to hunt because they personally don't want to kill.

What I don't get behind are the people saying they don't eat wild game because it was killed by someone but consuming commercial meats from the grocery store or a restaurant. You can't just harvest a t-bone from beef cattle and they hand it over and grow another.

My degrees are in agriculture and I've watched my share of slaughter videos (pork, beef and poultry). It is done in the most humane and as pain free as possible, but the end result is necessary.

I could send a zillion slaughter videos that show a horror story for the animals most people consume but here is not the place. A quick google should suffice though.

 

[Monykalyn]

DH and middle DD are hunters. Always have deer meat in freezer. The sausage is very popular among friends. And I just used venison tenderloins in a brazilian meat dish (marinated in a ton of spices) that was grilled-no gamey taste here and I'd bet noone would be able to tell either. I also have backyard chickens -but I raise them for eggs. My father in law gives us pheasant (when he can find them-has to go out of state to find pheasant now) and duck. All my kids know, and appreciate, where their food comes from. Big game hunting just to have a trophy though? Yeah not so much.