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Do you hunt for food?


Randomguy

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SQ got me thinking about this again.  

 

I decided a while back that I am gonna do that when I move, if I can get to a place near enough to the woods to do it.  I have never hunted before, and I am sure I will feel kind of bad about killing bambi and all, at least for a minute, anyway.  At least I will be directly responsible and know I am getting a more natural version of meat and all that.

 

I am sure I will throw up the minute I try to pull guts out or see eyeballs bulging and and hanging out of the skulls and all, though.

 

Have you hunted for food before?

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I've fished and eaten what I caught.  Cleaning the fish isn't bad.  I don't think I could kill a mammal.  

 

I am allergic to seafood, so I can't do that.  Mammals are conceptually the same as fish, right?

 

I killed a bird with a bb gun when I was a kid.  I didn't mean to kill it, and I felt bad, I just wanted to plink it.

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I am a city boy, though!  Can I hire someone to do the cleaning and butchering of it?

 

not for a rabbit or something like that, but yea, big game is no problem.

 

Where I live, there are local meat companies that will process your deer. They even list them in the state game regs so you can find one if you just moved to an area.

 

What they do usually is you give them a deer, gutted and cleaned, and they weigh it and give you the amount of meat you would get off the carcass. You don't necessarily get your deer. You just get some deer meat.

 

That's why anything we get in our family, we take it to my cousin Tom and butcher it there. Over the years Tom has collected the stuff you need to grind meat and pack sausages and all that, This way you know you had a healthy deer, because you were the one who shot it. Some people just shoot anything on hooves.

 

that's not always the best thing to do if you are a meat hunter and not a trophy hunter

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 Tom also knows how to tan hides. About 10 years ago he gave he a tanned hide off a deer he shot and I sewed the hide into a tenor banjo case, complete with a liner, a shoulder strap, extra pocket, nice heavy duty zipper and everything.

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Only when my wife hides the chips from me.

 

I hunt dove and duck on a VERY VERY VERY infrequent basis.  They get eaten, if not my me, then by guys that we hunt with.

 

My wife has gone deer hunting and shot a deer that we ate part of and gave the rest to her cousin and his boys.

 

Used to eat a lot of catfish and crappie back in the day when the family had a weekend cabin on Lake Eufala in Oklahoma.  

 

Now all my fishing is catch and release, except for the trout we catch when we go to Colorado every few years.  They get eaten.

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Used to eat a lot of catfish and crappie back in the day when the family had a weekend cabin on Lake Eufala in Oklahoma.

Now all my fishing is catch and release, except for the trout we catch when we go to Colorado every few years. They get eaten.

i don't think of fishing as "hunting". I've only eaten one black bass, just to try it, but striped bass is tasty.
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I hunt Deer, pheasant, grouse and turkey.  Cleaning and butchering the animals is not necessarily the fun part of the process but is part of it none the less.  One feels a bit like an animal during it.  Like I tell the kids, "We'll wash up when we're done, in the mean time, you shot it, you clean it."   I end up with good, healthy meat that we use.

 

I think this is much more realistic then being insulated from the process such as just buying a cut of meat nicely wrapped in plastic from the super market.  You're eating an animal and you should have an idea of what went into that.  If you can't handle the process maybe you shouldn't be eating it.

 

Most of America is ignorant about meat production.  A far cry from 100 years ago.

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I hunted until my kids were grown and my dad passed away.  I liked to hunt with my dad and as he got older I wanted to make sure he didn't hunt alone.  I never intended to quit hunting I just never got around to doing it again after he died at the age of 83.  I couldn't justify hunting when we didn't need the meat. That said I filled my freezer with lots of deer meat over the years.  I quit small game hunting a long time ago, not much meat on a bunny or squirrel and I don't like the taste of wild goose.

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If one eats meat then it's only right to experience the process that gets it on your plate. The public are too insulated from the reality of where their food comes from these days and especially the children need educated

 

I've always been able to clean and butcher game and even when I was a youngster people brought me fish and game to do this.

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I've always been able to clean and butcher game and even when I was a youngster people brought me fish and game to do this.

 

 

this was something that everyone in my grandma's generation knew how to do

 

just like sewing and cooking from scratch and having basic mechanical skills

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this was something that everyone in my grandma's generation knew how to do

 

just like sewing and cooking from scratch and having basic mechanical skills

.

...interestingly enough (well it's interesting to me, anyway), I learned all this stuff as a morally degenerate, hippie, back-to-the-lander in the 70's.

 

There might have been some sex and drugs involved, too.  :blush:

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If one eats meat then it's only right to experience the process that gets it on your plate. The public are too insulated from the reality of where their food comes from these days and especially the children need educated

 

I've always been able to clean and butcher game and even when I was a youngster people brought me fish and game to do this.

this is what I'm talking about! :)

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I used to be dragged hunting with my Dad.  I have never pulled the trigger on a mammal nor will I.  I basically eat only things I am willing to kill so poultry and seafood are about it. I have no issues with those who do though.  I don't care for the mistreatment of feed animals but that is another issue.

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this is what I'm talking about! :)

.

... it's not just meat.  The majority of our fellow countrymen here in the USofA are completely out of touch with their food supply in general.

 

Here's an example from yesterday.  I'm outside in the front yard, doing some last minute pruning on the cherry tree, and some guy riding by on his bike with two very nice doggies he's running stops and says,

 

"Excuse me, I have a question for you."

 

 "Yes, what is it ?"  

 

"I ride by here alI the time and I see the oranges hanging on the trees.  So I was wondering if i stopped and picked some, if I left you a bag that I picked and took a bag, would that be OK ?"

 

"No, it wouldn't, sorry."

 

He's not a bad person, but he hasn't a clue about the work inputs required to manage that small home citrus orchard in my front yard.  He really thinks that all you have to do is pick the stuff, and if he picks twice as much off my tree and leaves me half, that's a fair deal.  What can you say about that level of clueless ? :)  I am surrounded by high quality produce and foods that I can buy directly from the producers, simply by showing up weekly at a certain time and place.  Additionally, I've never lived anywhere where it was easier to grow your own food.

 

But the bulk of my neighbors still shop at Raleys, or Savemart, or even the new Walmart small groceries that are popping up here. :unhappy:

 

 

 

^^^oranges, just hanging on the tree.laugh3.gif

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What gun do you use to hunt oranges?

.

...we used to take them with a Ruger 10/22 and .22 low velocity hollow points, because then they were already juiced by the time you got them in the bag.

 

But the whole .22LR ammunition shortage has made the whole thing much more difficult, and I might have to apply for an ag subsidy to cover my losses. :unhappy:

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I used to hunt when I was a kid.  Some food, but mostly varmints that the farmers would pay me a bounty for.  No firearms in the home anymore.  Now the hunting is done with a camera as we feed a herd of about 30 deer in the back yard.  Some turkeys and other critters as well.  

 

^^^^I wouldn't know how to hunt an orange though.  Are they fast?

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speaking of hunting for food that isn't an animal...this fall I found a real find out squirrel hunting in October

 

I found not one, but two paw paw patches out in the woods

 

the only thing I ever had that was even in the same league as the paw paw is the Hawaiian papayas when I was stationed on Oahu

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.

... it's not just meat.  The majority of our fellow countrymen here in the USofA are completely out of touch with their food supply in general.

 

Here's an example from yesterday.  I'm outside in the front yard, doing some last minute pruning on the cherry tree, and some guy riding by on his bike with two very nice doggies he's running stops and says,

 

"Excuse me, I have a question for you."

 

 "Yes, what is it ?"  

 

"I ride by here alI the time and I see the oranges hanging on the trees.  So I was wondering if i stopped and picked some, if I left you a bag that I picked and took a bag, would that be OK ?"

 

"No, it wouldn't, sorry."

 

He's not a bad person, but he hasn't a clue about the work inputs required to manage that small home citrus orchard in my front yard.  He really thinks that all you have to do is pick the stuff, and if he picks twice as much off my tree and leaves me half, that's a fair deal.  What can you say about that level of clueless ? :)  I am surrounded by high quality produce and foods that I can buy directly from the producers, simply by showing up weekly at a certain time and place.  Additionally, I've never lived anywhere where it was easier to grow your own food.

 

But the bulk of my neighbors still shop at Raleys, or Savemart, or even the new Walmart small groceries that are popping up here. :unhappy:

 

 

attachicon.gifGarden 006.JPG

 

^^^oranges, just hanging on the tree.laugh3.gif

that is a beautiful orange tree!

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.

...we used to take them with a Ruger 10/22 and .22 low velocity hollow points, because then they were already juiced by the time you got them in the bag.

 

But the whole .22LR ammunition shortage has made the whole thing much more difficult, and I might have to apply for an ag subsidy to cover my losses. :unhappy:

.22 is becoming available again.  I have about 2500 rds but I also have 2 kids that both have .22 rifles.  2,500 rounds won't last long.

 

I have fished, and I typically eat what I catch.  I shoot a lot but mostly paper or clay targets.  My son really wants to deer hunt so I guess I will take him.  I am certainly in a minority around here not being a hunter.  I would like to know how though, I would like to understand how to put meat on the table when Obama screws this country up beyond repair.

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When I lived in France I grew Melons and Tomatoes outside, which was a new experience for someone accustomed to the usually dreich Scottish weather (we don't have anything as predictable as a climate).

 

Though I do love the idea of growing Oranges, having to live in California is far too high a price to pay.....just saying. 

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Though I do love the idea of growing Oranges, having to live in California is far too high a price to pay.....just saying. 

.

...it was tough at first, but once I married into this Spanish land grant and joined the 1%ers, it's not so bad.  It's true that all this mild, pleasant weather gets boring sometimes. :)

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I think what is the fun in deer hunting is the scouting that you have to do before hand

 

I'll start in August walking the woods looking for where they are bedding down, where they are eating, where they are moving...

 

Basically, I find a game trail and just follow it. Its always pretty thick woods. Any place that is easy to get to and not a bitch to get through won't have any deer in it anyway.

 

Then once I find a couple or three areas that are likely, I'll start figuring out where to set up the ambush and that's where I'll be when I go deer hunting

 

this is what the anti-hunting crowd doesn't understand. Hunters get to know the deer in their area. the more you know about their daily routine, the better your chances

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I think what is the fun in deer hunting is the scouting that you have to do before hand
 
I'll start in August walking the woods looking for where they are bedding down, where they are eating, where they are moving...
 
Basically, I find a game trail and just follow it. Its always pretty thick woods. Any place that is easy to get to and not a bitch to get through won't have any deer in it anyway.
 
Then once I find a couple or three areas that are likely, I'll start figuring out where to set up the ambush and that's where I'll be when I go deer hunting
 
this is what the anti-hunting crowd doesn't understand. Hunters get to know the deer in their area. the more you know about their daily routine, the better your chances


All the above I love. For me the fun is over the moment I let go of the string.
I hate dragging the carcass out of the woods, gutting it, skinning it, burying the offal, butchering, etc.
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SQ got me thinking about this again.  
 
I decided a while back that I am gonna do that when I move, if I can get to a place near enough to the woods to do it.  I have never hunted before, and I am sure I will feel kind of bad about killing bambi and all, at least for a minute, anyway.  At least I will be directly responsible and know I am getting a more natural version of meat and all that.
 
I am sure I will throw up the minute I try to pull guts out or see eyeballs bulging and and hanging out of the skulls and all, though.
 
Have you hunted for food before?


I don't go hunting, hunting implies a chance of failure. I go killing.
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depends on the season... I will be going out after a deer or two, maybe some bird game, and rabbit,  but in the mean time the wife will be hunting for plants in our garden. 

 

If you want to go on a hunting trip in the UP, let me know and I'll teach you a few things. 

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I think what is the fun in deer hunting is the scouting that you have to do before hand

 

I'll start in August walking the woods looking for where they are bedding down, where they are eating, where they are moving...

 

Basically, I find a game trail and just follow it. Its always pretty thick woods. Any place that is easy to get to and not a bitch to get through won't have any deer in it anyway.

 

Then once I find a couple or three areas that are likely, I'll start figuring out where to set up the ambush and that's where I'll be when I go deer hunting

 

this is what the anti-hunting crowd doesn't understand. Hunters get to know the deer in their area. the more you know about their daily routine, the better your chances

 

I have a few that bead down on the neighboring property, I know they eat on my property (not because I put out apples and corn :) )

I have three game trails that run and cut though my yard, I have 9 camera that get about 50+ pictures a dozy of the few bucks, does and fawns. plus bears and such... 

I actually have determined they pattern of when they walk through and what time it will be... I have even just for fun sat in the field and had one walk past me a few times... not to mention that every night around 8pm/9pm a 10 point wanders up to 20 feet in front of my cabin for grazing on ferns and such... I have seen it a few times.. that SOB is big and yummy looking! 

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If you don't want to kill anything, just go out hunting with a buddy, nevermind scouting anything, just find a nice, comfortable spot to set up. Nevermind which way the wind is blowing, just set up someplace. Make sure to keep talking the whole time and move around a lot. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

 

Do all that and you shouldn't have to worry about killing anything and you still get to take your gun for a walk in the woods ;)

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