"Why"
I think my daughter is about to enter the stage where every interaction will be met with a "why?", and maybe dealing with that will cure me, but at this point I still often ask it myself- "why?".
Why do I do the things I choose to do...In the current social and political climate, living with what can be described as 'first world problems' it's easy to feel (and be) scrutinized for some behaviors.
Why do I hunt?
Why do I hunt in at this most unique period in history when chicken and ground beef are both easily available and affordable? My dad gave me this bit of an aphorism-
Not discounting the hunger and privation that exists, I think this is a true statement, at least of the day-to-day life in the west in the early parts of the this century.
It's not solely money, for if weighed out on a dollar-per-pound basis, game meat probably far surpasses the best Kobe beef; so much so that I refuse to do the math for myself! However, it would be disingenuous to say money does not factor in at some level. I concentrate on large game for my family's diet because it provides the best return for time and money invested. However, this may be regional in effect, as we have a very large deer population in the GA and someone in ME would probably go hungry waiting for a deer.
That it's incredibly tasty is beside the point.
Money/time is neither the only nor primary factor but it is one nevertheless. I primarily hunt for health benefits: mental, physical and spiritual. And if I didn't get any/enough venison for the family I would choose to spend money for grass-fed beef or chevre rather than industrial farmed animal agriculture.
Economies(money/time) are always inherently in the picture when thinking about hunting. When compared to big game hunting, small game hunting is an incredibly elite activity. Whereas historically all hunting was demarcated and limited to a specific class, nevertheless a peasant would expect to trap rabbits/hares-not stags; despite the return for investment. It's hard for me to imagine, but it was not that many generations back when my forebears would be LEGALLY either maimed or killed for doing something I take for granted.
(to be continued...)
I think my daughter is about to enter the stage where every interaction will be met with a "why?", and maybe dealing with that will cure me, but at this point I still often ask it myself- "why?".
Why do I do the things I choose to do...In the current social and political climate, living with what can be described as 'first world problems' it's easy to feel (and be) scrutinized for some behaviors.
Why do I hunt?
Why do I hunt in at this most unique period in history when chicken and ground beef are both easily available and affordable? My dad gave me this bit of an aphorism-
"for the first time in history most people are waking up and deciding what they are going to eat, rather than how they are going to get something to eat."
Not discounting the hunger and privation that exists, I think this is a true statement, at least of the day-to-day life in the west in the early parts of the this century.
It's not solely money, for if weighed out on a dollar-per-pound basis, game meat probably far surpasses the best Kobe beef; so much so that I refuse to do the math for myself! However, it would be disingenuous to say money does not factor in at some level. I concentrate on large game for my family's diet because it provides the best return for time and money invested. However, this may be regional in effect, as we have a very large deer population in the GA and someone in ME would probably go hungry waiting for a deer.
That it's incredibly tasty is beside the point.
Money/time is neither the only nor primary factor but it is one nevertheless. I primarily hunt for health benefits: mental, physical and spiritual. And if I didn't get any/enough venison for the family I would choose to spend money for grass-fed beef or chevre rather than industrial farmed animal agriculture.
Economies(money/time) are always inherently in the picture when thinking about hunting. When compared to big game hunting, small game hunting is an incredibly elite activity. Whereas historically all hunting was demarcated and limited to a specific class, nevertheless a peasant would expect to trap rabbits/hares-not stags; despite the return for investment. It's hard for me to imagine, but it was not that many generations back when my forebears would be LEGALLY either maimed or killed for doing something I take for granted.
(to be continued...)
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