Hunting for health, economy, and the ecology...

[Eleanors38]

Over the last 2 generations, hunting has lost its "alure" of back country self-sufficiency, and gained the burden of a rich man's divertisment. Unfortunately, there is truth in this as ranching becomes increasingly unsustainable, and pay-to-play trophy deer hunting becomes dominant. This new practice has saved many ranches and improved the ecology, but they squeeze out the option of an economical, self-sustaining survival strategy.

Still, the sprawling ex-middle class can lower costs by taking to the woods, even in Texas where public lands are few and private spreads wrote the book on trophy hunting. The following is a breakdown of costs should you slip through the new system's cracks and find "free land" on which to hunt:

Texas resident hunting license $26.00
Gasoline (my average) 35.00
2 Range fee sessions 30.00
Rifle/bow/shotgun (initial cost divided
by number of seasons) 40.00
Ammunition 50.00
Food/drink 25.00
Clothing (abundant used avail.) 20.00

TOTAL of $226.00 divided by 70 lbs usable meat = $3.21/lb. of all-natural meat

The news gets better. Should you hunt again in a given season, and are successful, the costs per pound drop sharply, since range fees, license, weapon, ammo, and clothing are already figured in; your next deer will cost only the additional costs of fuel and food. Most seasons I get 2 deer, and the per-pound costs fall below $2.00. Further, costs for hunting small game/birds (always more expensive per pound) are reduced for the same reasons. If you live north of Texas, the deer are larger, and you will probably have reduced costs per pound. The degree to which you pay others to process your meat (I do most of my own) will bring up costs to some degree.

Now, the "bad" news: You'll have to talk it up big when you express an interest in hunting. Troll, in other words, and get past the stares, until you find someone who shares your interest and says: "Come on down, buddy, no costs but your share of food." Outside of Texas you may not have to do this as there are many more public lands whose user fees are low or none.

Hunting won't be for everyone, and the environment wouldn't sustain it even if it were. But there is sustainable opportunity (if not an outright need) for hunting in this country. Fishing might be another means -- does anyone have a break-out of data they would like to share? The same goes for gardening and even gathering.

[Flaxbee]

1. You might find Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" interesting.

She discusses her family's experiment with the locavore lifestyle for a year - they live on a farm in southwestern Virginia. She details the gardening / crops (and how much land to feed a family of four for a year - if I remember correctly, she says it's about an acre), sourcing local grains for their bread, etc. Everything they eat they must source within 100 miles of their home - and buying bananas at the local store doesn't count. If the fruits and vegetables aren't local and in-season, they aren't part of the meal plan. They end up raising chickens and turkeys for meat; they kill them themselves so as to ensure humane slaughter. At the end of the year she runs the numbers and finds she's fed her family for less than $0.50 per person per meal throughout the year. So, $2/meal for a family of four, about $6 per day... give or take a little bit. This of course doesn't factor in the fact that her husband inherited the farm they live on, so that cost is moot. Plus, it's a huge amount of time-consuming work that probably only someone self-employed could manage ... and you have to have the infrastructure to do canning, store food for winter, extra freezers, etc. But it certainly is frugal, and eliminated one family's participation in the very expensive and environmentally catastrophic transportation network required to get food into local grocery stores.

I'm a vegetarian and avoid most dairy anyway because of lactose intolerance. I loathe and abhor sport hunting, but I do understand hunting for sustenance, if it is done humanely - a very quick death for the deer or whatever it is you're hunting. No fucking around. Kill it quickly, or else you're a jerk. And I do realize that because humans have been so stupid as to wipe out many natural predators - big cats, wolves, etc. - that deer do need to be culled for the health of the ecosystem.

I also think Americans (well, many people in developed countries) eat way too much meat - it sure as hell isn't necessary every meal or even every day. There's so much gluttony in the way we eat. I really have no idea how long one deer would last you.

So anyway. Kind of a rambling response to your post. Will be interested to read other responses.

[Eleanors38]

3. Thank you Flaxbee! I've read some Kingsolver, but not

not the work you've mentioned; it is now on my list. "Sport" hunting may be an interim approach to hunting, fitting between the destructive "market" hunting of the past, and what some have called "nature" hunting, a new approach for the future. While there are important biological/ecological considerations with "nature" hunting, the practice seems focused on attitude and new ways of viewing nature, with an eye toward sustainability, not just of hunting, but the whole of wilderness. Hunters are a powerful voice for conservation, but they can be much stronger.

Yep, we do eat too much meat, and the consequences are detrimental to the environment. I have't bought beef in a store for nearly 10 yrs, now. I sub. venison, now. I still remember as a pre-school child helping pluck & singe our own chickens after dipping them in a #2 tub of hot water. And the eggs were so much more rich.

When in Austin, visit Bouldin Creek Cafe, my vegetarian hang out: Good food is good no matter your eating habits, and this place is top-flight and inexpensive!

[Flaxbee]

6. I loved that Kingsolver book - nonfiction, so a slight departure from her usual fare, but

fascinating.

I wish hunters would get more involved in wildlands conservation. The Ducks International group does to some extent - I'm not sure if there are other groups that do similar work.

I'd love to visit Austin one of these days; never been there but it seems like a terrific city. I am from the Palm Springs area of California (don't live there now, though) and miss the heat and a southern vibe.

Anyway, I think you will really enjoy the Kingsolver book. In addition to being very informative, there are passages that are also just hilarious (esp. when she starts talking about turkey mating - lol). I'd also be really interested on your take of the book whenever you read it - if you wouldn't mind doing a review here in this Frugal and Energy Efficient Living Group...

[Eleanors38]

8. You have faith in my reviewing abilities! I'll do it.

Ducks Unlimited (hence the jokes about the other DU) is the outfit you are thinking of. Lots of "prairie pothole" areas preserved by DU. Similar outfits deal with wild turkeys, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, quail, and elk. The latter group has re-established thousands of the species in states where they were extirpated. Same with turkeys

Years ago, hunting/fishing groups were far more aligned with general conservation groups which formed a powerful bloc for wildlife. That bloc is fractured, now, over anti-hunting and gun politics, and it is more difficult to maintain a constituency to fight off development, pipelines, dams and big ag. But we fight on!

I just finished a bowl of mixed red & black beans over organic rice, topped w/ cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes & onions with a field green salad dressed with garlic tahini -- $7 for a good portion.

Austin is in a grossly severe drought, and we regularly get 100°+ temps starting in June; we've had 2 yrs of 70 some-odd days of hundred plus. Yech.

[uppityperson]

13. That book is great and inspiring as to eating locally.

I have a small freezer, buy part of a cow locally and after reading her book, it makes me look at what else I buy for food, what is in season.

[Eleanors38]

14. I'm still reading it, and will check back in for a "review."

[RebelOne]

12. Yes, Flaxbee, I totally agree with your post.

I am also a vegetarian, so there is no way I could kill a deer or any other animal.

I was a copy editor for a company that published outdoors magazines for 30 states. I was not a vegetarian when I first began working there, but after having to read and edit all those hunting stories, I became one. But these magazines were all about trophy hunting. Woe be to any poor buck that had a 10-point or more rack.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Here in PA, there is plenty of open public land

as well as private land that allows hunting. I am not a hunter, so I have no first hand experience, but I know many hunters. They all say that it is not a cheap way to eat. But I also know of no one who can process their own deer meat, so they all have that expense on top of the rest of it.

I suspect that hunters often spend a lot of unnecessary money on specialty clothing, new weapons all the time, ammo for practice, tree stands and all the other outfitting. I think you get caught up in it, like many other hobbies.

[Eleanors38]

4. Aldo Leopold called them the "gadgeteers."

It seems Americans can take a rather simple practice and pile on the $tuff. Any used clothing store is piled high with used camo & hunting clothes, much of it $6 army surplus. Same for boots, headware & gloves. You may need a stand, but even here my friends have built those from scrap metal & wood; I usually hunt on ground level. Very good used rifles abound, and factory ammo is all good, now.

I'm a lousy butcher, but large portions of a deer can be simply frozen in blocks/chunks for stew, chili, and roasts, thereby saving on processing fees. The land availability is the thing. Get passed that and you're home free.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Yes, I am from PA, but lived in TX for several years

and I was always shocked that all the hunters there had "hunting leases". There is so much land to hunt on up here. And you have puny deer down there. (So there! Everything is not bigger in Texas!)

I will second Flaxbee's suggestion that you read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Kingsolver.....you will enjoy it. It is not fiction, but it chronicles the first year of her family living totally off the land or eating locally. I enjoyed the book, but I knew that I would never be able to go that far. But if you are interested in trying it, this is a great experience to read about. The little joys in life, like those first sprigs of asparagus coming up.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. I do not see costs for a butcher to properly cut and wrap the meat.

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I support hunting when it is for food, not for sport.

I never hunted big game, but I have shot birds(partridge) many years ago,

but my favorite source for real food was fishing.

I had to stop because I was financially strapped since a decade ago.

That changed recently, so I'll get my hunting(small game) and fishing licences renewed.

Won't go for large game(deer, moose, etc.,) until I have a freezer large enough to store it in, and arrange a butcher to carve and wrap the meat.

CC

[laundry_queen]

9. One thing my ex used to do

is befriend all of the hunters, and find out if anyone who has killed something this year has any 'left over' meat from the previous year's hunt. Some people don't want to keep the meat for longer than a year and will gladly give it away to make room for the fresh stuff. We got a lot of moose meat that way. I didn't have many issues with frozen meat older than a year...although it didn't take me long to get sick of moose meat. I can't eat it now....

Fishing was something that, as a kid, I did off and on and we would eat what I caught, but it wasn't very often as my brother has a severe fish allergy (anaphylactic reaction) and would have to hide in his room with the window open while we cooked it. Now, as an adult, none of the lakes around here have anything big enough to keep. The only place I can fish and keep is our local town pond that gets stocked with trout every year. Dont' need a fishing license for it either. Those do get expensive.

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. Good idea, asking hunters for older frozen meat.

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I just bought my fishing licence on-line an hour ago. Haven't fished for over 8 years, no money.

Lots of fish up here, and I have a few private spots.

The last summer I fished, I camped for 10 weeks right on the water.

Fish for a couple of hours, got food for the day!

Was the healthiest summer ever!

Bass was my favorite, cook it right away over a fire-pit all ready lit.

That's fresh!!

thot I'd add a pic of the view from my favorite fishin/camping spot



don't have a boat, fish right off that outcrop of rocks to the left

This is sunset, so I get sun first thing in the morning there

CC

PS: fishing licence only $35 per year up here

[laundry_queen]

11. That's lovely

I'm in Alberta, so most of our lakes are fished out except for up north a bit more. Our licences are a bit more too (and you have to buy a WIN card to get a licence). My parents have a lake lot and I go fishing there a lot but there is nothing much left except jack/pike that are too small to keep. No bass here...if you're lucky (which I never am) you get walleye....but again, many lakes you aren't allowed to keep the walleye. Perch are supposed to be the best eating around here. I think the next time I go I'll try for perch. Jackfish aren't my cup of tea.