Meat and meaning (or, Hunting on the brain)
The past few months have been crazy. I had the final six chapters of my book to draft. And I had a thesis to write.
food
The good and the slobby: Hunting, logging, living
Everyone I know—hunter or non-hunter—detests slob-hunting: Animals wounded carelessly or maliciously. Bodies and body parts dumped along roadsides. Shots fired at unidentified flashes of movement. And so on. We agree that such behavior is callous and wasteful, disrespectful and dangerous. But why should it surprise us? Recently, while revising a chapter for my book, I … Read more
Accounting for taste: What’s with “gamey”?
Just before the New Year, I was talking with a hunter I know. He mentioned how much he enjoys preparing venison for non-hunters. So often, they’re surprised by how good it tastes. Only one thing bothers him. After they declare it to be delicious, they’ll say, “I expected it to be gamey.” “I’m so tired … Read more
Deer: Part of every stew, every salad, every stir-fry
Venison, a forester friend tells me, is the best way he knows to eat trees. He points out that whitetails do a dandy job of converting cellulose into protein. When Cath and I sit down to a bowl of venison stew, we are eating more than potato, carrot, and deer. We are also eating maple … Read more
Adult-onset hunting: Know the signs
Experts have not yet determined whether Adult-Onset Hunting™ (AOH) is an epidemic. What they do know is that thousands of people are afflicted. More than a year ago, it was known—and reported in a widely read New York Times article—that a growing number of U.S. citizens had the condition. According to a recent article in … Read more
Recipes, death wishes, and hippie hunting ethics
A year—in this case, a year of blogging—goes by in a flash. I can hardly believe it’s been that long already. Back at the six-month mark, I realized it was high time to acknowledge the many folks who helped get my blog rolling, and to offer a few reflections on the weirdness of Google searches. … Read more
Venison: Lean, clean, and (no longer) lead-fortified
I disposed of the lead fragment and picked through the rest of the venison carefully. I hoped none of my bullets would ever come apart like that again.