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.
local food
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
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.
Zen and the art of deer hunting
Don’t try too hard, some folks say. Desperation can drive the deer away. The less you expect, the more animals you see. How this philosophy dovetails with the undeniable value of perseverance, I’m not sure. But there may be something to it. In my first few years as a hunter, I dragged home exactly zero … Read more
An accidental trophy
Even with the leaves damp and quiet, I heard the buck coming. And even through the branches and brush, I saw enough antler to know he was no off-limits spikehorn. When he stepped around the big hemlock twenty yards away, my rifle was up. In the periphery of my mind, the antlers registered: maybe six … Read more
Blueberries and venison: The gift of wild foods
Cath and I looked at the ground in surprise. We had visited this rocky hilltop many times. It was here, some eight years earlier, that I had asked her to marry me. We had often seen these low bushes clinging to the meager soil. We had never seen them fruiting. The patch of green leaves … Read more