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Nov
21
You start with an elk, which you hunt through thick overgrown timber or soggy open clearcuts with your single shot rifle.
You aim for the animal’s vital zone, as close to the heart as possible. You assess the shot to see what the elk does—an instant-death hit is rare—and you may take a second shot.
The herd is long gone, and you hike a couple hundred yards to your elk’s body. First thing you do is roll it on its back, cut into the belly, and remove the guts. Drag it—all 700 pounds—up onto a landing to start the process of skinning it out.
Cut the legs off at the lower joints, and hook a gambrel under the strong exposed tendons. Throw a line over a tree or use a hoist attached to a truck, and haul your elk up in the air.
Now you begin cutting away the hide with a knife and pulling it down the body.
Down it goes as you cut and pull, cut and pull, cut and pull. All the way to the head, which you cut off. Maybe you take the hide off the head and turn it into a European mount, or maybe you just keep the antlers. Up to you.
At this point you begin quartering the animal. Cut the spine in half as best you can, top to bottom.
Then cut off the hindquarters and front shoulders, until you’re left with six large pieces: 2 hindquarters, 2 shoulders, 2 racks of ribs.
Take it all to a big walk-in cooler, and let it age for about a week. Then assemble as many helpers as you can to spend a long, tiring day cutting the meat off the bones and wrapping up steaks and meat that can be turned into burger.
Now the meat is in your freezer, ready to be turned into dinner.
There: you’ve got a perfectly organic, grass-fed, free-range, sustainable, low-fat meal. No chemicals, no holding pens, no factories, no antibiotics, no corn feed, no hormones, no slaughterhouses.
Ready to start hunting?
Comments
232 Responses to “Clean eating”
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I served elk last night. My husband doesn’t hunt near enough to a road to hoist it like that, although we do our farm animals like that, so they skin one side on the ground. Then bone out that meat, flip it, and do the other side. It all has to be packed out on one horse and several men’s backs. They cut it smaller and wrap it for the freezer at the house. It’s by far my favorite game animal.
you are my hero for posting this. (i am also very jealous of the meat you must have in your freezer right now.)
Amazing. A humbling reminder that meat doesn’t just come in ready to use packages. That’s a great looking elk, props to the hunters!
Well, yeah, I totally get the anti-carbon footprint thing and what have you, but seeing those pictures churns my stomach and I know, just know, I would find it incredibly (and OK, totally irrationally) hard to eat something I’d once seen alive… To be honest, if there was a choice between hunting (and dealing with dead animals etc.) and vegetarianism, I’d say goodbye to meat in a second.
But I admire you guys for being able to do this, to really live the “wild frontier” thing…
I had to look back at the banner twice, cos I thought for a minute I was reading a CowgirlJules entry.
that there was sure one big fella!
Nice elk! We just have whitetail deer here where we live in Wisconsin, but I’ve done that before. It stops turning your stomach about the third deer you do.
Thank you for posting this! I don’t even eat meat but I think it’s important to understand where the food you eat comes from and having worked for it makes you appreciate it that much more.
AWESOME. Elk are incredibly beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but good GOD do they taste incredible too. Kudos to JB!
I do agree more meat-eaters need to be aware of where there food comes from, but a warning for your loyal vegetarian readers would have been nice!!
It is what it is… My husband hunts deer a few times on his buddy’s farm in the Northern Neck of Virginia. I can’t say I enjoy the rows of deer hanging upside down, draining but I do enjoy the meat. Same with rockfish from the Chesapeake, can’t say I like gutting them but I do enjoy catching and cooking them up!
Thanks! I’m no hunter, nor is anyone in my family, but I appreciate the reminder of where our meat comes from.
Bon Appetit!
Hmmmm….. Though it’s hard for me, a non-hunter, to appreciate the thrill of it, I completely admire the respect that you show toward the animal. I am in complete support of knowing (and having my kids know) where their food comes from. Given a choice, I would support my kids getting to experience and appreciate this approach. As is, we settle for raw milk (that we have to travel to our farm for) and local organic protein, but thank you for reminding me that all hunters don’t fit my personal stereotype of them.
WHOA nice elk! *fist bump*
We just enjoyed a 1/2 elk and 1/2 bison meatloaf for dinner tonight. Cool!
Why no organ meats? That heart, kidneys, LIVER, bones are very nutritious! And the blood! I remember my Grammie making sangrecita from the lamb’s blood each spring.
You guys are hardcore, processing it yourselves. That rawks.
Nice Elk. My husband and I are in Oregon, and will be hunting a couple years from now, since we can’t always beg our friends for their elk. We got some antelope from a friend the other day, JB should hunt for that.
One of my favorite things about fall is walking into the garage and seeing a dead, skinless deer hanging from hooks beside my car.
Okay, I’m joking it’s not my FAVORITE thing. But I really think you should have kept the hide and made an elk costume.
Thank you for reinforcing the reasons I’m a vegetarian.
Oh, ahhhhnnnd, stay outta Eugene, we don’t want that here!
Paleolithic….it’s what’s always shoulda been for dinner.
no. that’s disgusting. glad I’m a vegetarian. you can have “No chemicals, no holding pens, no factories, no antibiotics, no corn feed, no hormones, no slaughterhouses” that way also, and no one has to be killed. oh, and I don’t have to eat corpses.
Well, yeah, actually. Never been hunting, but it looks awesome, in that get-in-touch-with-your-primal-side sort of way.
If people want to consume animal protein so badly, I think they should hunt with their bare hands. That would be a fair fight. Hiding some 200 yards away and shooting an unsuspecting creature with a gun is shameful. Yes, factory farming is worse, but that doesn’t make this right.
Tender hearted gal, so killing animals kinda makes me sad. But I’ll tell you what, I bet that is delicious. I would love to eat at your house!
I can see you’ve already made some friends with this post. I’m not a hunter, so it was a little rough to see, but I agree that it’s important to know where your food comes from. Also, I am wickedly impressed at all the work that JB & crew put into getting that animal from “dead elk” to “dinner in the freezer.”
And I’ll bet that’s the best meat you’ve ever eaten, right?
Love this post. Love your blog.
Quite a change from the usual topics here. Getting a chuckle from that. And from the last part about it being ‘organic, grass-fed’ etc. Right on.
I am all for hunting if you eat what you kill. And obviously you do.
Did JB write this post?
My Dad’s a hunter and he’s fed my whole family (and all of our families) for quite some time. Can’t remember the last time I bought red meat at a store. My freezer is packed with elk, venison, moose, bear, and buffalo. (Buffalo is tastiest) It’s food people. That’s what it’s there for. Also, to my father’s credit, there isn’t an animal hide, nor an antler anywhere adorning the walls of his house.
Reminds me of my childhood when we ate elk, duck, rabbit, fish….all killed and cleaned by my dad. It never phased me in the least when I was young but now it does freak me out a bit.
What a lot of hard work! What do/did they do with the rack?
I love my meat wrapped tight in plastic, styrofoam and denial.
We’re a hunting family too…love this post. Whenever people whine about the horrors of shooting animals I ask if they eat meat. If they say no-totally respect that. If they say yes-I ask them if they eat conventional meat/poultry from the corner market. All do. I then paint the very bleak picture that is industrialized farming. And the terrible lives those animals live from birth to death. Then I paint the picture of an animal living wild and free as it was meant to and dying a relatively fast death. 99% see the light by the end of our chat.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Thanks for posting – I grew up on a farm surrounded by hunters and my parents run a small butcher shop so the pics were no shock to me, but I’m sure it was a good eyeopener for many! Congrats on the great elk JB!
I showed this to Matthew and he has Elk envy.
So thankful the pictures didn’t load before I read the descriptions. Yes, carnivores should see what they’re actually eating, but like a previous commenter said a disclaimer for vegetarians would’ve been thoughtful.
Well, THAT just happened.
This reminds me of one of the early scenes in the novel “Bone Game” in which a Native professor dresses a deer that was hit by a car, but does it over a tree in the front yard of one of the University buildings.
He has a good sense of humour.
Also: mmm…meat.
Also also: this is the post I finally stop lurking on. So…that’s a thing.
Jesus. Fuck. I think that is going to scar me. Not even kidding. Please warn us next time! Heh.
You. Are. Awesome. And very, very ballsy, knowing the kind of comments you’ll get for this. (JB’s not too shabby either.) NICE elk, and an excellent point too.
“stay outta Eugene, we don’t want that here!” Because, you know, Eugene has no hunters. Just university students, all of whom fit a perfect stereotype of Oregon Country Fair vegan hippiedom.
Anonymous indignation, wounded offense – gee, it’s like ParentDish all over again.
Hides in the corner waiting for the angry comments.
Giggles slightly.
Point well made. Would not have been as well made if there had been a warning, so well done you.
I’ve been reading your blog for over a year and never commented until today. I love this. I have a son, Wyatt, who was born in February of 2008, so I feel a special bond with Dylan. But I love that Riley went hunting with his Dad. I don’t come from a hunting family, and neither does my husband, but we are up front with our son about where his food comes from. We have even considered hunting as a family sport just because we could teach him about life and eating and how it’s all sewn together. Thanks for pushing the limits a little to maybe open some minds.
Sooo, yeahhh. I am one of your readers who (nicely, I hope, and without too much smug, I hope) let you know that I wasn’t all that thrilled with the infamous MILK post. And let me just say this, about THIS post: As a 20+ years vegetarian/sometimes vegan-sustainable living all the fucking way-buy only local- San Francisco-dwelling girl, I say BRAVO. Everyone, absolutely everyone, should know where their food comes from, should know what happens to turn an animal into a neatly packaged thing in the grocery store. If I had the balls, like my father and my uncles and my grandfathers, to kill my food, I would be a meat-eater. As a total foody nerd it often times bums me out that I don’t eat meat, but until the day comes that I’m the one holding the gun, pointing the trigger, prepping the meat, well, there won’t be any nicely roasted elk for me. I have no issues with folks choosing to eat meat (my boyfriend is one of them), but it’s a good thing to know about, and I’m stoked you wrote this post.
Geez people, it’s LINDA’S blog, she shouldn’t have to warn anyone about HER blog. Get the point? IF you are so upset over seeing a perfectly fine example of how to feed one’s family well on meat that is way better for them, don’t tune in. She shouldn’t have to warn anyone about anything she posts.
Nice Elk, Nice catch, great meals. Enjoy!
nice rack!
ooo. Very clever.
Last laugh? HAD.
……I have really enjoyed your blog, but I could have done without this post!
I’ve been a loyal blog reader up to this point, but these pictures are highly disturbing. Knowing that you rejoice in the killing and gutting and skinning of such a majestic animal sort of makes me dislike you.
And yes, I realize it’s your blog, maybe you were trying to make a point, and you have a right to post whatever you like. But seeing in such detail what your husband has done to a helpless creature has made me feel nauseous. I’m now almost in tears, and like previous commenters suggested, I really would’ve appreciated a warning.
I think there was fair warning with the first line “You start with an elk, which you HUNT”.
This is a great post. And… this is why I’m a vegetarian. If this is hard to read/look at, imagine how hellish an article and photo set of a factory farmed animal would be! If we are going to eat it, we should be able to face the process by which it got to the table.
I’ve had elk and deer and found them both too gamey for my taste. If it works for you knock yourself out; as long as there’s a perfectly good butcher in town I’ll get my meat there. When all governments fall and we all fall into anarchy then I’ll pester my neighbor for fresh meat. I do enjoy fishing, though.
I have to admit that my first reaction upon seeing this entry was to request a trigger warning at the top. I do eat meat and I’m not opposed to hunting but I have issues about blood and skin from a past event in my life.
However, once I got over the initial anxiety attack (which was thankfully pretty mild), I realize that my mental health triggers are not as important as the messages you’re trying to convey here about the realities of hunting and where our food comes from. People SHOULD react strongly to these images, whether it’s in a positive way or a negative way. I can’t really thank you for posting this but I do admire you for tackling such a provocative topic.
(Plus, admit it, you’re kind of gleefully excited about the potential wankstorm, right?)
To the people getting offended by this post, please go do a Youtube search for “cow slaughter”, or if you’re REALLY brave, “kosher slaughter”. Seeing cows herded one by one into a machine that slits their throats and the resulting waterfall of gore will probably make you rethink your words.
Linda, good job. As a former farm kid and daughter/family to assorted hunters, bravo on you for not only calling people on their views for sustainability, but making them realize that what they’re looking for ain’t pretty. It’s just NOT. There is no way it can be MADE pretty.
And to the person above who posted about “things not having to die” because they’re a vegetarian, I hope you figured in all the animals that die in threshing machines and other farm equipment every year when crops are harvested. Y’know- birds, snakes, mice, rabbits, etc. Oh, and the deer and other animals that are routinely shot by commercial farms for eating crops.
You enjoy that meat, Linda. You enjoy the FUCK out of it!
One more thought for anyone offended by the hunting or the pictures: please take a moment to think about what was going to happen to this animal if it HADN’T been brought down (fairly quickly, it seems) by a hunter.
Hint: the answer is NOT “it would have dropped dead at the height of its powers, and been buried by the respectful herd.” No, the reality for most wild animals is quite a lot slower, and messier. Something was going to eat that elk eventually.
I”m not a hunter myself, but it’s always nice to read about a well done hunt conducted with respect for the game.
What a rejoinder!
Like vegetables don’t scream when you rip them from the vine or tear their little roots from the soil?
This is a slightly snarky response to the milk factory that is cow torture (or you’d think so by reading the comments in THAT post). I love it actually, I was a bit skeeved by the pictures too, but point was made and BRAVO for putting this out there.
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, KP.
great post! I don’t eat red meat but thanks for the reminder that my chicken/pork/fish doesn’t come “wrapped in plastic, styrofoam, and denial.” (TM sooboo, hilarious by the way). We all need to remember this. Bravo Linda!
Were you trying to start a discussion/make a point? Because I came to your blog thinking, “Wonder what’s happening at Sundry.” Saw this and thought, “Oh, JB went hunting. Neat.” And that was it. It wasn’t until I perused the comments that it even occurred to me that there might be an issue. I still don’t get it.
Quite frankly, I’m a little shocked there are so many “WOO! HIGH FIVE!” posts. I came into comments looking for a little morning drama and am a little sadface that there is none (so far, 58 comments in). But, I say, good on you. I couldn’t actually look at the pics because DUDE, I’m eating breakfast here, but you raise an excellent point about knowing where your food comes from.
I’m totally OK with hunting as long as you eat what you hunt. Good job JB and happy eating!
Silly question, but serious, are they really considered organic just because they are in the wild? If so then verrrrry cool. I’m not so sure the deer out here in Maryland and Virginia are all that organic with the crap in the water and earth here :( but I’m way certain it’s much better than what we get at the grocery store.
I think we’ll have some venison chili tonight. Yummm.
That totally makes me want to start hunting, actually. Yum.
Beautiful elk, surprising morning post. Got no problems with any of it. Rock on.
Graphic, yes. But even though we don’t hunt, I was raised on a small farm and I absolutely believe that people should know where their food comes from. Slaughter houses are far, far worse than the serene-until-the-last-moment-then-a-quick-end situation this elk faced.
I accept the way meat is produced, so I’m not a vegetarian; my mom doesn’t agree with it so she is one. But at least we both make our choices with our eyes open. I think this was a brave, if unexpected, post.
effing awesome!
Just last week I sent my husband a blog entry about farm butchering and said, “This why I know I’ll always be a vegetarian. I could never stomach doing this or watching someone doing it, and to me that means I don’t deserve to eat the end product.”
Add another to your “good on you for posting this.” People should realize where their food comes from and have a little respect for the animals that fuel their bodies!
While I have a hard time killing anything myself (including spiders and cockroaches in my own house), I respect those who hunt and eat what they kill. It’s pretty ballsy to put processing pictures up, so good on you for that! I remember hiking in West Virginia, rounding a bend, and seeing a deer split from end to end hanging in a tree. Not growing up in a rural area, that sight was a new one for me, but it didn’t bother me TOO much, at least after the initial shock (to be clear, it was near a parking area and the hunters were close-by). It is, afterall, how we’ve gotten our food for millenia….
Love, love, LOVE that you posted this. I grew up in a family of hunters and married one (all of whom were out doing their thing this weekend as it was Opening Weekend in Wisconsin)so this is all very “normal” to me but it was an awesome reminder as to WHY they do this and WHY I’m always waiting for the call to hear our freezer will be full for another year.
Like I said on Twitter – Brava. Everyone should know what happens for food to get to our plate. I’m super impressed that JB and his family do so much processing in the field. I know a lot of hunters just take the felled game to a processor.
Also – nice elk, JB!
Erm…yay?
I have zero problem with hunting for food. Happy to see your family will be eating well. Also, Happy Thanksgiving :)
Let’s all remember the untapped potential of our opposing thumbs. If we don’t like something, we can click away and come back tomorrow. Does every post on your favorite blogs float your boat? No, of course not. Click it away! Scroll down! So many options. Personally, I click away from every sad pet post. Just my button, not everyone else’s.
Balls? You have’em! I knew people were going to throw shit at you the second the page loaded. I can’t get my mind around how this post and/or the pictures brings some people to tears. Really? Really? Buck up! Pun intended!
I have no problem with hunting if you intend on eating what you kill. I don’t hunt because I don’t have the stomach for it, but I’ve fished before, and thanks to my squeamish husband, I get to be the fish cleaner, so I’m not all wuss. We have friends who hunt and I always enjoy getting some of their surplus. I get the haters, and I get it if vegetarians want to be upset about this, but the way I see it, this animal got to live as naturally as it gets and lived a great life, up until it’s final moments. I can’t say that for the vast majority of the meat one might buy out there. You know?
great post! I come from a family of hunters and am married to a hunter. My grandparents ran a small meat processing shop so I’ve been around and processed a lot of meat. I also agree that it’s great for people to see where their meat comes from. I’m still waiting for my husband to bring home our deer for the year.
Heee! You get the best trolls Linda! Love you!!
That looks awesome!! Is there any special way of cooking elk or other game meat or is it just like cooking anything else?
Ohhh, ew.
Not because it’s hunted, or meat, or whatever else. But because my first trimester pregnant self hates meat right now, and I did a slight regurg at the sight. Normally I’d have been all “YUM!”, but oh, the hormones and meat yuck in my body right now.
I love you for posting this. Congratulations to JB for getting his elk!
Wow! Important reminder for all of us meat-eaters where our food comes from (I suppose I really mean to say “should come from”). It doesn’t grow in serving size packages in the grocery store. Yes, I am squeamish and prefer to distance myself from where meat really comes from, but I know I shouldn’t ignore the truth. And I really need to eat more vegetables.
Just like every house I remember in Wisconsin in November, except there it’s deer. Blech.
Cute kids, scrapbooking, and a slaughtered elk all in one blog. As it should be. I agree with most of the people commenting here: If you eat meat you better be willing to see where it comes from and how it is processed. Seeing photos of meat processed this way is about a hundred times easier to look at than what a typical animal goes through on the way to the supermarket shelf. If you don’t like it there’s always Quorn crumbles.
Yeah, I’ve long said that post-apocalypse I’m going to have to go semi-vegetarian and hope for the best meeting my protein needs with eggs and beans and any fish my husband can catch. I am a total woose (wose?) and couldn’t handle hunting. Not that I mind the eating part…
Go, Sundry!!
Also, I’m scrubbing my eyes with a Brillo pad. Bright side: I’m much more awake than I was five minutes ago!
@Heather;
“I can’t get my mind around how this post and/or the pictures brings some people to tears. Really? Really? Buck up!”
I can’t get over how insensitive you are. Obviously there are still people in the world who aren’t as de-sensitized to death as you are. Get over your “macho” self. Why not post something productive, expressing your acceptance or agreeance over hunting.
What an excellent post, I agree that people need to be more aware of where their food comes from. If I could stock my freezer with wild game & home grown meat, I’d definitely do it. It tastes much cleaner & I know where it’s coming from. We don’t hunt, but have friends that do & are always happy to take the surplus, and I was raised in a family that raised our own chickens, pigs & goats, and knew from childhood where the best meat comes from!
I live in Central PA where many many people hunt, including my husband. He was just in Nebraska and shot a whitetail and when we were eating it the other nite, we discussed the difference in taste from a Pennsylvania deer.
I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered pigs, cows and chickens. Last spring we bought 1/3 of a cow from a friend of ours who has a farm.
I often feel like hunters are looked upon as cruel and redneckish but I don’t think my husband, who is working on his Phd in Fisheries Science aka a biologist, who practices shooting his bow for at least 6 months before shooting something so that he won’t take an inhumane shot is cruel. We eat meat from the store as well, because sometimes hot dogs are tasty.
I can appreciate the vegetarians perspective but sometimes I wish the meat eaters perspective was appreciated a little more when they are shooting their own dinner.
You think you’re really cool and edgy for this, but I think you’re bordering on inappropriate. I come here (maybe *used to* come here) because I like your writing style and humor. But you fail to grasp that your audience may not want to see images of slaughtered animals. I respect your right to hunt, as deplorable as I find the practice, but don’t make me look at pictures of it without some warning. I know that my comment is just fueling your fire – that you think you’re going to start some debate and then you can sit back and feel smug because you think you’re right, but really all you’re doing is alienating readers. Good luck, and good bye.
I agree with Sarah C.
Between this horrendous post and the sell-out visit to the dairy farms a few weeks ago, you have 100% lost me as a reader. I just unsubscribed and am never coming back.
Awesome. Post. Yes, it’s “gross”, but so is the whole process of eating and being alive. It’s all very messy. I love the reminder, I absolutely learned something, and I am sitting here in sparkling awe at the skill of your husband and his team. What an elk! What a man! What a family! Vegetarians are great but I like meat. Meat eaters are great, but they probably go a little overboard sometimes.
Things still die in a salad, threshers aside. That green lettuce leaf is still producing oxygen and basically alive while we’re chewing it. At least the elk is dead.
Hey if meat is not someone’s choice, more power to her. If the all veggie gig isn’t for someone, more power to her too. We all have our reasons. There’s plenty of room in the grocery store for all of us.
Do people hunt and sell the meat? I guess they must, but this could totally be the next big health/fitness thing. It’s like the final step beyond buying directly from a farm. You’d be selling meat directly from nature. Although there’s probably some licensing issue with that, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who are already paying a lot for organic/free-range meat that would easily make the switch to buying wild game. Pretty cool. And so good for the earth. Interesting post Linda!
Love. It. I’m not a “wild” meat eater as it is just too gamey for me, but my husband makes wonderful jerky out of it and I’ll eat that any day. He ever gets a deer, we’ll have it processed in 1″ strips. Hee. I kid. Rock on, Linda. I think the photos are fine. After the third one you should know more or less what’s coming next. Any one could stop if they choose. Kudos to JB.
Thank you, KP for pointing out the fact that many, MANY animals die in the process of producing “vegetarian” foods. And I’m not talking about things like insects, either: many, many birds, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, etc., die during harvest. And let’s not forget about the land and water use for all of the plant products we eat. In many places in the world, it is arguably a much more sustainable practice to raise herd animals like goats, which eat things like weeds and thistles and do not require much water, than to cultivate plants.
I would like to note, however, that the way most humans hunt is quite different than the way non-human predators hunt: we tend to go for the biggest, most healthy-looking animals (especially “trophy” hunters), while in the animal kingdom, predators are looking for animals that are easy to kill: sick, weak, or young. I read an article last year (can’t find the link now, darn it) that showed that human hunting patterns are changing the composition of animal herds: deer, elk, etc., on the whole, appear to be getting smaller, since they tend to be the ones left alive to procreate. What the possible consequences of this is anyone’s guess, of course, but I thought it was really interesting, in a “Law of Unintended Consequences” kind of way.
What. The. Fuck. I could have gone my entire life without seeing that. (I’m a meat eater… no judgments or anything, just BLECH.)
Nice post Sarah Palin. Where your food comes from is your business. Just like your blog is your business. But when I am used to checking your blog to see pictures of your beautiful boys, and instead I am emotionally assaulted (with no warning) by pictures of a butchered animal…well, shame on you.
Ya’ll, I get that some of us are vegetarians. I get that blood is gross. I get that we all need to make our own choices. And, I get that some people have sensitivities I can’t or don’t understand. I get that maybe a warning would’ve been nice for some people. I get all of it.
But seriously? Anxiety attacks? Emotional assault? From pictures of a dead animal? Where do you shop? The all-veggie store? To me, the plastic-wrapped, hormone bomb, vaguely rotten smelling meat wrapped up in the freezer section of the grocery store is much more frightening than this. As are the misogynistic messages against women on the covers of most major magazines in the checkout line, as well as the unmitigated and graphic violence and murder of human beings on primetime TV, even worse in movies.
These things offend me, but I don’t have anxiety attacks and claim emotional assault. Eat what you will. Read what you will. But let’s not get dramatic about it.
(For the record, in case you need more personal reasons to hate my comment than just the comment itself, I was raised on a dairy farm, haved hunted, killed, skinned and eaten animals wild and domestic, was a strict vegetarian for several years, and now lean as local, sustainable, whole foods-focused as possible, but sometime buy a styrofoam pork chop from the store or eat McDonald’s on a road trip. And I’m usually very politically correct, mild-mannered, conflict-avoidant, and empathetic. For some reason, some of these comments just tripped me out today. Sorry.)
Well, *I* think you’re really cool and edgy for this.
Bad ass, Linda.
Damn, girl, you have some balls posting that after the uproar about the Dairy Farm – AND that is EXACTLY why I keep reading your site, you are not afraid to say what you want. Nice Elk, by the way. My hubs just filled our freezer with deer. :)
Awesome.
I am all for hunting even though I love animals. I have a shotgun and I actually want to shoot a turkey one year for our Thanksgiving.
Great pictures showing the whole process too. Not like when I helped a friend skin a deer on the floor of his garage years ago. Not pretty.
“Emotionally assaulted.”
HAHAHAHA. I’m sorry. I really am. But my God. You guys are funny.
To you, Linda, I simply say: awesome.
I live for these days in your comment section.
Thank you for new terminologies to use in daily life.
Next time I see Lady Gaga’s vagina flaps on TV, I can say I was “emotionally assaulted” by those images.
(P.S. So jealous of the elk.)
Oh wow. I actually clicked through my Google Reader to read the comments (which I never do) because OH BOY I figured this would be interesting.
I am from south Texas, and at first glance this post looks nothing more than my Facebook feed, thanks to friends of mine who never left home after college. Still, after living in Portland and Toronto – I realize that this is a shock to some people, which is sad.
Aside from watching my grandfather butcher the meat that fed my family, I also watched him care for and feed his cattle, track hurt animals, chart signs of disease in deer that came on his property year after year. The winter that I was eight, I watched him nurse a sick calf all afternoon the day after Christmas.
While I realize that the norm in our society, is to purchase your foods in neatly-packaged containers (as well as your vegetables) this is still a way of life for many people.
Take some of that elk, defrost it, and dig out the fondue set from 1972, pour oil in it, heat it up, then fry the meat until it’s done and you’re happy.
Obviously many of your readers do not have the same pool of family on facebook as I do, because nearly everyday that I log on over there, I am “emotionally assaulted” with various members of my family proudly posing with whatever dead animal they killed that day. Ah, with facebook, killing season took on a whole new dimension!
Honestly, I don’t have a problem with “killing season” as we like to joke around here. Neither my husband nor I hunt, but you are absolutely right that it’s the most humane and sustainable and healthy way to eat meat. I was a vegetarian for about 10 years simply because I felt like a hypocrite for not being able to stomach the realities of how that chicken gets on my plate. I eat meat now, and I accept (but don’t love) where our “factory meat” comes from. But this? Honestly doesn’t bother me at all.
Good for you for posting this.
Oh, and the fact that someone called you Sarah Palin made my WEEK. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, *WHEEZE* *HORK* *CHOKE* ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
This post really makes me want to learn how to hunt so that we can stop relying on store-bought meat. But we live in Hawaii right now, and there’s not an overabundance of hunting. But I am going to research grass-fed meat. Thanks for posting – it’s giving me the push to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
Marie: The Sarah Palin comment is KILLING me as well! I’ve come back three times just to read it and snicker mightily!
Sarah Palin! Only if that elk is used for chili!
The funniest thing to me in all this is that it’s following so closely on the heels of a scrapbooking post.
Linda, I’ve always liked your webpage, but now I know you really kick ass. I’ve been reading for a while now so I knew JB is a hunter, but this is awesome. Great post. Good for you.
All the veggies on here who are screaming bloody murder about this– um, well, I guess bloody murder is what it is, really– need to reassess what they accept as “truth”. You’re not saving anyone by eating spirulina. I think this is a good adjunct to what you have written, too:
http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/
Furthermore, if a vegetarian’s reasons for eating twigs and berries all day are because they oppose factory farming, well, how about commending the omnivores who are against it, too and choose to sustainably harvest their own meat? Not everyone needs to be or wants to be vegetarian.
Besides, elk is delicious.
Makes me want to learn how to hunt my own food! That’s the ultimate in clean eating!
i, too, am enjoying the cranky comments. hee!
my dad and brother were out deer hunting this past weekend in wisconsin, but got nothing–in fact, of the 11 guys, only one got a deer.
there are many things to take into account about hunting–overpopulation issues b/c humans have moved into former animal habitat is just one of them. i had not thought about evolution-opposite happening as hunters pick out the healthiest specimens, but that’s another one. all that aside, though, i will join the chorus who feel it’s important for people to see where meat comes from. i was sad, looking at that elk, and thinking about its life. but you know what? i should have to face that, as a meat-eater. thank you, animals.
Whether a person chooses to eat meat or not, hunting should be supported. What would happen if there wasn’t a controlled hunt by licensed and experienced hunters? Of course the elk would flourish and find that their current residence does not offer enough to sustain them. So, they migrate to where they can find food. To towns and then of course, cities. Following close behind of course are their predators. I believe wolves and bears fancy elk. Will those of you who are so against the hunt welcome these animals into your backyard or will you call someone to take care of the problem for you?
Hunters will hunt. Their families will enjoy the meat as a result. We should accept it.
The only thing about this post that should be up for discussion is who can stomach the pictures for breakfast.
Katherine – just a small point — I think it is actually illegal to sell the meat you hunt yourself. A good friend of mine will only eat meat she herself has killed and cured, or that comes from other hunters she knows, and there are very strict guidelines as to how she can obtain meat from them (meaning: she can’t outright exchange the meat for money). (This is in Montana, anyway). (Only slightly related side note: This friend i referenced? Last went hunting while breastfeeding, and had to make time on the trip to pump. For some reason I LOVE the image of her packing list being all “boots, gloves, ammunition, breast pump…”)
As for me? I can’t wait to have a garage big enough for an extra freezer so I can stock it with foods like this. Something tells me I’d be more emotionally assaulted by the process it takes to get meat to my grocery store than the process it takes to cure your own food.
pretty studly, I have to say.
and I don’t eat meat either. Yeah, the pictures are gross, but what can you do? (I’ve seen stuff on commercials for CSI on Sunday night football that’s worse, actually…)
the whole process is sorta gross. it’s what happens if you want to eat meat. and if you don’t eat meat, then you don’t have to do it. simple.
I used to think hunting was a horrible practice. But in recent years, I have come to believe that hunting is more humane and responsible than buying meat at the grocery store — ANY grocery store, including Whole Foods. At least when you hunt the animal has lived a natural, free life up to that point. I find the photos unsettling, but I think that just makes my a hypocrite — I eat meat, but would rather someone else deal with the unpleasantries of producing it? How is that fair? (I guess in my own defense, I’ll point out that I do try to buy as much as possible from a nearby farm that pastures its animals, even though it kills my husband to fork over that much cash.) A hunter who has tracked, killed, and butchered an animal with his/her own hands certainly has an understanding of what it means to eat meat. I guess the vegetarians can ride by on their high horses, but all of us who eat meat through the traditional food system are contributing to scenes far, far worse than the photos you posted.
Can I be on your team when the apocalypse arrives?
I don’t have anything important to add. Just want to say that this comment section has made my Monday morning WAY more interesting that it otherwise would have been… Sarah Palin, vagina flaps, emotional assault, anxiety attacks. Love it. Keep it coming people.
You are so awesome.
That is all.
I read your blog obsessively, but I don’t think I’ve ever commented. However, as a hunter, I just had to say kudos to this post. Great elk, JB!
I have to giggle a little at those filled with such righteous indignation at JB’s taking of this elk. Do they really think that their mono-cultured soy, destroying an entire ecosystem, leaves them standing on the moral high ground? And I feel I must point out that living in MT, almost everyone I know hunts and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t hunt for meat. Some who are looking for trophies, yes, but none who don’t eat what they shoot!
Fist bumps and high fives and all those other things. I wish I had your balls, lady.
Also, thanks commenters for providing me with my mornings entertainment. “Sarah Palin”? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Bad move for someone depending on CTR to feed their family.
I am so conflicted about these issues that I mostly live in denial. Thanks for posting this and challenging me out of my denial.
Tastes good….doesn’t look so good. I’m just a big wuss and know I could never be a hunter. Well, you know, unless I was transported back to a time before Raleys! But good for JB!! As long as you just get to eat it and don’t have to have the head stuffed and put over your fireplace :)
This post kicks ass. KICKS ASS. My two BILs are hunters and are extremely respectful of the animals they kill and they don’t just do it to be cruel. One of them has a Forestry degree and has seen first hand what happens when an animal population runs out of control, because he had to help put down the diseased and starving deer that were running wild on this particular land. I used to get squicky about hunting but when I spent some time around my BILs and hear how they do things, I started to respect the process. I also know that there are some food banks here in GA that accept game from hunters.
I am a total wuss and know that I couldn’t kill a cow or a pig so I don’t eat the meat from those animals. I could kill the hell out of a chicken, turkey or fish so those are the animals that I eat. I am all for respect of other’s beliefs but to some of the commenters who were having anxiety attacks, heart palpitations and vaginal flutters (or whatever the fuck), REALLY? I hope you feel those same emotions when it comes to human beings.
Rock on Linda and JB.
Ahahaha Sarah Palin! Can you see Alaska from your house on a clear day?
This post is bad as and so right on–and so are you.
(bad ass)
Please provide a warning telling us when commenters compare you to Sarah Palin because I need to change my pants now.
Awesome. All of it.
Wait, you’re in Seattle right? Can you see Alaska from your house?
Love the post! I enjoy hunting with my boyfriend. I skip the processing part but am the first in line to enjoy the meat at dinner.
Don’t forget, the one post I remember talking about an anxiety attack did say it was from issues from her past and went on to say that the issues Linda brought up were more important than what was going on with her. I can understand a thing like that. But being emotionally disturbed? Come on. I see worse on the television. I am also far more disturbed by the evening news telling me what horrible thing one human has thought of to do to another.
Good on you, Linda! If Eugene won’t have you (hahahaha), then Brookings gladly will!
LOVE IT – laughed out loud at the complainers!! Being born and raised in NE Oregon and having a dad that hunts it brings back some great memories!
I never visited your blog until someone linked me this particular post because of some of the comments. I’m a fan :D and not at all squeamish about the photos.
Get a grip, people. Apparently, you weren’t reading the post before it got to the ‘gory’ photos, or you just thought it was natural for a guy to be standing next to an elk holding its horns.
My parents hunt deer, which I do not enjoy eating, but I do love the idea of knowing where your food comes from. If anything I think this is such a great lesson for your boys about our food chain. I was surprised that you posted the pics, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen a million times before. Good on you, Linda!
I have been laughing and laughing most of the morning about this. I love.love.love the ‘goodbye cruel blogger’ replies. Hey people, big ol’ ‘X’ on the top right corner? Yeah, you can use that. *snort*
Then again I wouldn’t have found you had you not posted this highly ‘controversial’ (*snort*) post. I’ll happily subscribe as a fellow hunting widow/wife!
We could always post the veggies/soy/nut factory stories where they wash produce in ammonia or chlorine or use ethylene gas to ripen fruit, or the horrid chemicals used to clean such factories which end up delivering the naysayers their morally superior diet. No? Let the masses emain in denial? Aww.
;) Write on dood, write on.
1. Ewww. Just. Disgusting.
2. Mmmmm. Meat.
It’s a crazy, gray-area word we live in, eh?
Love, love your blog.
I love how that one commenter says “don’t make me look at pictures of it…” like the gun is pointed at her head instead of the elk.
You are totally awesome. I’m not a hunter, but I am a meat-eater and while I like to protect my delicate sensibilities by not looking at or thinking about where my meat comes from, as someone noted above, I simply exercised my fingers and scrolled through the pictures. I only had to come read the comments because I was betting they were fun. And they didn’t disappoint, you Sarah Palin you!
Thanks, Monique. I thought I’d made it clear in my comment that after my initial reaction I praised Sundry for her post. I didn’t demand a warning, didn’t flounce from reading her blog, didn’t throw any kind of hissyfit. I admitted to a very strong initial reaction, which yes was an anxiety attack, based on past trauma that had to do with blood and skin, not eating meat or hunting. I can’t say I understand why I’m getting mocked so much here and on twitter. I guess it’s just easier to make fun of mental illness than understand it.
My husband took up hunting this year and did to a couple deer what JB did to that elk, but in our garage so our girls got to see it happen. Truth be told, I found it hard to watch and have been a borderline vegetarian for years, but I was so glad to have our kids (aged 4 and 2) see that THAT’S what it takes to get a steak on the table. We are so separated from our food on most occasions and this is an excellent reminder.
My husband doesn’t really enjoy the gory aspect of hunting but is of the thought that if he wants to eat meat he should be able to deal with it and do the deed himself.
Ooh…very nice elk. I haven’t been hunting since high school, but seeing these pics makes me think I should get a deer permit next year. If only we had a freezer big enough to hold it all! Does anyone know if food banks can take hunting donations?
I love it when people comment to let you know that YOUR blog content doesn’t meet THEIR approval, and they are leaving and never coming back!!! So much drama…just leave if you don’t like it.
I am going to giggle over the Sarah Palin comment, and the “stay out of Eugene” comment for hours, if not days.
Or you could just eat vegetarian, let the Elk enjoy his time here and spare your body the tasking process of digesting unhealthy flesh.
In the words of Ron White:
I didn’t climb to the top of the fuckin food chain to eat carrots….
Linda, sorry to have a conversation with a whole other person in your comments, but Sara, I think unfortunately you got lumped in with some people who were being a bit unreasonable (my personal opinion, anyway). I actually had to scroll back up through the comments to be sure that what I thought I remembered from your comment is actually what you said (it was, more or less), so it’s easy to remember the anxiety part and maybe not the rest.
Controversy. It’s what’s for dinner.
All that’s missing is JB recreating this scene from Indiana Jones. Kali Ma!
http://www.greatestmoviedeaths.com/2007/12/temple-of-doom-movie-scene-that-created.html
Good on you for posting this. DIY food gathering at its core.
I grew up on a small family farm where we raised beef cattle, chickens & farmed cereal grains. My dad didn’t hunt much but we had lots of hunter friends. But we did butcher our own beef once (or twice possibly) a year and the whole family would be present and “helping” for that. Your pictures remind me of that time.
It always cracked my dad up to hear about “organic” cattle. Our herd grazed prairie grasses in summer and were bale/grain fed in winter. They were as organic as they come without any fancy label.
Delurking to say I’m jealous! I just told my husband this weekend that he needs to start hunting again because I want some venison. I am all in favor of hunting if you eat what you kill. Heh. Just accidentally typed “eat what you kiss”. Sorta black widow spiderish.
Okay – I couldn’t look at all the photos because I’m a wuss but I found the whole post interesting. I think it’s cool that JB doesn’t just hunt for sport and he can feed the family. Seems like there is great appreciation and care taken…not just let’s go kill some animals! To your naysayers – why does Linda need to understand and write for an audience? This is her blog. I’m glad she thinks and writes outside the box. I’m sure she’s not sorry to see you go.
When I saw part of the 2nd photo I knew what was coming and skipped along to the end real quick like. But I have been back three times to read the comments.
Linda- you rock! Cute kids, job angst, scrapbooking, cussing, the Wedge, awesome wordsmith, marathons, bloody elk carcass – what a well rounded life! And a blog I visit daily!
I just wanted to give you a hug and tell you to ignore the bad comments. Be who you are!
My dad was a butcher when I was little girl and all the meat I ate until about age 15 came from animals my dad killed and butchered.
I’ve seen the entire process done many times, even when I was a little girl with blond girls.
Never once do I think back on that time on the farm as being emotionally assaulted, I did learn to not name the cows, though, but otherwise turned out to be a pretty stable person. I think and I still love meat.
Hmmmmm meat.
In other words, excellent post. Rock on. Teach the little ones young to respect the animals.
Great post, and excellent comment feed.
For the visually/emotionally/otherwise assaulted readers, I think perhaps you are forgetting this is a personal blog, not needing your $ubscription. Hate to be a ball buster, but I’m pretty sure the author is non-plussed about your self-important “good luck and goodbye.”
Great post. I have a Dad who hunts and have seen all of this first-hand. I’ve also seen the respect and care that goes into taking the right shot, field-dressing and so forth. I agree with many others, a person should know where their food originates. It doesn’t magically show up in the meat case at Whole Foods. I had no problems with the post, aside from wondering if that rack is soon to be on your wall adorned with Christmas ornaments. My Dad thought it was a great idea years ago to have an elk hide tanned with the hair on and suggested to my Mom that they use it as a bedspread. 20+ years later, the suggestion still pisses off my Mom and the hide is carefully draped over a couch in my Dad’s den.
Thanks for the photos and the good laughs. If I read the comments correctly, you’re no longer welcome in Eugene (that was the self-appointed gatekeeper, yes?) and you’re the next Sarah Palin. Good stuff, ya betcha!
JB rocks, and also? Now I’m starving!
I’ve got my son’s european mount in my bedroom, and people freak that I do being that I’m a girl and all. Do you do anything with the hide? Elk is the bomb for making moccasins or anything that needs thick stiff leather, but I never learned how to tan, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
PS, For all those vegans out there, you know that vegetarian is an old indian word for bad hunter right? LOL
I read your blog because you are hilarious, real, and an In general kick ass person. You are the Only blog I read . That said, if people dont understand your wonderfully unique personality then they don’t DESERVE to read your blog! Kudos and keep writing that book jodie
I don’t know what’s more disgusting: the pleasure you take in the destruction of a beautiful creature that was living its life until you decided you needed it dead or the woo-hoo fist bumping over you writing a self-congratulatory post about commonplace animal slaughter.
Either way, it’s clear that I’m not in your target audience. I hope you all are kinder to the human beings in your lives than you are to other beings that have the misfortune to cross paths with you.
this mad me sad.
This is awesome! Craving elk steak grilled with mushrooms and onions. (Wrap it all up in foil packet on top rack of grill with a little salt and pepper!) So gooood!
I am not from a hunting family, nor could I ever condone it- I find no glory in it at all. For the record, I don’t at pigs sheep or cows either. But I do want to say that eating wild game may protect you from pesticides and all that, but google “mad elk disease” and you can decide on your own whether that’s a risk you want to take.
Point excellently made.
We’re all just meat on the inside, after all.
Oh, Jesus vegjeannie. If that elk wasn’t shot to feed a family, it would have been killed by predators or hit by a car. Something. Chances are slim that it would have lived to it’s life expectancy.
Wild animals do not prance around a meadow enjoying their life. The circle of life. They hunt and are hunted. By humans and other animals. Fortunately we are at the top of the food chain.
This is nothing new. Man has been doing this for centuries and it will never change.
I sense you’ve been linked somewhere in the vegetarian blogosphere. (I have no problem with vegetarians, or with vegetarian food. Vegetarian indignation makes me snicker uncharitably, especially when random capitalization starts to creep in.)
Loved this post. Seeing where our food comes from is so important, and hunting your food is so much more respectful than what most of us do.
Hunting is not my game (see what I did there), but I still crave the summer sausage we ate from ones our family felled. Yum!
We humans have totally forgotten that we are ANIMALS and animals are supposed to eat other animals. :) At least that’s how I feel. If you don’t want to eat meat, then don’t. Judging someone else because they hunt for food so there families can eat is beyond ridiculous.
I also have never understood the need to tell someone that you are never going to read their blog again. Just stop reading the blog. Too funny!
I meant “their families”.
Holy big balls, batman. Very nicely done.
What Jan said. I heartily support this post. I wish I had the guts to kill my own food. Seriously. I am a weenie. But I wholeheartedly support people who cleanly kill their own food and I support the respectful treatment of animals, which this is.
Elk, as herbivores, are prey, and that particular elk lived a natural life until its end. That’s one of the reasons its meat is healthy and tasty.
At first I was thinking, “Wow. I just don’t understand hunting.” Then I got to the end of your post. Now I get it.
These comments are SLAYING me.
You’re the best.
Yum. I want to hunt…always have. Never did. (poo on my dad moving before I could get my license)
I wonder if there is some kind of bell-curve pattern to comments on large-readership blogs that tackle a controversial (and that is totally subjective too) topic. Anyone looking for a PhD project?
And I always look forward to *whatever* you write about.
Although I am a vegan, my comment is not about veganism, vegetarianism, or animal rights. I leave those for another day. I would like to ask:
How is this sustainable?
There are approximately 2 million elk worldwide. With almost 7 billion people on our planet, how could hunting elk be considered sustainable?
Prior to colonization of America it is estimated that there were 10 million elks in America. Now we are down to about 1 million in America. Does not sound sustainable to me.
If factory farming was outlawed all together (which I hope that someday it will be), and we continued to eat meat at the rate that we currently do, we would run out of meat very quickly. Actually, our ecosystem would collapse before we ran out of meat.
Factory farming is the only way that carnivores can get the quantity of cheap meat that they have come to expect and demand. I do not see a way that you can argue for free range, organic meat. That simply is not sustainable.
Simply put, with 6 billion inhabitants on our planet, there is NO sustainable form of meat that will feed everyone.
With that said, I would ask you if you are okay with eating dogs and cats. Meat is meat, right?
You. Are. Awesome.
this is just FANTASTIC.
any place that can bring up vagina flaps, sarah palin, eating dogs and cats & batman’s calls is a winner on my list.
fan-FLIPPING-tastic from beginning to end.
How proud you must be to have hunted down a beautiful and defenseless animal, shot it, allowed it to lay there and suffer, and then shot it dead. What wonderful lessons you are teaching your boys.
I bought a whole chicken the other day wrapped in plastic from the supermarket. When I got it home, I plopped it out on my cutting board to chop up for chicken noodle soup. Only to realize in the country I live, whole chicken means whole chicken — head, feet and a few leftover feathers, too. I debated throwing the whole thing immediately in the garbage, but I toughed it out, whacked it’s head off, chopped the feet off and cooked it up. Must admit, I had to take out the garbage shortly after b/c I could feel the chicken eyeballs staring at me from the trash can. So, obviously I’m not cut out for hunting. Happy to cook it, just prefer not to see it until it’s wrapped up in a nice package. I don’t have any problem with hunting, it’s just not for me. Looks like JB had a successful trip and you have plenty of nice dinners in your future.
As a sort of meat eater, I have little to comment on about this post. I grew up the daughter of a sometimes-hunter, and definitely remember coming home to see the elk my dad caught hanging in the garage. My parents also by their beef from a friend who has about 15 head of cattle. I totally support people knowing where their food comes from, and think way too many people have meat “wrapped tightly in styrofoam and denial” (hilarious, btw).
I am commenting more to stick up for Eugene!!!
My family is from there, although I grew up in NE Oregon, and my grandfather was a US Forest Service ranger (Willamette National Forest Service Superintendent, actually). AND we’re all liberal, University of Oregon alumni (Go Ducks!) and Eco-aware and Eco-friendly in our habits – and my family in Eugene would welcome you with open arms. SO THERE! (to the commenter who said stay out of Eugene…)
Oh chill out cranky commenters: if we weren’t meant to eat animals they wouldn’t be made out of tasty, tasty meat.
This looks very labor intensive. But it does give me some new ideas for ways to skin a cat!
To those who hate the entire concept of hunting to feed one’s family: do you think the animal who provided the leather for your shoes, belt, handbag and car upholstery died of natural causes?
Nope.
WE ATE HIM and you are wearing the leftovers.
Thanks for a great post that got people thinking!
I would just like to say: Defenseless animal, my ass. Elk are very dangerous. Shit.
I’m going back to emotionally assaulting my vagina now.
Mixette–Agreed! There is a nice sociological study in these comments–PhD material for sure.
Love this post! Elk meat is delicious and lean. I am more emotionally assaulted by the overpriced, overpackaged crap at WholeFoods, to be honest.
And, anonymous, the “wonderful lesson” for her boys here is an elegant one: Respect your food, know where it comes from, and eat healthy (cruelty-free, yes, cruelty-free) meat.
Great post!
@Steve: Oh for goodness sake. Please tell me you are aware that you just set up a straw man argument. OF COURSE the way we all eat meat in this country is not currently sustainable. OF COURSE we have to change our foodways. But the argument you are making is not the same as the one Linda (or others) are trying to make: if we all ate meat in the way our physiology intended (e.g., approximately once a week or so), supplemented by eggs and dairy products, we could make omnivory sustainable.
Also: I don’t know where you live, but in most of the world, there is not enough fresh water currently available to make a local vegan diet sustainable. We are currently facing a fresh water shortage on this planet that is becoming a very, very big problem very, very quickly. What do you propose for those millions and millions of people for whom this is true?
Just when I was dying over the “emotional assault,” somebody went and called you Sarah Palin. This day cant get any better.
Great post!!! I respect anyone who produces or supplies food for their table, whether it’s from the garden or the woods. My two brothers and dad are avid hunters, and happen to be three of the most passionate environmentalists and conservationists I know. They are keenly aware of nature – more so than a lot of people – and have a sense of respect and admiration for the animals they hunt.
With that being said, I also understand the rationale behind those who oppose hunting, from an “animal rights” standpoint. Different strokes for different folks, right?
I think hunting is one of those debates that may never be resolved.
Everyday I see reminders to be kind to those around me. Today’s lesson is comming from the hateful commenters here.
Enjoy your harvest.
Linda, you are awesome. The pictures had me recoiling a bit, but I’d be a massive hypocrite if I didn’t read it to the end, look at all the pictures, and think ‘point well taken’ when I was done.
Enjoy the sure-to-be-delicious dinners that come from this, and please, keep on doing what you do. I wouldn’t stop reading you for anything.
FYI…My comment was meant to be mostly tongue in cheek. “Nice post Sarah Palin” made me laugh when I said it in my head, so I typed it. Glad it made others laugh as well. Believe it or not, there are other, more important things/people in my life that actually have the power to “emotionally assault” me. The blog entry of a person I have never met is not even remotely close to the top of my list.
Yes, I am a vegetarian (have been for 20 years). No, I have no problem with the food choices of others. Yes, I am disgusted by images of dead animals. Just like I am disgusted by images of starving children, the aftermath of a suicide bomb, any of the Saw movie trailers, etc. To all those who have commented “Good for you for sharing images of animal carcass”! I’m sorry…what?
All I was trying to convey was, when I go to a blog expecting to see pictures of cute kids (why wouldn’t I expect that from this blog?), pictures of a dead animal pale in comparison—and seem to be there simply for shock value. Or “advertising” purposes. In which case, good for you!
Vagina Flaps….really?? I just snorted a Cheerio out my nose! Holy hell, you people are funny!
As for the commentor being “emotionally assaulted” while expecting images of little kiddos, how long HAVE you been reading Linda’s blog? If you had actually read through some of the archives, you would know that she writes (and shoots) from the hip, with no holds barred. Blog topics may include: Dog farts, poop, scrotums, regurgitation, dead animals, and yes, at some times, adorable small children.
If you’re looking for fairy dust and Stepford senses of reality, I believe you can find that at ParentDish. Ta-ta!
“I am more emotionally assaulted by the overpriced, overpackaged crap at WholeFoods, to be honest.”
Amanda, you are the official winner of this comments section.
Go tofu.
I just had to comment because my blog name and twitter handle is Deer Baby.
I’ve had slow days at work this week, but held off on coming to read the chaos until today. It was worth the wait.
Vagina flaps, Sarah Palin, Mad Elk Disease .. you are gunning for your own TLC show, you know? Or at least Discovery Health.
I love it. I’m jealous of the meat in your freezer. Also, I’m gonna just say that what this thread is missing is the fact that I don’t like seeing breast feeding in public.
My eyes are burning!! Not only from the gross photos (which, being your blog, you have every right to post without warning) but from laughing at the comments. Hilarious.
I’m a sometimes meat eater, and while yes, I think the photos are gross; it would be hypocritical of me to not educate myself on how this meat is produced. Awesome post.
Now I’m off to read the comments from the dairy barn post, had no idea there was controversy over that!
Well, you’re welcome in Cottage Grove, just a stone throw from Eugene, anytime. :)
Wow, Linda, I have to say that your commenters are much more open minded than I thought they would be.
We hunters have spent a lot of time being vilified for what we do, and it seems like it’s only lately, and thanks to the trend of eating locally and humanely, that our food supply choices have begun to be respected. My husband and I personally kill and process over 50% of our meat, and we do it respectfully and without stress or waste. We used to mostly be made out to be assholes for doing this, except in our own circles, but that tide seems to be changing. I especially appreciate the vegetarians and vegans that see the effort we go to and respect our right to make our own choices in the food department, as I respect theirs.
YUMMMMMMY! Makes me miss Montana and my grandpappy!
Already hunting!
Death is a fact of life. Suffering doesn’t have to be.
Good stuff.
when i was a kid, my dad ran a taxidermy business in our basement. none of those images are new to me, but i never connected the concepts i knew as a kid (skinning, quartering, venison in the spaghetti sauce) with the ones i started hearing as an adult (local, organic, free range).
thanks for the new perspective.
my boyfriend was never exposed to hunting or anything like that and i showed him this post to explain the process. it was very thorough, good job.
as for the onslaught of comments, i think any reasonable person would agree that knowledge is valuable. if someone is unwilling to learn about or even look at something they disagree with, they should stick to reading their own blogs.
As many others have said, I think it’s a great option to get meat from a greener, more humane source like hunting. I also think it’s extremely worthwhile to see where your food comes from, even if people are squeamish about the images.
So, nothing to add there. But I do say that as a vegan (and a former Eugenian). We’re not all total nutbags.
Am I the only vegetarian this didn’t bother? People have been hunting for….oh you know…FOREVER. Better this way than getting your meat from a factory, in some cases a meat factory in China even. High five Linda!
The only issue I take with this post is your assertion that it’s sustainable. Just like everything else, it’s only sustainable if only a few people are doing it.
Like all those “only eat locally” people who think that model is sustainable — I live in a city of 20 million people. Do you think we’d all survive if only eating food farmed/hunted within 100 miles of our homes?
These could be the best comments ever!
Linda,
I have read this blog for years and years. I remember your post where you shadowed your brother in law in the funeral home. I remember your post about when you hit rock bottom. But I have to tell you I didn’t like this post at all. I am not interested in the vagaries of hunting. Have JB post this on one of his manly man pages.
Good post! I’ll leave it at that since *most* people have expressed what I think. :)
Not reading comments, blah blah blah.
I so so freaking jealous of your Elk. SO JEALOUS. I hear it’s amazing meat to eat and work with and I’m going to go away and sulk because I’m on the other side of the world and the closest I get is regular wallaby and kangaroo, plus the ducks I’m breeding myself (I like ethical meat, hunting/breeding it myself makes me happy).
I have read all of these comments and thought I would escape the compulsion to join in. (No offense, y’all, I just didn’t have anything I wanted to add to the food conversation.)
Then came “Have JB post this on one of his manly man pages”? Are you KIDDING me?
Last I checked, women are just as involved as men in the practice of, um, EATING FOOD.
Great post…. I sort of have to chuckle at all the comments about what is sustainable/if everyone starts hunting there won’t be enough elk to feed everyone/what will happen if we don’t! have! cheap! hamburger! from feedlots. Isn’t 2/3 of the population overweight, eating more calories than we need? Just sayin….
I live in Oklahoma City. Recently, when my dad came to visit, we went to a local steakhouse (next to the stockyards), and then went to the stockyards because for whatever stupid reason, my dad wanted to see them. Being that it was Sunday night, I really didn’t expect to see a damn thing. However, there was some activity. We watched as smaller farmers offloaded cattle into holding pens. We did not see any actual cattle death. I found the sight of what was, in reality, probably a small, non-bloody portion of mass slaughter way more disturbing than the pictures in this post.
One of the blogs I read once had a clearly stated and perfectly reasonable defense of clubbing little fluffy white seals. I was actually more swayed by her argument than I am by this.
I’m not a vegetarian. I eat and enjoy meat. I do not particularly object to hunting, but this whole post seems like some sort of weird reaction to the comments on the dairy farm post (which, like the comments on this post, were overwhelmingly positive and polite).
Incidentally, with regards to the pictures, I find the “BUT THIS IS WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM!” commenters unconvincing.
I love my sister, but that doesn’t mean I want to get into the wayback machine and watch my parents fucking so I can see where she came from.
Thank you for posting. My husband started hunting with his father and brother last year. I went to a hunting safety class out of curiosity over the weekend. I am interested in this, and while others may not be. I am interested because as graphic as it may be, this shows the reader without bias what it is hunt, ethically. I can see how one would want to unsee it, but I am curious. I know a food anthropologist and it seems she’s just in it to judge others for what they eat, and that is just wrong. “Organic” is a marketing ploy and isn’t always organic, nor is the “locally grown” at the farmer’s market when it comes from a truck that drove 500 miles. Also my husband and I are starting aquaponics.
Love this post! Just last week my husband cleaned the deer he had shot with my 3 year old. He was totally unfazed by the whole process.
I have no problem seeing pics of the real process of hunting. I’m down with those who say you should be educated if you’re going to have an opinion on something. It’s certainly not, though, reasonable to say “If you want to eat meat, you should only do so if you kill it yourself!” That’s really not fair to oh, millions of people who maybe don’t have the skills, local opportunity, tools and whatnot. It’s fine to talk about how something you’re doing is so awesome but I’m SO tired of the internet habit of adding a tinge of “and you’re a lame-ass if you don’t do X, too”. Peace, all.
[...] all meat comes neatly wrapped in plastic on styrofoam trays. Never really thought about it. A post by Sundry Mourning was pointed out to me recently on twitter that caused quite the controversy. Clean eating is the [...]
Reminds me very much of my first job – gutting deer! I worked for the Game Commission, and we would let hunters use our land if they brought their kills to us so we could take biological samples. After my first week, I could hang and completely gut a buck in about 2 1/2 minutes.
I always started at the anus – cut a neat hole, then go down and around the family jewels. One neat slice down the belly, cut through the diaphragm, and a lateral cut through the esophagus. If I did it right, and if it wasn’t gut-shot, I’d have the entire innards drop into my gut bucket in one neat plop.
We always took one side of the jaw to check the teeth, checked the kidney fat levels, and opened up the stomach to check the contents.
I have to admit, it wasn’t every 17 year old girl’s dream job, but you couldn’t argue the added benefit of fresh venison liver. Mmmm!
Oh, and all the people telling Linda what she can and can’t post on her own blog?
Go to hell. Then write your own blog about it so we can leave you shitty comments.
Junebug,
You must be seeing comments that are hidden to the rest of us.
Most of the comments were overwhelmingly positive, but as to the dissenters, I’ve seen people saying that they didn’t like the pictures, people who were offended, people who were freaked out, people who were bothered, but I haven’t seen anybody telling Linda what she can and can’t post on her own blog.
The button says “Submit Comment,” not “Submit Unqualified Approval and Wholehearted Agreement.” I assume that if Linda doesn’t care for the direction of the comments on any particular post, that she can and will moderate them to her satisfaction.
After all, it is her blog.
Oh God, I know this scene-well, not exactly. My husband keeps bragging about how “clean” he shot the last deer and how quickly he and his friend dressed it. Ugh. Just tell me when it’s been made into delicious food.
It reconfirms for me that I like my grocery store. Grew up on processed meat and will die eating it, just like all my other old-as-hell relatives. Can’t get into the hunting thing, nope, no way, no how. Don’t care about the “cool” environmentalism of it – it just completely freaks me out.
Can’t explain it and it’s probably not rational – it just bugs. I’m a believer that sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
I totally get why you posted this, why it needed to be as direct as this. The food fairy doesn’t come and visit the fridge at night. If we can’t stomach the path something took to get to our plate, then putting it in our bodies is the height of hypocrisy. Also, “Have JB…” cracked me up. So that’s my comment on the comments.
Now my comment on the post: knowing how stresses you get about the public perception of your work and how painful it can be to be shredded in the comments, I found it very brave that you put this out there knowing the backlash to come. Good job!
Akeeyu,
Methinks you are a little sensitive. I specifically said “all the people telling Linda what she can and can’t post on her own blog”. If that wasn’t you, then the comment wasn’t directed at you.
And maybe you missed the comment from Andrea (just a few above mine) that said “Have JB post this on one of his manly man pages”, but I surely didn’t. There are a few more like that as well.
If Linda’s having fresh Elk for Thanksgiving, I am very jealous.
NO MORE ELK PENIS!!
you missed the bit where you slice the belly open and let all the entrails and guts spill out.
Then you can quarter it….
Oh my god, vegitarians are a delicate little bunch, aren’t they? You can’t see meat being processed because you choose not to eat it? There should be a warning saying, “Precious snowflakes, you’re about to see an animal being processed for food, avert your eyes,”?
COME THE FUCK ON, PEOPLE. There’s nothing disgusting about any of these pictures – they’re showing the process of turning an animal from something alive to something we (most of us, hi, the barbaric meat eaters over on this side of the room giving you the WTF? faces) eat.
I was a vegitarian for several years, and it was NEVER because the SIGHT of meat was disgusting to me. It was because animals being pumped full of chemicals and hormones in tiny, inhumane quarters wasn’t something I could support.
This? Is something I can get behind.
I could never hunt. But I eat meat.
Your post is so well done. Linda, you have GUTS! Love it!
I know you are probably tired of comments on this subject, but aren’t these pictures of several different elk hunts? I was just noticing that the elk in the first pic is different than the one JB is posed with and also different from the ones being butchered? Also there is different trucks. Why no pictures of JB helping with the butchering? My guess is he is the one taking the pictures. I am not judging or anything. All of my family pictures include dead animals. Seriously.
Count me in as one for team Carrot.
Amanda, vegetarians can spell;) seriously. I’m not as outraged by this as you were by Heather Armstrong taking a major corporation to task for shoddy workmanship. Hmmm, what does that say about me???;) answers on a postcard folks.
Right on, thanks for posting this!
If you find this too disgusting to eat then perhaps you have no business eating meat hmm?
Um. Wow. This post made complicated things happen in my brain! My brain understands and supports your right to hunt and even appreciates that you actually use what you kill for food. The emotional part of me though (cheesily: the heart), wanted to hug that elk and cry over it for a good long while. It’s hard to see where our food comes from. It’s easier to gloss over the fact that every single thing we eat was once alive (even those veggies you eat were once happily thriving in a garden of some sort so don’t jump all over me vegetarians and vegans)when it comes pre-killed and pre-packaged at the store.
Thanks for posting this. Sometimes we need things to punch us in the face so that we’ll think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathy
Enjoy your elk.
I think we’ve covered the entire possible range of comments at this point, so I’m going to close up shop. Thanks, everyone.