I saw something Sarge01 wrote on someone else's question. Made me think. How many people grew up you eat what you kill? I hunt f

[dbramley]

I saw something Sarge01 wrote on someone else's question. Made me think. How many people grew up you eat what you kill? I hunt for the food in the freezer.

[fezzant]

I have always done things that way. If I shoot it, I eat it, and I process it myself too. When fishing, my catch either goes back in the water or onto my plate. I'm not above taking a trophy animal if I stumble across one, but I'm probably not going to pass up a good shot on a smaller rack just in the hopes of finding something bigger.

[A Wild Beast at Heart]

I was raised in a farm and whatever we ate came from there, vegetable or animal.

I eat everything that I hunt and I will not pass on a nice doe.

Last weekend I grilled for family and friends and we had chicken, pork, beef, venison and bear. It is great to be a top predator, know where your food comes from and respect it.

Please, read my blog. Just google "A Wild Beast at Heart".

[ITHACASXS]

Except for crows we pretty much eat everything we kill, though I did shoot a merganser (my bad) once and couldn't eat it. Since we live in the confines of the city we do rely on the Supermarket. As a kid we ate everything shot by dad and us, woodchucks (very good) included. That's why I don't shoot most big water diving ducks or spoonbills, most taste rather bad.

[Trapper Vic]

If it's not fit to eat don't waist the ammo! Exception for predators. Eat what I kill always have always will!

[dbramley]

I am a firm believer that if hunting you are going to eat what you kill. I do not fall into the trophy hunter classification. Cant eat horns. With exception of predators i eat what i kill

[deerhunterrick]

We do not but beef,fish,turkey and few vegetables since 2000 but I have been pretty self suficient meat wise since the 70's with exception of very little. Turkey,pheasants, waterfowl,hogs, woodchuck, fox, coyote,raccoon,muskrat,pigeon(squab) fish of all types. There is very little we will harvest that does not get eaten. If not by my family by someone elses. There is an abundance of exceptional foods available to the hunter/sportsman if they only try it. Why would you expell an animals life just to say you've done it. Perfect waste of a natural resource and a down right shame to make excuses not to use what you kill. There fore I avoid skunks,opposumm,crows,mink(very nasty tasting) but for the most part I have at one time or another at least tried something edible once. Like Trapper Vic said, if it ain't fit to eat why waste the ammo or bait killing it

[tneal1987]

Always with ezception to varmits, I would not like to try to eat coyote or beavers, but yes game animals I eat what I shoot everytime.

[Sarge01]

When I grew up in WV the yearly limit on squirrels was 36. My dad and I always shot our 36 squirrels because we ate every one. My Dad didn't deer hunt and I didn't start deer hunting till I was 18 years old. I didn't get serious about deer hunting until I was in the military stationed in North Carolina. We didn't eat varimits but that was the only thing we didn't eat. We raised hogs and chickens and grew all of our vegtables in the garden. We didn't have a freezer so we canned all of our produce and meat. We made our Sat. night trip to the neghborhood grocery store where we bought the necessary things like salt, flour, pepper, sugar etc. I remember I couldn't wait for the snow to go away in the spring so we could get dandelions and water cress our first greens of the year. My Mother made a dressing that made them delicious.

[Happy Myles]

Sarge,
My word, have not heard dandelions and water cress mentioned in decades. Also looked forward to rhubarb. We drove a couple of miles to the general store. Besides groceries they also sold whisky and horse collars. You forgot one staple, coffee. Oh, and ammunition. Kindest Regards

[buckhunter]

Growing up I hunted because I enjoyed it. Never needed the food but I still ate what I killed. Never had a hunting mentor. I grew up in a family of non-hunters so I had no direction. In fact, my family always thought it odd I hunted but were supportive regardless.

When I was 14 or 15 years old, I could cook the best squirrel. Funny how it doesn't taste the same today.

[Ol Krusty]

Always, with the exception of varmints like so many have already stated. Having whatever game on my plate makes me appreciate it so much more because I know where it came from, what it was doing, and what it gave up before I took it from it. Because of that I never let it go to waste, and give as much of it away as long as family and friends eat it. I hope my children will think of it the same way when they are older. With the mention of water crest, I'm having flash backs of sitting on my grandad's front porch and sharing a crest filled sandwich and lemonade with him when I was young. Good times, thanks for mentioning that Sarge.

[RylieGipson]

i agree completly,until you get to crows and yotes... how i was raized.

[ITHACASXS]

From game to greens; that's what makes this forum interesting and fun . Greens we still forage for are young dandelions and young burdocks, before the stalks get tough. Around here they are called cardunes, which I guess is a Southern Italian slang term. Fried up alone or with fresh fish is quite a treat. My Forman and I picked two bags full along a local creek on our lunch hour, coming back some resident stopped us thinking we had a marijuana stash. We reassured him it wasn't.

[Sourdough Dave]

I never understood the motivation behind hunting for any other reason. Sure I kill varmints and vermin because they are a threat, and I do not eat them. I cannot justify killing an animal for a wall decoration. I am a predator. I kill for food or to dispose of varmints and vermin that threaten my food source or infest my home. The rightful role of humans in the environment is that of hunter/gatherer, AKA predator. If while harvesting animals for food I kill one with an impressive rack, I'll display it in tribute to a noble creature. That said, I still maintain that the best place to display the real trophy of the hunt is next to the mashed potatoes.