The Ethical Hunter

As a somewhat new father of 15-month-old twins, I’m constantly finding myself enjoying tiny little moments with my kids that I never knew I would experience. Last night, my boy Sam, provided another great one — a moment for the ethical hunter archives.

My twins, Sam and Anna, have been eating solid foods for a long time now, and have tried a variety of wild game meats, including fish, goose, moose and whitetail. However, Sam is now a big fan of chicken meat. Sam has also been connecting pictures of animals with the sounds they make, including "baaa" with sheep, "moo" with cows and "bok bok" with chicken photos and drawings. Last night, my wife placed a piece of chicken on Sam’s tray and asked him if he wanted some. Sam held it up, then said "bok bok" and popped it into his mouth. He repeated this process several times with a pleased look on his face each time.

Not only was I proud of my boy for learning what chickens say, but the fact that he was forming a rudimentary connection between his food and its origins made the ethical hunter in me beam. You can bet my kids are going to know meat doesn’t come from a factory or grocer. Venison comes from deer, pork from pigs, beef from cows, etc.

Now, the day when Sam and Anna watch me bring home a deer and explain that we kill animals for their meat, completing a natural circle of dependence (you know, like the Lion King) doesn’t seem that far off. Nor does the day they pull up a stool to watch me skin and butcher a fat doe. Or, their own first hunts. These are the moments ethical hunters live for.

P.S. for a great resource on butchering and cooking venison (for you or your kids) check out a fellow ethical hunter’s great book "Gut It, Cut It, Cook It" in the ShopDeerHunting.com store.

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Most of history’s best decisions have not been made with a tumbler of straight bourbon whisky in hand. However, profound thinking and whisky are fine companions. What I’m getting at is this: I’ve been holding off on this post for a while. Why? Because I wanted to get it right. But in the end, that’s just wrong. Blogs are for pouring out ideas and sparking debate. So here goes.

For the past several years, I have watched as the Deer & Deer Hunting offices have experienced a large uptick in letters, calls and e-mails from hunters dismayed by what we have collectively termed as a national antler addiction. In fact, some of our most applauded and contentious articles and television shows have attempted to dive into this subject, bringing both acclaim and anger from our hunting readers.

A quick scan of a local newsstand this weekend revealed D&DH is no longer the only magazine taking up this issue. Many of the other national publications have either toed or dove directly into this discussion of an ailing deer hunting ethic. And it is a sticky discussion because, at it’s heart is a natural drive for hunters to measure their success and the very primal nature of antlers themselves.

It’s murky water. And for ethical hunters, I think it’s worthwhile and necessary to fully explore this subject. In my opinion (which is the whole point of a personal blog), there really is nothing wrong with an antler fascination and attraction. Antlers captivate us because their very purpose is to awe and convey virility and strength. The problems arise when the attraction crosses a line into addiction and hunters place large antlers above herd management, stewardship, sportsmanship and even decency. Antler addiction is bad because, like any addiction, it spirals to spawn a whole host of negative activities and emotions.

So are big antlered bucks to blame? Nope. How about the hunters who delight in the taking of these animals? Certainly some cross the line, but not all.

I think the evils of antler addiction are a symptom of society. OUR society. To put it bluntly, our keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, instant gratification, no-fault-of-our-own, over-commercialized way of life. This is what turns quality deer management focused on healthy ecosystems into trophy deer management or worse.

If you look closely at the ugly side of big buck hunting, the nasty issues always revolve around egos, glorification or greed.  Often I think property owners look at the enormous time and monetary investment they put into their management programs and feel they must show a return on that investment. Few see less obvious returns of a healthy ecosystem and natural balance. Greed and egos are just that.

So what is an ethical hunter to do? Shun big bucks? Hardly. I think it is important to focus attention on the less obvious returns. Place an emphasis on land ethic. Simply; enjoy antlers, but do not enjoy them more than the hunt and do not place the hunt above its purpose. 

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It’s time to face the harsh reality: My freezer is empty, or almost so.

Moose steaks from my sister? Gone.

Moose burger? Ditto.

Nebraska buck? Finished him off last week.

Wisconsin doe? Mostly gone. (I am holding on to a bag of honey hot sticks like they are Apple stock circa 1977)

I guess I didn’t do my fair share of wildlife management last season. So that leaves me with the harsh reality of shopping for my protein. (Have you seen the price of beef lately?!! It’s enough to induce depression.) Thank goodness for my garden. I can’t wait to start harvesting fresh veggies … but that won’t cure my venison doldrums.

I guess all I can do now is wait and plot. First, I must make sure to secure more venison this fall. And with the Oliso vacuum sealer I mentioned in a previous post, I’m planning on putting more up than ever before. But until then, I guess all I can do is daydream about opening day and put up veggies for fall. I’ll be reading up on recipes, too. And taking suggestions. What’s your favorite venison recipe? Or recipe book?

This year, I tried a lot of recipes from Tracy Schmidt’s Venison Wisdom cookbook. Tracy is the wife of D&DH editor Dan Schmidt and she knows her venison. I was very impressed with the book and every recipe I tried. Tracy has a blog on her website http://venisonwisdom.ning.com/

I’ve also been reading Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. It has given me a lot of ideas for the coming fall and winter. Until then, I can only wait.

By the way, which state has the earliest bow opener?

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I often forget that not all hunters are like me. Some of the best deer hunters I know are are not outdoor writers or marketing folks in the outdoor industry who get the chance to chase deer all over the country. Most are folks who work hard for a living in factories or outdoors, building and supplying this great nation.

That’s not to say these folks aren’t great conservationists who devote themselves to protecting and managing our natural resources. However, many of these same individuals have not experienced formal conservation classes at a college level. That does not make them less valuable to our environment. But I often forget that these folks might have never read envioronmental classics such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or the writings of John Muir and Thoreau. If you have never heard of these people, it doesn’t make you less of a conservationist, and I don’t look down at you one bit. However, I would say you are missing out on some great environmental ideas if you can handle a bit of heavy reading (and even some anti-hunting rhetoric).

However, for us hunters, one author and environmentalist stands above all others (at least in my mind). He was ahead of his time and wrote of ideas that can still shake natural resources management to it’s core. What’s more, his writing verges on beautiful, and he was, indeed, a hunter. Yet, until college I had never heard of Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948). Then, throughout my college career, I was asked to read his writings several times. To say the least, I was shocked by his wisdom and eloquence. Leopold’s land ethic is what we should all strive for as hunters.

Today, I carry a well-worn copy of his greatest work A Sand County Almanac in my hunting pack and try to read it once a year. It makes for great midday deer stand fodder. It should be noted that Leopold is often quoted by anti-hunters and hunting conservationists alike. This is because his ideas are profound, and complicated. They do not bend to causes. And to just read his most famous quotes is to just sample his knowledge. Leopold was a hunter who valued the environment beyond movements. In fact, he championed doe hunts in Wisconsin at a time when it earned him death threats. In my mind, he was the greatest hunting conservationist. A man to model and admire.

So, if you are looking for a some great summer reading that just might change the way you view deer hunting and the woods you love, I suggest you pick up A Sand County Almanac, whether you know him or not. And if you don’t like to read, a full-length, high-definition documentary film was recently made about the legendary man. Green Fire highlights Leopold’s extraordinary career, tracing how he shaped and influenced the modern environmental movement and how he remains relevant today, inspiring projects all over the country that connect people and land. You can find more, including a trailer, at www.greenfiremovie.com. You can also learn more about Aldo Leopold and how the Aldo Leopold Foundation continues to carry on his work at www.aldoleopold.org.

I can promise, this won’t be the last post I write that explores Leopold’s land ethic and its influence on me as a hunter.

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I have a confession. While I value the protein provided by wild game beyond all other forms of meat and take utmost care of my deer and other game in the field and on my butcher’s table, I am a complete slacker when my venison gets to the freezer.

I’ve always been a freezer paper guy. And, sometimes I don’t even go that far. If I’m out of freezer paper, I’ll seal my game as best I can in plastic baggies. I feel guilty about it (especially when Turkey & Turkey Hunting editor Brian Lovett and I trip up to the local meat processor and he breaks out his perfectly, triple-wrapped game and I dig out a tub of frozen scraps on our annual summer sausage run). But the truth is I’m cheap and I could never afford a vacuum sealer and the expensive bags. Really, it was the bags that scared me away. I could handle the one-time investment of the sealer, but I didn’t want to shill out the dough every year for the special bags.

Well, I’ve decided to take the plunge. On a recent trip to review some of the newest hunting gear available to bow-hunters, I was introduced to the Oliso vacuum sealer, which uses specialized bags like the other vacuum sealers on the market. However, the Oliso does things a little differently; it punctures a small hole, sucks out the air and then seals a small area around the hole. This makes the bags reusable for 10 to 20 uses. And they’re not crazy expensive. Less than $15 bucks a pack.

The Oliso is not cheap, but it handles wet loads like a champ (a major downfall of many vacuum sealers).

I’ve decided it’s an investment I need to make to honor the game I take.

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I was all set to write a post on Friday, but then a kind friend surprised me with a bag of morels he found in his yard. I’d never found morels before, so I was excited to try them.

Funny thing is, when I got home, I mowed the lawn. Guess what I found growing in my own yard around the stump of the elm we cut down last year after it died?

So I had a bunch of morels and one package of venison left in the freezer. Perfect combo right?

Even better, when I opened the freezer package I found I had mislabeled it. Instead of round steaks, it was a loin piece. Side note, I never cut my loins into steaks. I cut them into 8- to 10-inch sections and freeze them whole. They last longer and I can cut them into steaks later if I choose to. However, my favorite preperation is to wrap a whole loin piece in bacon and grill it to medium rare.

That’s just what I did. I wrapped the loin with bacon and threw it on the grill. Then I sauted about half the morels in butter and steamed some local fresh-cut green beans and started some brown rice.

When the morels were soft, I added some heavy cream a shot of salt and pepper and drizzled it over the loin medalions (AFTER I LET IT REST!).

I have to say, this might have been one of my favorite venison preperations to date.

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Last week’s inaugural edition of my venison Friday Food Fun on this blog was, as they say folks, a softball.

I floated it knowing all along that most hunters would — like me — choose both (Kate Beckinsale and Megan Fox, of course, but also both venison and pork).

The answers were a foregone conclusion because simply one of the greatest foods on earth is a well-made sausage that includes the complex flavors of venison and the richness of pork fat. As Anthony Bourdain so often points out on his excellent foodie/travel show "No Reservations" one common theme throughout the world is meat in tube form. It is the quintessential street food for good reason.

And I would argue the very best sausages contain not just pork, but the amazing combination of pork fat and wild game. Others would agree. Biker turned street-food Sensei, Jim Pettinger has turned sausages made from venison, reindeer, pheasant and bison into national acclaim and one of Denver’s most applauded restaurants, Biker Jim’s Dogs. Combine the two, add a little smoke and seasoning and you have the world’s greatest food. However, therein lies the most magical part. No two concoctions of venison and pork are alike. From venison Polish sausage to landjaeger and bratwurst, the variety of encased sausages is incredible. Add the fact that no two batches are exactly alike and its clear you could spend your life devoted to an obsession of venison sausage: an excellent pursuit. (Perhaps a future episode of "No Reservations").

Oh, and if you don’t make your own, you are truly missing out on one of life’s greatest joys.
Here’s to the perfect marriage. 

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Well folks, I’m back.
I know I started this blog with a splash then disappeared for a week, but hey, I’m a magazine editor first and I had two publications deadlining. So for those who have been checking back every few hours – see I’m also a comedian – here’s some controversy for you. (No not that controversy)

For my own blog I’m going to steal a page from foodie bloggers (such as fellow wild game fan David Draper over at The Wild Chef) and start a Friday Food Fun feature. And since I promised controversy, here you go:

What’s the ultimate protein - wild whitetail or pork?

For those of you who are devout whitetail hunters, this might seem like a no-brainer. After all, how great is a nicely marinated venison tenderloin grilled to rare over hickory chunks? But then again, pork is worshiped by foodies from Seattle to Tokyo for good reason. I can’t imagine deer camp or Saturday mornings without bacon. Heck, would charcuterie even exist without pork fat? I don’t think so.

For me, this is the ultimate battle of good and evil: Kate Beckinsale vs. Megan Fox.

(Or in Mrs. Ethical Hunter’s case, Dave Annable vs. Colin Farrell.)

In other words, heart healthy, wholesome and sexy venison vs. the Sith Lord of arteries, sumptuous flavor and extreme protein decadence. Not such an easy choice anymore is it? I’ll come back around and weigh in on this myself, but first, your thoughts.

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