Hunting, Fishing, Homesteading

As a homesteader, and yes, I'm slowly embracing the term (even though I don't agree with being labeled a homesteader), there is one thing that I take for granted, and that is food.  Our freezer always has venison, rabbit, squirrel, wild boar, elk, bear, pheasant, grouse, or goose in it.  It also has a variety of fish usually with walleye, perch, trout, and salmon.  Our pantry and other freezer always has vegetables from our garden.

I grew up with wild game and wild fish being a part of dinner on a regular basis.  Wild game wasn't a part of every meal when I was a child, but it wasn't unusual to have venison 2 nights a week and wild fish 1-2 nights a week.  It was just normal and when I turned 12, I got a gun and went hunting with my dad.  With my own family now, if we eat meat for a meal, it was something that I shot, caught, or grew.  We just don't buy meat from the store.  We aren't raising livestock yet, which is why wild game is a such a big part of our meals, but even after we get our cows and goats, I don't see hunting going away.

When most people think of homesteading or self sufficiency, they envision gardens, chickens laying eggs, goat milk, maybe a dairy cow.  Some may envision raising meat animals, chicken, pigs, meat goats, lambs, or a beef cow.  But I don't think that most people, when thinking about homesteading, dreaming about making a change of lifestyle think about hunting and fishing.  One good day of fishing or small game hunting, can lead to a week worth of meals.  One good day of big game hunting can lead to months or even a years worth of meals for your family.

I would like to make a stand though between hunting for food and hunting for a wall trophy.  I do have a deer head on my living room wall.  I hunted whitetail deer for 20 years and a couple of years ago had the opportunity to take a big, mature buck with a nice rack.  That one deer fed us for 6 months.  His head is on my wall so that I can remember the hunt, the smells, what it's like to be in the woods in the fall.  I can look at that deer and remember all of the deer I've taken, I can remember meals around the table with my family and friends.

When I enter the woods with a gun, my objective is to put meat in my freezer.  It is not to take the biggest animal that would make the best mount.  When my freezer is full, I stop hunting.  We have a deep connection with our food.  When we hunt and take an animal, we give thanks for the meat.

I guess my point is that you may be against hunting and/or fishing, but you should know that most hunters and fishermen are not just after trophies for on their walls; most hunters and fishermen are just trying to fill their freezers with healthy, organic, hormone free, antibiotic free, free-range meat. The same meat that most homesteaders are trying to raise.