CONFER: Hunting puts meat on the table

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Bob Confer, columnist

August 30, 2010

Anonymous Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Mon Aug 30, 2010, 01:23 AM EDT

MIDDLEPORT — In days gone by, we were a more self-sufficient people, able to feed our families even in the face of adverse economic conditions. It’s common to hear stories from those who lived during the Great Depression that cite their having never gone hungry.

Even the poorest families were able to eat, not like kings mind you, but well enough. Extended families worked together to tend farms and raise animals, every household that had the space sported a garden and practiced canning and men hunted at length, filling their loved ones’ dinner plates with wild game like deer, rabbits and waterfowl.

Our society has changed a great deal since. Our population has gone from being 90 percent self-sufficient to 10 percent, the result of a more industrialized and so-called “advanced” way of life and the abandonment of rural living for the confines of suburbia and the big city. Because of that, when an economic collapse of great magnitude like the current one does occur, we are hurt more than we were in past national crises. Many people do go hungry, or at least wanting, from a combination of escalating commodity prices and a lack of income opportunity (the current unemployment and underemployment rate is at 16 percent).

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Most Americans are limited in their ability to independently feed their families from an agricultural standpoint due to the limitations of altered society. But, every American still has the potential to put meat — and lots of it — on the table. Hunting remains a viable option, even in today’s world.

It’s obvious some folks believe in that. Nationally, sales of sporting licenses rose by 3.5 percent in 2009, the greatest growth in 20 years. That was, with a doubt, due to the recession which began in earnest a year earlier. Many money-conscious families re-discovered the financial value and health rewards of feeding themselves naturally.

Hunting saves households considerable amounts of money. Beef is not cheap. It never really was and it’s becoming more expensive, just as pork, chicken and turkey are. All have and are seeing ongoing long-term price hikes mostly due to higher input costs (thanks to ethanol’s utilization of corn). If you have four mouths to feed, an inordinate amount of your weekly income or subsidies are going toward meats. Hunted meat, on the other hand, is cheap. Beyond the initial investment of a gun and gear, there’s the annual cost of a license at about $50 (unless you wisely invest in a lifetime license) and, in the case of a deer, $50 for processing if you’re not handy with butchers’ tools. For that small investment you could take three, maybe four, deer a year which would more than provide for a family’s need for ground meat and steaks. Plus, you could harvest a few turkeys and an almost unlimited supply of geese.

If you haven’t had wild game, you don’t know what you’re missing. I never buy beef. Venison provides all of my red meat needs. Usually six days a week, I ingest deer in one form or another. It’s as versatile as beef and can be prepared in any way that you or your kids will eat it (tacos, meatballs, steaks, burgers, you name it).

It’s also a whole lot healthier than beef. Low in fat and high in protein and healthy Omega 3s, it’s just what the doctor ordered. Even though I eat meat like it’s going out of style, my cholesterol has ranged from 110 to 140 over the past decade, a testament to venison’s benefit. You’re guaranteed that it’s safe, too: You won’t be getting any recalls because the creature wasn’t raised on an industrial farm or slaughtered and processed in a disease-ridden plant.

If you’ve never hunted before and want to partake in the harvest, now is the time to do it. There are plenty of hunting courses being held across the state next month, just in time for the fall seasons. Visit www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9191.html to find a class near you.

If taking game isn’t your cup of tea, but you’d still like the benefits, ask a friend to fill your freezer. Many recreational hunters never fill their doe permits and would gladly do so for you as it gives them more time in the woods.

There’s not much more that you could ask for from hunting: It gives you the peace of mind that you can feed your family, do it affordably and do it healthily. Get out in the woods and enjoy!

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