With the recent organic food and getting back to nature movement among the more urban population, when do y'all think that they will begin to take up hunting as their new "fad"? (I didn't want to use "fad", because obviously hunting is not a fad, but within the urban populations fads are powerful movements) Right now, the TV show The Wild Within is targeted towards educating urban populations how to gather food from nature. The "true organic supermarket" as it's promo claims. While on a recent trip in Aspen, where everything was local, organic and gluten free, I was able to have a conversation with the owner of the Aspen Cheese Shop. She was quite in the know about the current Aspen food trends, and she gave me a magazine called Edible Aspen which writes about the current increase in hunting among the Aspen locals to obtain true organic meats. So my question, do y'all think the urban population (i.e. New York, San Fransisco, Seattle, Portland, etc) new trend will be to enter the woods and start hunting? How would y'all feel about this if it did indeed happen?
IMO, I think most will not do the hunting but, more likely, now approve of hunting, especially if someone they know is sharing the bounty with them. The actual killing of an animal will stop the majority of them. I have been watching the Wild Within since you first mentioned it and think it is a great show but, just like when he brought the blacktail venison back from Alaska and cooked it for his friends at the end of the first show, they were willing to eat it but they did not look like they were willing to go out, find it and kill it. We are starting to raise rabbits for meat and that would fit in more with the urban organic food movement than actually hunting them. Once again, though, you gotta kill an animal to eat it and that will stop a lot of folks.
Yeah, the actual killing and cleaning of the animal will more than likely be a major turn off for most, but I can just see some hipster telling me how much more connected he is to his food now that he kills and cleans his own meat. It's the kind of stuff they fall for easily.
I agree...(and I just set my DVR last night to start catching Wild Within - looking forward to it) Just the acceptance of wild meet would be a huge movement...this country could use more people "in touch" with the wild side. And there's enough squirrels around here to feed the nation
You have the "Accepting" population that hunts and also the "Accepting" population that dont hunt. Then you have the "Non Accepting" population that dont (obviously) hunt or agree with it. We might see an increase in "Acceptance" but as far as actually hunting, harvesting, gutting, and the butchering of their animal, Im not to sure of. Then as far as going from not hunting at all and then taking the time and patience required with Bow Hunting, I dont think we will see a sinificant increase if one at all. Fads are just that, "Fads". You dont pour your heart and soul into a fad. It comes and goes. Like you said "Bow Hunting is not a Fad". You either love doing it, or you dont do it at all. We all know that sitting in a stand with a Bow doesnt necessarily mean your a Bow hunter. Same thing with any hunting for that matter.
There is a fine line between pulling a warm heart out of an animal and pulling a turnip out of the dirt. That's my take.
Well no, the line between the two is not really fine at all, but nonetheless... Going natural is a huge movement right now, especially among the urban population. Things like organic super markets, MovNat, barefoot running, caveman diet, urban chicken coups and gardens are all very popular. I think the next logical trend might be hunting. Everybody is always looking to one-up each other. When some guy starts talking about only buying organic beef, some other dude will bust his bubble by saying "Yeah, well I only eat meat that I kill. Venison is so much healthier than beef." Then the idea is planted, and so on and so on. Just a thought on a boring Thursday morning.
I will then burst their bubble and tell them that their "organic" venison is laden with chemicals from the agricultural crops that their deer primarily feed on....damn hipsters!
All I know is, my wife has been big on this for a while now, (a recent friend is the reason for this), and now after watching food, inc, she has this need to eat more of my venision. So, I dig that part. Now the bad part, she want to only buy grass fed cow meat. Rather expensive. She also is looking into getting a chicken coop. I grew up with chickens, and its kinda nasty.
Chickens are a bit nasty but if you use liberal amounts of straw it's workable. Then you can mulch the straw/chicken crap and it makes great fertilizer for the garden. Grass fed beef is not really that expensive if you buy quarters, halves or wholes. http://www.hollinfarms.com/pages/beef.html#anchor3 How much will the beef cost me and how can I compare the Hollin price with that of others? We estimate a price of $4.29 per pound for a whole young beef, $4.35 per pound for a half or side, and $4.45 for a quarter (half of a half) beef for the cut weight (not the hanging weight). This is our price estimate for the beef you take home. This price is for all "cuts" -- T-bone steaks, rib steaks, roasts, hamburger, organs etc -- and includes all slaughter and processing costs. IMPORTANT TO NOTE. Our price is for the "cut weight" --the weight after the beef has dry aged and the butcher has cut out the fat and bones, packaged and frozen it and the price Includes all slaughter cost. Cut weight is the beef you actually take home. Most farms sell by the hanging or pre cut weight and slaughter is extra. We calculate about a 25% loss from hanging to cut weight. So, for example, a farm selling a 250 pound side at $2.95 a pound for a pre-cut or hanging carcass would cost about $4.65 per pound for the cut weight of the beef you actually take home. [SIZE=-1](The 250 lb. side @ $2.95 = $738. Additionally slaughter and processing are about $150 for a total cost of $888. The beef you would take home would actually only be 191 pounds (250 lbs less 25%). So divide the total cost ($888) by pounds you take home (191), and the your beef would cost $4.65 per pound.[/SIZE]
I just caught The Wild Within last Sunday night. The first one I watched was the San Fransisco episode where he fed all his friends roadkill raccoon. It was pretty entertaining. The following episode I found more enjoyable...I guess because I actually saw him kill something (moose). Great show!
She is already ahead of you Bruce. She jsut called to see if we can buy a new big freezer so we can go in with folks to buy some grass fed beef.
Touche, perhaps the contrary; a broad line. Do you have adequate land for "free range" chickens ? I also grew up with chickens, and, they just walked around. I've had chicken at my house, recently, as well. I built a coup for them, but, they never used it; they preferred to just perch up on the fence, in certain areas. Wasn't messy, at all. They each had their spots to lay eggs. The only downside, was that they took a liking to my back porch. I'd go sit out there and they would come jump on me; it was actually kinda strange, and, that's the only area I have a mess, a small mess, but, besides that, with them "ranging" my yard, they there was no real consolidation.
We let our chickens out of the "chicken yard" when we are outside a lot. If we don't keep an eye out the hawks get them. We lost five this winter to hawks. If we didn't lock them up at night in their coop then the weasels and foxes would get them. Don't really want to go to the expense and trouble of having chickens just to feed the wildlife so we have to deal with a dirty coop every so often. Layer it with straw and all you have to do is pitch fork the crap out and put down new straw every so often. 4-5 hens would probably give you all the eggs your family would need. We go through a minimum of 6 eggs a day here and 17 hens were giving us so many eggs we were giving them to family and neighbors.
