Free the Animal

Field to Table

Cousin Adam went bird hunting. Chukar and Pheasant.

And then on the table, same day. Says he: "Paprika, salt, pepper, cayanne; red and green bell peppers; onion; white wine, and chicken stock. Brown the bird, sauté the veggies, add stock, wine and simmer uncovered to reduce. Killed and eaten on the same day!"

Hunting Fail

My brother found this one.

But here's the best one of all time, I think.

Enjoy the Holiday.

A College Education in Evolutionary Fitness in 8 Minutes

Do you have eight minutes to spare, to acquire every essential you need in the quest to Free the Animal? Thanks to commenter Ricado in a recent hunting post for providing it. I disagree with him on the ethics issue. Provided animals are dealt with in a humane and rational fashion, and the purpose is consumption as food, it passes ethical muster for me. However, there are differing levels of respect for me. Bow hunters get more than rifle hunters. But no one compares to these guys. This is the Gold Standard of hunting.

See how many principals you can take from this. The essential one is that this is why you walk the Earth, today. At some point, our primitive ancestors noted that consuming high-energy density animal flesh was a far better strategy for survival, allowing for lots of languid free time and rest. Herbivores spend all their days foraging. Observe gorillas a bit. A dead end, evolutionarily. They simply have no time to do anything but munch on pounds and pounds of fibrous vegetable matter. No time at all to get themselves in the sorts of jams that natural selection feeds on.

Of particular note: grasp how our three primary adaptive advantages are exploited. First is the efficiency of bi-pedal over quadra-pedal locomotion. Next, we sweat onto bare skin. We carry a tremendous radiator, like a car. Finally, we have means of carrying along supplemental coolant.

Note also: only one guy goes off on the final long chase. So, while some level of endurance is certainly called for, this suggests that perhaps H-Gs engaged in division-of-labor specialization. I still don't think it's justification for spending much time on the treadmill.

What I'd have liked to see is the after kill activities. I'd speculate that the successful hunter began to dress the animal while the others caught up. Then they would have to section it and haul it back to camp, potentially hours of additional strenuous activity after the kill.

For this reason, I always work out hungry, at least 12 hours, usually more. After the workout (the hunt), I go at least two hours, sometimes six before eating.

Stop the Presses

I've got a number of posts in process. It's going to be a busy week in other areas, so I want to get some suff in the queue. Then I reviewed my email and I've just got to toss this up immediately.

My nearest younger brother Dave, in Utah, deer hunting. A 360 yard shot. Custom made 300 Ultra Mag. That's a 4-pointer, still in velvet.

Nice kill. And, within a couple of weeks, I'll have my assorted venison (my favorite is the sausage, Dave). With our family, the hunt is just as much about the food as the sport. That's the ethic we grew up with. I loath trophies for trophy's sake. That looks to be a nice mule deer, just like the ones we used to take out of northern Nevada, Elko County, when Dave & I were kids and everyone participated (including my maternal grandmother, who always got her deer, and alway a neck shot in order to ruin the least amount of food). We consumed everything, including liver and heart.

I understand this sort of thing might take some people aback, and trust me, Free the Animal is not about the necessity of any of you ever doing this. I understand fully that some are not up to it, and you're no lesser for it. While we're 100% animal, inescapably, we're 100% rational as well, integrated, and we happen to have invented the convenience of money and the division of labor. In concert, you can live as we evolved to live (eating meat) without getting your hands dirty or offending your own values. I understand that people can eat meat in a detached way without thinking of what it takes to put it on your plate. That's a good thing. But also, understand: someone has to do the dirty work. So let's not give 'em a hard time, so long as they do what they need to do as humanely as possible. It's only human.

A couple of notable pasts post concerning mine and my family's ethic when it comes to hunting and fishing. See them here (Remote Control Killing) and here (What Do You Think of Yourself). As to the latter, if the essential video link doesn't come up, here's the YouTube.

As a final note, I'm not big on what a lot of hunting has become, with outfitters and ATV's, etc. We had 4-wheeler's to get us remote, but more than once I had to climb a mountain or descend a steep valley wall with my dad, dress a deer, and haul it out. In one case, it was an all day job. We had to get it to the valley floor hundreds of yard below (using deer trails, ironically -- at least they know how to switchback), then drag it out several miles to camp. It was very Animal.

I've got lot's of stuff; lots of unanswered / unblogged emails. Unanswered comments, too. I'll get to everything.