turkey guide

You ever hear them anti hunting folks say that hunting is not needed because we can all just by meat at the store? I was just thinking about this because of the post about butchering to save money. I wonder how many people hunt and butcher their own meat precisly because they can't afford meat any other way? I know a lot of folks around my country do so and many of them can't even afford to buy deer tags. I have certainly been in that situation many times myself, and feel quite lucky that I know how to survive when times are that bad.
I think about it every time a client or myself has killed a deer that we truely do not need, and I'm dropping it off at some hungry persons house. Someone who said to me "Hey Tom! if you get any extra deer this year call me, I'll pay for your tag." I write down their name so I don't forget, and I bring them meat, all tagged and legally taken. If they insist I'll take back th $7. the antlerless tag cost me, otherwise not.
Now since I've been married the past 21 years I've had to eat a lot of deer, pheasants, quail and the like, (had to, as if this were not desireable!) if I wanted to eat at all, but I've walked the straight and narrow concerning the law, and have always managed to buy multiple deer tags and all necessary tags to hunt and fish. But when I was a kid my first experiences killing game were out of necessity for my family to eat. Shooting rabbits and other game in the headlights wasn't something we had a choice about. It was the most effective method to eat.
Now like I said, these days I can afford to buy the propper tags to hunt and I do. But it's still because it's the least expensive method to fill the freezer. If I had to go to town for all the food I eat I would soon be broke. And I still can't afford to pay to have my game processed at a locker. In fact I marvel at the amount of cash people must have to do so. I work full time and so does my wife and we just keep barely ahead of the bills. I have many hunting clients who kill deer, and turkeys and just drop them at the locker, and make a trip to get them when they are done, which to me is insane, driving back to Missouri from Florida, or some other far flung place cannot be cheap.
But anyway, this is about those who need to hunt to live, not those who can afford not to hunt, but feel a need to hunt anyway. Or maybe it's both. It seems to me there are plenty of people in both situations which is why folks like me who have the places to hunt help out folks with money and no place to hunt. Which makes folks like me better off so they don't have to poach. Plus the state needs us to hunt to keep all the game managed at the desired levels.
And I am very proud to say that hunters donate millions of pounds of venison nation wide to charities who have a need.
Seems like we all have a NEED to hunt or all this wouldn't be going on.

timbercruiser

I don't have any problem with hunters killing all the legal deer they want to, as long as the meat is utilized. A few years ago a friend of mine killed 38 legal bucks and a pile of does one year. He gave almost all of the deer to local people that utilized the meat.

allmightyhunter13

Now why would you have to kill 38 bucks and a numerious amount of does in one year?? yeah its great he gave the meat away for it to be used, but that is killing just to be killing!!

OhioSlayer

I agree. Why kill just to kill? Here in Ohio we can tag 6 deer. If you have land you can kill more under the pest permits. Unless the area is so over populated with deer why kill that many? Thats alot of meat. Noone in your city should be going hungry.

Kybuckhunter

I agree that no one "needs" to hunt. We do it for sport. I love the meat also but I wouldnt starve if I didnt have it. Also hunting isnt needed for population control. No one hunts many species and they do fine. Sure deer would boom for a while, then massive starvation would balance the heard. It wouldnt be pretty but nature would do what it needs.

turkey guide

I must defend timbercruiser here, as killing legally is killing in accordance with biologists decisions that killing a certain amount of deer is needed. If they over kill a couple years they will adjust the season and not allow so many to be killed. This is the right way to handle it and necessary. They monitor how many tags are sold and filled each year. If one man killed 38 deer in one season imagine how overpopulated the deer must be to even see that many. After killing 13 does and 5 big bucks on 400 acres last year I still saw herds of over 20 last winter. Most of them will have fawns this year, and does over 3years old often have twins, so I am sure 13 more does this year will not hurt anything on my land. In fact 13 may not be enough!
In Missouri the number of antlerless deer tags you can buy is unlimitted for this very reason, and they still are not killing enough deer for the biologists to be happy and the herds to be healthy. More people need to kill more does or a few people need to kill thousands of does each. However it works out, as long as it is legal and the meat is feeding hungry people, I trust that the biologists with the Missouri Department of consevation will handle it well. The minimum 4 points on one side of the antlers rule has also forced many people to choose a doe ,as well as produced many more big bucks by allowing small ones to grow. I personally enjoy killing deer, whether it's 1 or 100 does not matter to me. When I'm satisfied that everyone who needs a deer has one or more I stop for the year.
If I had a gripe it would be selfish hunters who only think about killing one huge buck and not doing their duty to help the consevation departments thin the does. This is why some states make you earn a buck by killing one or more does first. And why on my land I ask the paying hunters to help out by killing a few does at no charge.

I agree with Kybuckhunter that no one needs to kill for natures sake but people do need food and my point was, some people, many that I know, do need to kill butcher and eat wildlife because they literally can't suvive any other way. And as he said nature would take care of it's own problems, but what a waste when there are hungry people.

vabyrd

I don't need to hunt, I like it though. I only eat what I kill, that means from the hoof to the freezer. If you can't process it, don't bother. I don't take offers from those who feel they are saving the world by shooting 38 deer for someone else. It's more of a gourmet thing for me. 99% of the people who shoot deer can't cook it for sh-t. Not to mention piling a bunch of gravy on it and not knowing the difference between tenderloin and backstrap.

Florida Outlander

I have been unable(due to legal matters) to work for the past 11 months. We did fine initially, using all of our savings to pay bills and buy groceries. But my god, the price of meat has gone up lately, and we're very happy to see hunting season starting tomorrow. I'll be taking as many deer and hogs as I legally can, and you can rest assured knowing that I will utilize the meat very well. I spoke with my attorney this afternoon, and it looks like another 2-4 months of not working. I'm glad archery season starts tomorrow.

teedub31

Sob story or not, you are a POACHER. Your post just justified all the poor folk living in the ghetto of Detroit to hold up a grocery as it is the most effective way to eat in the black top jungle when you have no money.

spaniel

Sorry but this is a pretty naive post. In the process of over-population, the deer will eat everything in sight, destroying the ecology of the area and any farmers' livelihood in the area. Since we have destroyed their natural predators and the food balance by filling the land with agricultural crops to further our own existance, hunting for population control is MANDATORY.

The farm where I grew up is located in an area currently experiencing a deer explosion. Not enough hunters, no one wants to shoot does. When I grew up it was HUNTING, I was glad to get a deer or two in a year. Last time I went back I filled my 7 tags in four hours shooting only the biggest does I saw. Any crops within 100 yards of a treeline or ditch line are eaten to the ground, there is no edible foliage left within 6 feet of the ground and the woods are not replenishing with trees as the deer eat/rub off all the small ones.

Who is to say shooting only 1-2 deer is "hunting" vs 3 or more is "just killing" if it is within the management guidelines legalized by the state?

I shoot from 4 to as many as 10 deer a year, feeding several families. I call it population control and providing healthy lean meat to people who need it. Perhaps you think putting a $400 mount on your wall is somehow superior, but I see it the opposite way around.