Hunting

[catherine]

But one time I needed to kill a fish and couldn’t do it. Because you kill a fish by hitting it on the head with a hammer.

I can't fish... I go with DH and DS, but I turn my back even when they put the worm on the hook. Forget it when they catch a fish, and even if they are releasing it, I hate it when they are twisting that hook out of their mouth. And if they use one of those three-hook things that wind up in their bellies and eviscerate them, forget it.

[catherine]

If you can't get over your revulsion is there a setting in FB where you can hide that particular image? Still eating meat may be hypocritical but most people are not consistent. Why did you stop being a vegetarian? Have you tried the latest alternatives? I saw Quorn on sale this week and picked some up to try. There may be new products you like that have come to market since you resumed eating meat.

I'm not that revulsed.. Wait a day and I'll never be able to find that picture again on the news feed. My mixed feelings have to do with feeling sad for the bear but happy for my neighbor. I do agree that there is a good reason for hunting--keeping the population in check, or for food for the winter. The pictures that truly revolt me are the ones where people spend a ton of money to go to Africa and they wind up killing an elephant or another endangered animal for pure sport.

I stopped being a vegetarian because after 10 years I got really tired of having to make separate dinners for DH and I. He is a typical meat and potatoes guy. He won't eat a lentil or chickpea if his life depends on it. So there was very little compromise. Obviously I am still conflicted about my return to meat. I have been trying to swing back to more plant-based meals... but again, it's hard. Even if I make lentil soup, he won't eat it unless it has meat in it. And he won't even eat grassfed meat. I'd be fine with eating grassfed--we have a lot of local meat producers whose livestock have nice lives until they go to slaughter. But he has a love affair with the type of saturated fat you get from grain-fed animals.

[catherine]

I try not to be judgmental of people who feel differently and try to remember that I'm lucky to have a choice.

I'm always on the verge of being a hypocrite though, this year we've had a problem with moles in the yard with mounds of dirt appearing almost daily and tunnels everywhere. Those little bastards are likely to turn me to the dark side soon.

We had a mouse infestation issue a couple of years ago, and at first I had my little humane catch-and-release trap. But when I realized that we had a whole MouseTown living in our kitchen, I got an exterminator, and I really didn't care how they got the mice as long as my grandkids were safe.

[catherine]

Otherwise, we try not to name anything we're planning to kill and eat.

I used to get grassfed beef at a farm in New Jersey. The first time I went there, the owner walked me around to the cows and said, "Here's Missy. Here's Nellie." I couldn't imagine naming an animal headed for the kill. But I feel strongly about the relationship... and defining that relationship. If anyone recalls when Cecil the Lion was killed, there was such an outrage, and I remember reading a great article that said that if his name wasn't Cecil, would people be so upset? What if they had named the lion Adolf? Or hadn't name him at all?

When my son caught a salmon and cried over it as his dad taught him to filet it, and then we ate it, that is life. That's the relationship. We live with that if we are human and part of the cycle of life. I can accept that.

If one sees the feedlots and the meat processing that supply our meat, the hunting that is done is benign by comparison.

So my hunter friends are confronting life. OTOH, my daughter, when in a high school video class, made a video about life in a Concentrated Animal Feedlot and how savage it is and the teacher made her turn it off. That is a form of denial, IMHO.

[Yppej]

When I was married we each made our own meals as he ate meat and I did not.

[Simplemind]

Although I have not hunted myself, I come from a family where hunting was an event that all the men took part of and all the boys got to experience (and get out of school) at a young age. We ate it all (much to my mom's chagrin). Bear, caribou, elk, deer, antelope..... We also grew our own meat, chickens, rabbits, cows. We were in the 4-H programs so we learned how to butcher them at home and I did many a rabbit in my day. My dad and brother both had boats and we fished - everything within the region along with clamming and crabbing.
I'm not a fan of those that don't kill to eat it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

My bf will eat whatever I cook pretty much. That's the thing don't turn down a free cook!!! (unless they are a horrible cook I guess).

Sometimes that includes meat, sometimes it's lentil soup (a small amount of meat in lentil soup does add something in flavor, but I don't always put meat). The only meat I cook is grass fed, almost the only meat I eat as I often order vegetarian at restaurants but sometimes not. Many people actually say grass fed tastes better, I've heard no complaints, but then that would be turning down a free cook.

[happystuff]

I stopped being a vegetarian because after 10 years I got really tired of having to make separate dinners for DH and I. He is a typical meat and potatoes guy. He won't eat a lentil or chickpea if his life depends on it. So there was very little compromise. Obviously I am still conflicted about my return to meat. I have been trying to swing back to more plant-based meals... but again, it's hard. Even if I make lentil soup, he won't eat it unless it has meat in it. And he won't even eat grassfed meat. I'd be fine with eating grassfed--we have a lot of local meat producers whose livestock have nice lives until they go to slaughter. But he has a love affair with the type of saturated fat you get from grain-fed animals.

No offense intended, but I would respect dh's eating habits and expect the same respect about my own. I would expect that - if there were differences, the result being that each of us would end up making our own meals or eating what is made by the other without complaint (this is the norm - ROFLOL). Along the same line, shortly after we got married, dh asked me to iron a shirt. No problem, until it became the expectation. That is when I taught him how to iron his shirt...and his pants. He is a capable adult and has been doing it himself for over 2.5 decades. If I wasn't around, I have no doubts he would find a way to deal with these things without me.

[Tybee]

I have gone through vegetarian stages and am currently off mammalian meat but still sometimes eat turkey. I have no problem catching and eating fish, or at least did not last I tried, but I do eat fish and shellfish.

I grew up with hunting and fishing and we ate what we caught or shot.

My parents' property has yielded many deer over the years and some bear as well. They hit a point where they no longer wanted to hunt, but others brought them meat which they still ate, in exchange for letting them hunt on the property.

It was funny, my dad hunted all his life, and then said, "I am sick of killing, I do not want to kill anything anymore." So I guess your feelings can change.

I am not anti-hunting or pro-hunting, I guess. I could not kill a deer to eat but that's just where I am at, I guess. I feed by dogs mostly turkey and fish rather than meat, but my husband is allergic to mammalian protein now so that makes it easier--none of us need it around since he has a life-threatening allergy to it.

Personally, I would ignore the bear on Facebook and let that go--no need to congratulate since you are not feeling like it and had a visceral negative reaction. I'd say a prayer for the bear and for the boy, as I think that helps, sometimes, the situation.

[LDAHL]

We all live by killing. Even the strictest vegan eats food grown on land taken from other species’ habitat. If you’re alive, it’s at the expense of other life.