hmmm...

I was not going to add my own 2cents until I saw this post...

Killing is killing, whether for meat or for sport or for power or for privilage. I like my meat. I am an omivore and have very little compulsions about it. I respect anyone who is a vegitarian or has gone completely Vegan. It just isn't for me.

To get the meat, it needs to be killed, then butchered. I cry every time I kill something, from a mouse up to the last deer. I weep knowing that it will be missed by someone/something else. Then I get on to butchering.

I came to hunting from the kitchen side of things. Chicken, fish, lamb - I cleaned and butchered it all from the time I could hold a knife before I ever went hunting. It is amazing how simmilar chicken and sheep are when taking them apart. I figure because I have been a cook for (gulp) decades now, I know the anatomy of animals well enough to know the cleanest way to kill them.

I still prefer to get the 1/2 of mutten every fall from a local farm and butcher and preserve it myself. Being introduced to what you are going to be eating just turns it for me, but I have helped with the process on the farm, and can say I have used many different ways to obtain my food. In a pinch, I could take down the largest animal in the area to feed me and mine, but I would prefer not to have to.

And, yes, I have done it (though it was a rabbit) without a firearm.

Rena
(thinking it must be a guy thing, most guys I know can't do the butchering after the kill - I deal with blood once a month, so what is a little gore form my food?)
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