Surprising Article in the NY Times: "A New Breed of Hunter Focuses on Cooking"

Larry Eckart

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Guys and Dani,
I hope this link works.

There is an interesting article in today's online NY Times about a young couple in Virginia who try to catch or kill or harvest everything they eat. I found it quite interesting. He is Vietnamese. She is Caucasian. Neither grew up hunting. Go figure.

Larry

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/dining/game-hunting-food.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Food
 
Eventually even the hippies "come around" to the fact that Mah Nature produces the finest most nutritional organics.

There are some pros and some cons to the "come around".
 
Very cool article! That's awesome!

I'd rather read about young folks learning to hunt and fish for food than see all the photos of folks hunting and fishing in order to post kill / catch pictures on social media.
 
That is a pretty interesting article. Neat way that Mr. Truong came around to hunting. And I like that he admits to making some naaaasty meals. Been there done that in my experimenting.
 
How do you do an article like that and NOT show the guy? That was clearly a conscious choice.
Newsday on Long Island did an article a little while back https://www.newsday.com/long-island/li-life/game-hunting-binds-generations-long-island-1.23621875 and it was uncharacteristically fair and well done.
The letters to the editor that ensued however......wow. Mine was the only voice of reason. I didn't know for example, the level of "depression that we cause animals when they watch their friends not come home!" I didn't know that I was "raising blood thirsty savages" when I take my boys hunting! Maybe I should rethink this whole thing...........
 
Outstanding article!

My wife and I are the opposite, I'm the pasty white guy and she's the Asian who's fallen in love with wild game and fish.
She actually went on an adult mentored deer hunt this year. First time she ever fired a gun, turns out she is a great shot with a rifle! Didn't get to shoot a deer but she would not have hesitated to do so and hopes we can go again some day. She loves to fish too.

Young people like the ones in this article are the type of people I welcome to hunting: ethical, moral and dedicated to a way of life. What else more could use old timers ask for???
 
Paul mentioned, "how do you not show the guy?"

I have an online subscription to the NYT. Perhaps in the link the photos did not come through? There were several nice pics of the couple and their hunting companions, including one pic of the man (Asian) crouching in a blind waiting for birds. Another pic of the couple sitting around their kitchen table with outdoor clothing on. Very good pics.

Larry
 
Paul Mc said:
How do you do an article like that and NOT show the guy? That was clearly a conscious choice.
Newsday on Long Island did an article a little while back https://www.newsday.com/...ng-island-1.23621875 and it was uncharacteristically fair and well done.
The letters to the editor that ensued however......wow. Mine was the only voice of reason. I didn't know for example, the level of "depression that we cause animals when they watch their friends not come home!" I didn't know that I was "raising blood thirsty savages" when I take my boys hunting! Maybe I should rethink this whole thing...........

Not sure I understand your first two sentences as they relate to the OP.

Yes, all wild animals possess the capacity to reason, except a large cohort of the ones who have brains sized and configured to actually possess that ability...! On the other side of that coin I have listened to the rants of hunters who are absolutely certain that wolves preferentially hunt whitetail bucks, can hunt ungulates to zero density levels, etc. Too, many times I have heard, "they just keep killing deer until there are none and then move on!'

I have an interesting next door neighbor. She feeds deer organic carrots she purchases at the food co-op...at the rate of FIVE carrots a day tossed out in the backyard with stale bread and an occasional fling of apples about to go bad. When she informed during a conversation me that mosquitoes were a vector for HIV transmission, I just smiled and walked away... She teaches nursing at the local college.
 
Got it Larry, I didn't mean YOU, I meant the author of the article. I suspected the subject of the article asked to NOT be shown out of concern of hipster millennial backlash. Got it......
 
RLL,
Here are a few excerpts of the letters to the editor that were in response to the article in Newsday:

1) I don?t want to hear from legitimate hunters as long as they don?t stand up for reasonable bans on killer weapons never used by hunters, only mass murderers.

2) this violent form of entertainment tears animal families apart and leaves countless numbers orphaned or badly injured when hunters miss their targets.

3) With the nation seeing 38,000 gun-related deaths a year, I am not going to be silent about the LI Life cover story that suggests a 12-gauge shotgun helps ?families pass on a tradition that ties them to the land.?

4) Here's my favorite: It?s bad enough that you allow ads from sporting goods stores with huge displays of rifles and other guns. Now you have glorified killing animals by giving hunters a lovely spread and making it look like a great way for families to bond! Need I mention the animal families that are destroyed by this ?sport??

And here's my actual letter:

Thanks and congratulations to Newsday for having the courage to remind its readers that the foundation of Long Island is in its roots in fishing, hunting and open spaces.
In this day and age of a growing choir of misinformed gun fear and unchecked building development, it is important to remember that millions of Americans embrace hunting as a family activity, and the outdoors as an important classroom that no virtual device or game can duplicate.I am eternally grateful to my parents and other mentors for teaching me gun safety, ownership, marksmanship and hunting. I am equally excited to raise the next generation of duck hunters, my sons, on the Great South Bay.
Paul McDuffie,
 
I bet these same people that complain about gun deaths and violence and such also support abortions and the killing of babies after they are born if the mom doesn't want them......
 
roy brewington said:
Bravo Paul. Hope your letter gets published.
Thanks Roy, it did! It was the only one of its kind, the rest were of the notion that I showed in the post above. Ridiculous, uninformed, paranoid, mob mentality nonsense.
 
Larry, thanks for posting. Like decoy carving, honoring the animal by utilizing it to the fullest extent, prepared for the table in a way to accentuate its distinct taste attributes underscores and reinforcess the respect and reverence many sport hunters and fishers direct to their chosen pursuit; as well as serving as an extension of the experience in the off season months. My wife and I were just lamenting that we are nearly out of salmon already and down to four packages of duck and two pairs of goose breasts and thighs. For decades we never purchased any commercial meat beyond chicken.

When I worked for MSU at their Great Lakes Research Lab, we would have wild game potlucks among the staff at least once a month. Everything from beaver, raccoon, gray and fox squirrel, snowshoe hare, wild and semi-domestic pig, grouse, woodcock, muskrat, goose, venison, duck, pheasant, moose, antelope, to elk and snapping turtle; smoked, corned, baked, grilled, canned and of course slow cooker simmered. On the fish side: salmon, whitefish, rainbow smelt, Lake Michigan Seeforellen brown trout; blue gill, longnose sucker,red fox, mink(don't recommend it) lake sturgeon (one), bloater, round whitefish, cisco, pike, walleye, bullhead, and.....gizzard shad(not recommended). Our full and part-time staff consisted of two trappers, a heritage pork hobby farmer, an ex-commercial fisherman, an orchardist, and several hunters and fishers. Add-in our field lab. director's brother who came up twice each year from New Orleans, where he worked as a chef, to trap snapping turtles in mid-summer and stream fish salmon in the fall. Carlos made some fabulous andouille and tasso from Pat's pork. Pig slaughter day at Pat's farm usually entailed a BBQ with an accompanying fish smoke, and homemade horseradish and horse shoes until dark. Pat also made his own scrapple...and sausage casings. Three of us were wild mushroom and asparagus pickers as well. Good eats all around! I learned a lot about food prep.


I often wonder how many sea ducks bagged actually get eaten?
 
RL,
I always enjoy the detail of your posts. Loved your description of the MSU wild game dinners.

At my previous church in Michigan, just below Flint, a game dinner was an annual rite for the men in my congregation and, as you know, all across Michigan an annal rite for many clubs and non-profits. What fun to see what people brought besides venison.

As I retire this summer from the ministry and move to NC, I look forward to more opportunities both to harvest game in a new state as well as travel back to the Mitten State and renew friendships, walk former trails, and paddle known waters.

For every day given to enjoy His creation, I thank God.

Spring is already coming to SC. In two months, it may come to you, eh?

May your freezers be full and your pot cooked slow brother.
Larry
 
Pastor, you are a true optimist! After the passage of the Polar Vortex, we experienced a 1/2" inch freezing rain, which knocked our power out for 14 hours, followed immediately by a twelve inch snowfall. The woods are a beautiful pastoral scene, but pretty deadly to be wandering around in on snowshoes with all the falling branches. Luckily, the center of the low pressure cell passed far enough to the south and east of us, giving us snow-our major lake effect along this chunk of the Lake Superior shore south of Marquette- but no "monster" winds greater than 5-7mph, limiting additional power outages. It is 3F now as I wait for a plow, prior snowblowing the driveway, to only do the task once. Two days from now the XC facility six miles from me will be fully groomed when I drop off a load of wood for the stove in the warming cabin...deep powder snow from a system event with augmented lake-effect. Even though it is only a handful of miles away, Blueberry Ridge is located inland in an area dominated by huge drumlins enhancing the localized snowfall via physical "blockade" of the moist, slightly warmer coastal air mass. They likely picked-up an additional five to seven inches over us low landers!

The American Birkebeiner marathon organizers are likely breathing a big sigh of relief now!!! It is a pretty ugly race when run on very little snow...
 
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