Last month, NPR's "Talk of the Nation" ran a segment featuring huntress Lily Ragg McCaulou, author of the new book, "Call of the Mild: Learning to Hunt My Own Dinner." A few years back, McCaulou left her home in New York City for rural Oregon, in order to better understand where her food comes from. She has since become an avid hunter and spokesperson for local meat, and hopes to encourage more young people, especially women, to follow in her footsteps.
"Talk of the Nation" is one of a handful of NPR programs that I
podcast, and, as usual, I was listening to this episode while I cooked
dinner. Lucky coincidence brought this piece on as I was slicing up the
last of my 2011 venison for Szechuan Chinese night. It was the final meal I cooked for my housemates before hunting season
began, and McCaulou's careful arguments in favor of personal meat
harvesting really spoke to my motivations as a hunter. This year, I was able to shoot a 4 pt. buck my first day out, and I can't wait to have fresh venison again.
I'll be going into further detail about this issue in future blogs and essays, but this article is a good jumping off point. Appalachia has a rich tradition of hunting as a food source, one that I hope will continue for as long as possible. As this article points out, the advent of a younger, and increasingly female, generation of hunters is coming. I'm a part of that generation, and I'd be glad to discuss it with anyone who's interested. If the only arguments for and against hunting you've heard have come from either the NRA or PETA, and you'd like to hear more from those of us in between, please start here.
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