A Fasted Perspective on Hunting

Yesterday I had a breakfast that included 5 eggs, a thick strip of bacon, and beef liver. A few hours later I ate approximately ½# of ground beef I had cooked from the night before. I ate everything in a 3 hour window (7-10am) with intentions of fasting until breakfast this morning. Ultimately I went out for a small bite to eat for dinner with my local dairy farmer, but that is neither here nor there. What I write about now is when I came home after work before I had the aforementioned dinner.

Steak and Eggs

Over the holiday weekend I picked up some venison from my uncle and thawed it out after I returned home from my New Year adventure. Using my new Cutco Butcher Knife I started cutting one of the huge legs of meat in to meal sized portions for the dogs. Upon coming home from work and putting the venison shown above in their food bowls (in addition to an egg) my hunger became more apparent than ever. I wanted all that meat. It was at that moment I wished I had a larger chest freezer and I had venison all year round. The breakfast and lunch I had was nothing without eating a thick venison steak such as the ones staring back at me. Any qualms I’ve mentioned having with the taking of the life of an animal seemed to be thrown out the window.

After seconds of contemplation I fed the dogs these beautiful steaks and told myself I will become a hunter. I will hunt to feed both myself and the dogs. I brought up this realization at dinner with my good friend Bob of Nice Farms Creamery and it looks like Sunday we will go rabbit hunting on his property. With it being winter and things fairly slow around the farm we should be able to protect his valuable pasture from rabbits, saving it for his dairy cows.

It looks like I will become a hunter sooner rather than later!

Deer Season!

You know it is deer season at my home when the backyard is filled with bones and sometimes larger uneaten portions of deer.

Got head?

A few days before my first surgery I got a call from my uncle about a large buck that had been hit recently near his house. He told me it was quite large and had only been dead a few hours. He has supplied me with venison before and also hates to see anything go to waste, so he called me and suggested it would make great dog food. Now I have never fed my dogs roadkill, but this sounded too good to let go.

Shaman going to town

So this buck was not technically part of deer season, but I've already starting getting set up to receive more meat, bones and organs for myself and the dogs. In the past the dogs tend to eat 95% of the venison I get, but this year I hope to get enough that I can fully supply the dogs for some time while also providing quite a bit for myself. I've not cooked either the heart or liver of a deer, so I look forward to trying that this winter.

Cyprus examining her dinner.

In regards to how much, or what, to feed the dogs I really cannot say. I tend to know approximately how much to feed from experience and tend to view their dietary intake over a week rather than day to day. So I give them various amounts and make sure they never get too skinny or too fat. But what parts of the deer do I not feed them... I usually let them tell me. I've give them a week, sometimes two, to let me know if they will or will not eat something. In the case of throwing a whole head out on my deck, I still fed them regularly, but would let them eat to satiety by gnawing away on the head. Great exercise for them and amazing at cleaning their teeth!

I imagine this is a bit disgusting for some people. But as an advocate of nose to tail eating I will gladly argue the benefits of them eating something like this versus industrial meat or kibble (bleh).