Top quality writing, so well argued. This really resonates with me. I started hunting in 2004 after admitting that vegetarianism didn't work for my body - and if I was going to eat meat, I needed to take full responsibility. We don't have the species diversity here that you have in the USA, but I'm with you all the way on the principles! Great work.
I so deeply appreciate your words, writing, and perspective. Truly, your voice is lyrical, your words harsh with edges of reality holding us flat-footed and wide-eyed, those of us who grew up with "pink and shrink" proteins. Your essays stay with me.
Very good piece. I wanted to eat a mountain lion this year but by the time i bought my tag the season's quota had been reached in my territory.
I totally agree with you on the tragedy of a dead horse going to waste. I am happy to live in a place where when i must shoot one of our Clydesdales or they die otherwise they are left out there for the wild beasts. I drag them off to a rise we can view from the kitchen window. We've had eight eagles on a horse at one time. Grizzlies come at night. I don't feel good about a horse dying, but i feel better about it this way than i would the way many are mandated to dispose of bodies. Some visuals you may enjoy here:
Terrific writing. In my experience, a taboo is but one culture removed. I can vividly remember the anguished look on my soldiers’ faces in Korea when they realized the caged dogs weren’t destined to be household pets. As you note, taboos migrate — the Republic of Korea passed a law in 2024 that will ban the breeding and sale of dogs for consumption by 2027. Perhaps Nietzsche was on to something: “If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a beautiful butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria.” Perhaps recipes do, too.
I love that Neitzsche quote, very telling. I didn't go entirely down the rabbit hole of eating domestic dogs or cats simply because it felt too big to touch. But it is strange to wonder how we can love one thing and eat it, and how we can love one thing so much that we can't eat it, and that's probably worth exploring, too.
I've spent years I won't count watching the eyes of dogs, cats, horses, and so many other species of North American animals lose the light of life, through my hands. It's not something I wish on anyone, but it is something I won't trade for anything, and I don't even know the reason why, just that it's become a part of who I am now for my own animals, and I know those years have given me a unique perspective on the life around me today. So hard to put into words. Maybe I see their life more clearly? Maybe I appreciate more clearly the "right now" of animal life, while we, as humans, are mostly stuck in yesterday and tomorrow, things we can't change? I don't know. But thank you for this thoughtful, touching piece.
Incredible essay! Very much looking forward to talking more about this on the podcast this week!!
I actually wrote about something similar to this in my latest article. Feel free to take a look.
Beautiful words, a piece I felt like I'd need to read again sometime soon.
Top quality writing, so well argued. This really resonates with me. I started hunting in 2004 after admitting that vegetarianism didn't work for my body - and if I was going to eat meat, I needed to take full responsibility. We don't have the species diversity here that you have in the USA, but I'm with you all the way on the principles! Great work.
I so deeply appreciate your words, writing, and perspective. Truly, your voice is lyrical, your words harsh with edges of reality holding us flat-footed and wide-eyed, those of us who grew up with "pink and shrink" proteins. Your essays stay with me.
Wow, beautiful article. Thank you!
Very good piece. I wanted to eat a mountain lion this year but by the time i bought my tag the season's quota had been reached in my territory.
I totally agree with you on the tragedy of a dead horse going to waste. I am happy to live in a place where when i must shoot one of our Clydesdales or they die otherwise they are left out there for the wild beasts. I drag them off to a rise we can view from the kitchen window. We've had eight eagles on a horse at one time. Grizzlies come at night. I don't feel good about a horse dying, but i feel better about it this way than i would the way many are mandated to dispose of bodies. Some visuals you may enjoy here:
https://theatavist.substack.com/p/death-of-a-horse
Terrific writing. In my experience, a taboo is but one culture removed. I can vividly remember the anguished look on my soldiers’ faces in Korea when they realized the caged dogs weren’t destined to be household pets. As you note, taboos migrate — the Republic of Korea passed a law in 2024 that will ban the breeding and sale of dogs for consumption by 2027. Perhaps Nietzsche was on to something: “If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a beautiful butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria.” Perhaps recipes do, too.
I love that Neitzsche quote, very telling. I didn't go entirely down the rabbit hole of eating domestic dogs or cats simply because it felt too big to touch. But it is strange to wonder how we can love one thing and eat it, and how we can love one thing so much that we can't eat it, and that's probably worth exploring, too.
I've spent years I won't count watching the eyes of dogs, cats, horses, and so many other species of North American animals lose the light of life, through my hands. It's not something I wish on anyone, but it is something I won't trade for anything, and I don't even know the reason why, just that it's become a part of who I am now for my own animals, and I know those years have given me a unique perspective on the life around me today. So hard to put into words. Maybe I see their life more clearly? Maybe I appreciate more clearly the "right now" of animal life, while we, as humans, are mostly stuck in yesterday and tomorrow, things we can't change? I don't know. But thank you for this thoughtful, touching piece.