I had heard that HBOs series was doing a short segment on the mainstream movement to eat only what you kill. I finally got to sit down and watch it this weekend and I must say I was impressed and encouraged. HBO and Bryant Gumbel followed Steven Rinella (TVs The Meat Eater)around his home in Brooklyn and on a hog hunt. Rinella's show is one of my favorites because he literally eats most of every animal he kills. His show demonstrates different ways to prepare liver, heart, tongue and even tails. Of course, he also eats the good parts!
Gumbel is clearly not an outdoorsman and was obviously not in his element, but credit for going anyway and not shying away from the reality of death and field dressing. Gumbel even tried and liked a piece of fried heart.
At the end, Gumbel reminded his audience that of all the antibiotics produced in this country, 70% of them are not used on humans. That is a staggering figure if true.
I have been on the fence for a while regarding only eating and feeding my family wild game that I have harvested. I haven't quite jumped yet, but I am certainly heading that way.
Just a good piece with a clear and encouraging turn of direction for a normally liberal leaning show.

I'll have to check it out. We try to eat "close to the ground" and acquire as much as we can for ourselves but it is a daunting task. If I had to guess, we raise or kill 20% of our food.

My family eats 4-5 deer per year and I bet we only have 2-3 deer meat dinners a week if I had to average it out. Add in sausage and roast meat for breakfast and lunches and I bet I'm close.

I think it would be very tough for me to totally replace store bought meat with venison. Maybe I should shoot more squirrels

But there are other options such as free range that we try to take advantage of. Pretty expensive though.

Im almost 90% not out of stores. We bought and raised a hog this summer and it is in the freezer, and I have 7 deer in the freezer. Last year we got 3 and ran out in early May. We eat wild game 3-5 nights a week and if I could raise my own chickens we would be 100%. Here is a typical week at my house. Tonight for dinner we are having venison enchiladas, tomorrow its fish I caught, Wednesday is Backstraps, Thursday is venison spaghetti, and Friday is duck jambalaya (from ducks I got yesterday) It can be done but it's a sh#t ton of work. By the way she makes the menu on Sunday nights and does the shopping, I do the cooking.

I made me some deerburger helper tonight... I love deerburger more then hamburger but when it comes to eating organs (liver,heart,tongue,etc) I have a hard time with that and I am generally not afraid to try new things...

Liver is definitely out cause I have had beef liver and it gross...

I will have to look that up and watch it.

We usually go through 3-4 deer a year. My wife will not eat venison. She typically is not a big red meat eater anyway: chicken or fish. My kids will eat it all the time and like it in a variety of ways. Luke and I are the only one that will eat squirrels or rabbits. We could eat those a couple times a week if we could kill enough.

I do ALL the wild game cooking at my house. Getting pretty good at it too if I may boast a little bit.

We utilize our garden well and I have thought about chickens but that is just another chore to do.

Bean, would she even eat the chickens tho, if it were you killing and butchering them around home? My wife would not if it was me doing it myself! :p

Bean
If you are on the fence about our food source and have been leaning on only eating wild food.
By "wild" are you talking about only critters you can hunt/fish/ grow yourself?
If so, there is a documentary out there called food, inc.

It sheds a little light on the food "system" in this country.

Besides deer and fish, I too eat squirrel and rabbit. The pork and beef I eat I go through local farmers. I can literally drive by my future dinner everyday. They are not big producer farmers but I know how my food is taken care of. It's not only cheaper buying like that but much better quality. I have not bought beef or pork out of a store for 10+ yrs.

Anyways, food inc is worth the watch..

Fuzz

Nope she would not. Good point. She can buy it and eat it as long as she doesn't have to see them in anyway. City girl. That is ok though.

Fuzz - will check it out. Thanks.

More gravy Bo! 😀