I have had a crossbow for quite a few years. This year I didn’t buy a bow license at all. I missed it a bit, but it is easier to not carry a crossbow into the woods when there are no deer to be seen anyway( speaking of my bow hunting ground).
In my limited experience, yes. I know some land owners that don't eat an entire deer in a year but will shoot every deer that they can get a tag for. Not farmers protecting a crop, just people satisfying their blood lust. They don't feel one bit bad because in their mind the meat is getting used. Some processors I've talked with have said that a good percentage of what comes to them to be donated ends up in the trash.
It’s an interesting thought for sure. Admittedly I use our program in ky. I need to take a few does each year and between processing cost, storage room, and simply ability to consume, I end up donating a few each year. It’s super convenient, I just gut it and drop it off and it’s free. Ethically it makes me feel like I’m doing something with the deer, but the reality is I wouldn’t put past these processors to claim it with the state to get whatever fee they get and dump it. Currently, our population is not in any danger of being too low so I can’t say it’s hurting our numbers, but it definitely allows people to take more than they “need” which is an interesting debate. I use it as a management tool. In full disclosure I do not get warm and fuzzies thinking it’s going to a homeless kitchen somewhere…no, I can’t say i do.
No offense but “whatever makes it ethical” is a catch-all. I can be plenty ethical with .50 cal or night vision.
I see the value in the program from the management side. I would rather that the animal enter the food system at a level more on par with the quality of the resource. So, instead of it being processed for a food shelf, being viewed as peasant food, and costing every hunter more in license fees, the USDA could get out of the way. Hunters could arrange with processors to drop deer off for free. Processors could then butcher and sell to whomever. Put it under a special tax designation and apply those funds to improve habitat on public lands. Land managers still have a way to ethically get rid of excess, consumers get better access to higher quality food, and hunters save money on licenses.
Crossbow guy at PTA meeting
Good point. I have a good buddy who lives right by the Snake River out west and has to temper how much he goes cause he can’t responsibly eat all the ones he could kill.
Supposedly, Stuttgart the duck capital - Idaho is a secret. Puts Arkansas to shame.
He’s been there about 8 years. He said the increase in pressure just in that timeframe is staggering. Use to be 1-2 boats at the ramp on a weekend, none in the week. Now it’s 7 days a week
I strongly feel that meat that is sold should be inspected by certified inspectors.
I get the thought but I personally just can’t risk it. Just too hard to trust people, especially as an absentee landowner. Different times we live in these days.
I actually think the processing - around the game pole, butchering, packaging, canning, sausage making, canadian bacon, cooking - and eating. All a big part of deer hunting.
