If you needed a reason to give up eating meat you didn't raise, kill, butcher, and process your self, this might be it

[jayboogieman]

 

[Paa Langfart]

I decided to become a pescatarian over 30 years ago as I became more aware of the way the vast majority of animals are treated to produce meat and I never looked back.  Just not worth the stain on my conscience.

[CamWhoaaCam]

On 1/26/2024 at 3:43 PM, Paa Langfart said:

I decided to become a pescatarian over 30 years ago as I became more aware of the way the vast majority of animals are treated to produce meat and I never looked back.  Just not worth the stain on my conscience.

What's your main protein source?

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

What's your main protein source?

Google "pescatarian". lol

Cam was a pescatarian for awhile, not sure if he still is or not.

[LinvilleGorge]

I try to get most of my meat from venison. I find it hilarious how so many folks will criticize hunters as cruel while they're sitting there eating a factory farmed burger. I grew up on a small cattle farm. We treated our animals well but they were raised for slaughter. It never sat well with me. Feels like serial killer poo. That deer or elk recognizes me as a predator. They have a natural fear and actively try to avoid me. Virtually every wild animal born is guaranteed a horrible death. They get old and starve to death or freeze to death or get ripped apart by coyotes. Mother Nature is beautiful but cruel and unforgiving. Killing a deer or elk that recognizes me as a predator and is trying to avoid me feels fair. It feels natural. Raising an animal that comes to trust me and relies on me for food and then killing it feels really fuged up.

[CamWhoaaCam]

7 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I try to get most of my meat from venison. I find it hilarious how so many folks will criticize hunters as cruel while they're sitting there eating a factory farmed burger. I grew up on a small cattle farm. We treated our animals well but they were raised for slaughter. It never sat well with me. Feels like serial killer poo. That deer or elk recognizes me as a predator. They have a natural fear and actively try to avoid me. Virtually every wild animal born is guaranteed a horrible death. They get old and starve to death or freeze to death or get ripped apart by coyotes. Mother Nature is beautiful but cruel and unforgiving. Killing a deer or elk that recognizes me as a predator and is trying to avoid me feels fair. It feels natural. Raising an animal that comes to trust me and relies on me for food and then killing it feels really fuged up.

I had some homemade deer jerky about a decade ago from my father. I swear that stuff was the best jerky I ever had. It was the seasoning that made it so good. 

 

That's probably the craziest thing I ever ate. Never had frogs and alligator all that other weird crap lol

[OHYO]

Raise your own and treat them well, problem solved.

Edited January 31 by OHYO

[rayzor]

14 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I try to get most of my meat from venison. I find it hilarious how so many folks will criticize hunters as cruel while they're sitting there eating a factory farmed burger. I grew up on a small cattle farm. We treated our animals well but they were raised for slaughter. It never sat well with me. Feels like serial killer poo. That deer or elk recognizes me as a predator. They have a natural fear and actively try to avoid me. Virtually every wild animal born is guaranteed a horrible death. They get old and starve to death or freeze to death or get ripped apart by coyotes. Mother Nature is beautiful but cruel and unforgiving. Killing a deer or elk that recognizes me as a predator and is trying to avoid me feels fair. It feels natural. Raising an animal that comes to trust me and relies on me for food and then killing it feels really fuged up.

i hunted for quite a few years. 2-3 deer a year and my family was set pretty well. i haven't for the past couple years because i just got tired. i like the hunting alright. it was the dressing and processing that got me and after doing all the processing myself for years, i just couldn't see paying someone else to do it. it was just time consuming and i hated field dressing them when it was unseasonably warm and when it was bitter cold. 

i also raised rabbits for a couple years. it sucked. we'd have easter pics with the babies and my daughters and then a month or two later i'd be breaking their necks and then getting them ready for the freezer. i hated that. my daughters and wife couldn't get past the idea of eating them so they never did. it was just me that ended up eating them. 

i try to find good clean meat options, but i'm just not interested in hunting or growing my meat right now. just too much work and i'm working too much right now as it is. 

[Lame Duck]

When i finished searing my steak and internal temp is about 130*, I slowly place my ear 2 inches away from the steak and listen.  If I hear the steak moo, I know its quality.

[Cullenator]

By the time I have any say the animals were raised, butchered, transported, and prepared for consumption.

 

It would be unethical to let that creature die for nothing so I do my part.

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, rayzor said:

i hunted for quite a few years. 2-3 deer a year and my family was set pretty well. i haven't for the past couple years because i just got tired. i like the hunting alright. it was the dressing and processing that got me and after doing all the processing myself for years, i just couldn't see paying someone else to do it. it was just time consuming and i hated field dressing them when it was unseasonably warm and when it was bitter cold. 

i also raised rabbits for a couple years. it sucked. we'd have easter pics with the babies and my daughters and then a month or two later i'd be breaking their necks and then getting them ready for the freezer. i hated that. my daughters and wife couldn't get past the idea of eating them so they never did. it was just me that ended up eating them. 

i try to find good clean meat options, but i'm just not interested in hunting or growing my meat right now. just too much work and i'm working too much right now as it is. 

I hate the killing. If I ever stopped hating it I'd go seek help. I mean, I hate it to the point I've actually considered stopping eating meat myself and I honestly think that if you're not willing to do the killing you should stop eating meat. Just because the blood isn't on your hands literally doesn't mean it's not on you're hands figuratively.

The actual process of hunting, the scouting being out there, etc? I fuging LOVE it. I used to do a 4 day solo backpacking elk hunt every year in CO. I need to start doing it back here. There's plenty of places in the western NC national forests to do it. There was one year in the Flat Tops when my daughter was a young toddler that it was BRUTAL. They were calling for cold temps but they were calling for single digits at night and hovering around freezing during the day. Uh... wrong. It got to -20 at night and didn't break the teens during the day. You know it's cold when 15 feels downright balmy and has you soaking up the "warmth". I honestly didn't think I was gonna be able to tough that one out. Didn't even get an elk. Conditions were impossible. There was about 10" of snow on the ground with a freeze/thaw ice sheet on top that sounded like a .22 rifle shot with every step. Getting around was exhausting. The ice sheet would almost support your weight just to have your feet go crashing through as you took a step. But damn it was beautiful. I'll always remember that hunt even though it was completely and utterly unsuccessful in acquiring meat but was a raving success in terms of getting the mental reset I crave out of disappearing into the mountains for a few days.

[lumbeecheraw75]

18 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I hate the killing. If I ever stopped hating it I'd go seek help. I mean, I hate it to the point I've actually considered stopping eating meat myself and I honestly think that if you're not willing to do the killing you should stop eating meat. Just because the blood isn't on your hands literally doesn't mean it's not on you're hands figuratively.

The actual process of hunting, the scouting being out there, etc? I fuging LOVE it. I used to do a 4 day solo backpacking elk hunt every year in CO. I need to start doing it back here. There's plenty of places in the western NC national forests to do it. There was one year in the Flat Tops when my daughter was a young toddler that it was BRUTAL. They were calling for cold temps but they were calling for single digits at night and hovering around freezing during the day. Uh... wrong. It got to -20 at night and didn't break the teens during the day. You know it's cold when 15 feels downright balmy and has you soaking up the "warmth". I honestly didn't think I was gonna be able to tough that one out. Didn't even get an elk. Conditions were impossible. There was about 10" of snow on the ground with a freeze/thaw ice sheet on top that sounded like a .22 rifle shot with every step. Getting around was exhausting. The ice sheet would almost support your weight just to have your feet go crashing through as you took a step. But damn it was beautiful. I'll always remember that hunt even though it was completely and utterly unsuccessful in acquiring meat but was a raving success in terms of getting the mental reset I crave out of disappearing into the mountains for a few days.

I'm curious how you'd get an elk out of there if in conditions like that. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, lumbeecheraw75 said:

I'm curious how you'd get an elk out of there if in conditions like that. 

Quarter it and debone it in the field. No doubt about it, it would've sucked and the specific geography of the pack out would've played a big role in whether or not I would've taken a shot had the opportunity presented itself.

[scpanther22]

I still wanna try Wagyu...but the American stuff apparently isn't real just to see what the hype is about