Just curious. Me and hubby (capmikee who used to post) have learned this year and I was wondering if anybody else has taken the "paleo" thing in that direction, too?

I sure haven't ,although we have been eating more game, custosy of a natural grocery. We had antelope tonight and loved it! When it comes to hunting, I think of it like this....I would love friends who hunt for food (because I might get to prepare a meal for us), just like knowing someone that has a boat which i wil help sail or put gas in depending ln the boat...I just don't want to be the actual hunter or the boat owner/captain. Lol. Too,much
mess , $ and/or responsibility!

We hunt, fish and raise our own beef, rabbit and eggs. I don't think of it as "Paleo", I think of it as a way of life.

Everything has a purpose in life, to bear young and feed another animal. We are just lucky enough to not be on the bottom of the food chain.

22 shells are cheap, just make sure its in season and you have a liscense for it.

Happy Hunting

Hi there! I don't hunt but I love game, so someone has to go hunting to get it on to my plate! I think it's good we realise where our food comes from. We grow some vegetables, that's as far as we got so far.
Happy hunting!

I don't, but have been considering learning, as well as raising rabbits! I have laying hens, but have yet to work up the guts to eat my "old ladies"

My father hunted, so I grew up eating venison and rabbit. I am not interested in hunting myself, but would happily eat game if someone else provided it. Wheeler in Alaska includes moose, caribou and elk in her diet, so someone hunts them; maybe she will stop by with details.

Yeah, I don't really consider it a "Paleo" thing either, I just didn't want to post in any general forums just in case of offense - I didn't think anyone here would be offended . It was actually the kids who pushed our buttons on it because they wanted to learn, so we figured we'd learn and see if it was something we could support ( the oldest has a couple of years until she can take the test). I always thought hunting would be a useful skill, but we are very city and never gave much thought to actually going hunting. Then we were spending a lot of time in the woods camping and hiking with the kids and it seemed like a natural progression. We're still working on our skills... We did manage to accompany a bowhunter on a deer unt this year (hubby took a deer gun but the deer didn't get close). We totally loved it, though, so we'll keep going out in the hopes of getting skilled enough.

Hi Janet! Yes--we hunt, fish and harvest as much food as possible. I am lucky to live in a place where it is possible. This year we started with chickens and will get more for next year! It has taken me years to appreciate and understand and develop the resource and I still consider myself a beginner. Also, we are on the "road kill" list and harvest moose and caribou that have been killed on the highway or railroad. I have learned to make a most delicious and nutritious bone broth from parts previously given to our sled dogs. It is everything from local and organic to saving money to being self sufficient. If you have the chance to harvest anything local, do it! Mushrooms, berries, animals. At my recent family reunion (I was raised in the suburban northeast never eating game) the question was raised among the young cousins, "what is your favorite food?" Answers were pizza, ice cream, etc. and my daughter answered moose meat!

We hunt every year for moose, deer and elk. It is our main source of red meat as we rarely eat beef and, if we do, it's because we have to buy it from friends (grass-fed) if our wild meat harvest has not been too successful.
We're not too happy with that scenerio when it happens!
And it does. There are no guarantees.

A lot of people are under the impression that you can just grab a gun, head into the bush and harvest an animal at your convenience.
That's most definitely not the case!
There's a reason it's called "hunting" and not "shooting"...

Hunting involves a major time commitment as well as finanical. It's not cheap!
From packing the trailer, preparing the food for the trip, driving sometimes 12 hrs (for elk), buying the proper gear, firearms, the expense of fuel, ATV/truck/trailer maintanence, the time (we hunt on our holidays...call it a working vacation ) and the cost of butchering and packaging and all the other little things that nickle & dime you, it's definitely challenging in many ways.

People also don't realize that it's physically demanding as well. Your endurance is constantly challenged. Not only are you up and out before dawn but you are not finished until just before sunset. If you are blessed with the gift of actually harvesting an animal, that's when the "real" work starts.

Weather , location, the mess of field dressing, hauling the meat from the bush, hanging, skinning, quartering, re-hanging and preserving an animal of that size until it gets to the butcher is not for everyone. Ironically, it usually happens when you're already exhausted! It can most definitely push your physical fitness to it's max!!

That said. It is a passion of ours. We probably spend 90% of our hunting season tracking, calling, walking and enjoying the silence and tranquility of our surroundings. We appreciate every sunrise and sunset and fall into bed every night completely exhausted but excited to get out at the crack of dawn with the hope that 'today will be the day'!

It's not for everyone but the appreciation of our food, and the animal that gave it's life so that we may nourish ourselves and family with the highest quality meat available, makes it worth every effort.

Hunting is both a gift, a passion and a commitment on many levels for us.

Deezil is right on. Venison is not cheap in terms of mony spent, energy, or needed equipment. During season I hunt.

Out of a season I hunt Krogers, Wally World, etc. Find packages of 10# chicken legs n thighs. Price is usually $6 to $7. That works out to less than 75 cents per lb!. Coat with dry rub n put them unto smoker at 215 degrees for four hours n package in small quantities in freezer. Great meals or snacks at much less than what my venison costs me! Love chicken!

I butcher my own venison but my deer club buddies take theirs to a butcher that charges them from $55 to $75 per animal. Average deer (doe) weighs about 120 lbs. After removing head hide, and guts you are left with less than 60lbs of meat n bones. Butcher fees alone cost $1 a pound or more.

My husband is a big time hunter. He is hunting right now as a matter of fact in Nebraska with my middle son for wild turkey. They are both traditional bow hunters, no sites, no compounds etc. just a long bow. Three turkeys shot this week will look great in my freezer. He also hunts white tail, mule deer, big horn sheep, prong horn, elk (my fav), and wild goat. We both fly fish and I love trout. I guess I'm lucky in the fact that my husband is a great hunter. If you could see my house you would be amazed. When you walk into my living room, you see about 40 heads hanging on the wall, fish mounts, and furs that he has trapped. I call him the great white hunter!!

Sounds amazing Deezil! Maybe I'd hunt something smaller than unguents, like turkeys or other foul.

I live in a very urban area and I'd have a long, long trip to go hunting. Maybe someday I'll have to give it a try, but someone will have to outfit me and school me.

For the rabbits, you don't eat your "old ladies." Trust me, you don't really want to eat an old rabbit. On average, you eat the rabbit when its 4-6 lbs, appx 3 months old. If you eat a rabbit over 6 months old, you have to really crock pot it. I ate a 2 yr old buck only a few weeks ago, I crock potted him all day and he was still chewey.

Hunting is not all that cheap, the bullets is the cheap part. You have to take the hunter safety course/test, get the liscense for hunting that spacific variety. Then theirs tags for things like deer, and possibly other big game. We don't have a lot of big game here and we don't have quite the wide open space others are taking about. Its not easy, sit all day in a blind and not see anything, or they are within sight but too far away. The turkey are interesting, gives a nice challenge Squirrel has to be one of the easiest for us, but you don't get much meat from a squirrel. We like to fish in the summer, put out trout lines and check them 4 times throught the night. Trout lines are lines with 115-14 hooks on them, put them in the river or a deep crick. We check them ever few hours and on a good night we will get 40-50 catfish and some other less desirable but eddible. I don't like to let any meat go to waste

If you think old rabbits are tough, try a coon. Around here there is nothing so available as coon. A live trap will provide a crock pot dinner most any night you want it. Lots of meat on a coon too and they are available in town, in the woods, everywhere. Dark meat that tastes like beef. Pot roast coon or coon stew is great. Not as good as feral pig, but lots easier to get.

My hubby just shot two wild turkeys in Nebraska, so now we have some breast of wild turkey to eat. YUM