Elk Hunting Ethics?

[dentodoc]

I've never hunted elk, but would enjoy doing so. My question is this.....Is it deemed to be proper to give-away one's harvested elk? My problem is my wife. She doesn't mind me hunting, but she has no interest in preparing or serving "wild animal" or elk meat. She doesn't like deer, or duck, or pheasant. The only "game" she will cook is wild turkey. Would it be good hunter etiquette to harvest an elk as long as I made arrangements for someone to take possession of and use the meat? Are there groups or individuals in elk hunting areas who are interested in hunter harvested meat?

[Cowled_Wolfe]

Personaly, I've never hunted or dealt with ethical meat disposal as it were, but I've heard good things from a friend about this group:

http://www.fhfh.org/cgi-bin/index.asp

I don't know if this is what you were after or not though.

Wolfe.

[Jack O'Conner]

If you do not live in the same state or Province you plan to hunt in, simply offer the meat to your guide. Not planning to hire a guide? No worries, you won't have any meat to give away.
Jack

[Twycross]

I don't see why it wouldn't be ethical. As long as the meat is going to be put to a good use, I think it would be fine. Maybe contact your F&G office and see where they take the meat they get from poached animals?

[Pointer]

The UNETHICAL thing would be to let the meat spoil or otherwise go to waste. And in some states, it is illegal.

Nothing wrong with giving meat away... My hunting group shares the meat anyway because everyone is involved in the hunt and the cutting and hauling work that follows the successful shot(s).

Keep a few steaks and maybe some of the liver (I love it) and cook it for yourself.

Hamburger a bunch of it with some beef fat, or pork fat, and cook it for yourself.

And share the rest with anyone who will be grateful.

No, it is not unethical to give the meat to someone else...

If you need someone to give it to... I'll take it off your hands!

[jcims]

My 7 year old girl has gotten the shooting bug. I'm starting her off now with a bow to just get some of the very basic elements of safety in her mind...we'll probably move to an airgun next spring and from there on.

She's actually interested in hunting, which surprises me somewhat. This fall we're going on a 'hunt' with a camera (well before bow or gun season), and i told her i'll give her 5 bucks if she can get me a picture of a deer. I'm trying to teach her that there's absolutely nothing wrong with taking game as long as you have a purpose and you're not just piling up maggot farms.

There was a show on OLN yesterday, called Beretta History or something like that. It was a hunting show, and i asked her to come in to watch it a bit. They were hunting caribou and it was a pretty good quality show. They showed them taking a pretty good size one, and were kind of going over rack, pulling velvet off of it and stuff. Fairly educational and my girl was interested and respectful of the whole event.

Then they just cut to a scene where the guy is hauling the sawed off rack out of the field! My little girl said 'uh, Dad, aren't they going to eat it?' and i just said 'uh, sure, they're going back to get it' Maybe i'm getting a little too soft, but it just turned my stomach. Then they spent 10 minutes showing two guys parked under the migratory path for canadian geese in central Canada (can't remember the province). They just laid in their little camo huts, calling the geese, and dropped what seemed like two dozen of the things. I know canadian geese aren't exactly endangered animals, but it just seemed excessive, and given that there were probably 5-10K birds flying overhead, i'm not sure exactly what it proves. Like fishing with dynamite.

Anyway, just thought it was poor tv.

[Bosshoff]

You know the video of the cleaning of the Caribou on the Beratta show probably got left on the cutting (editing) room floor. That being said, you make a very good point about the episode you viewed with your daughter. I bet you the folks at Beretta which produce the show would love to hear some feedback on your thoughts. You should write a letter, and explain your thoughts on how the hunt was portrayed. I think that if the host explained that they were going to go back to harvest the meat, you would have been satisfied. Sometimes people get complacient, and forget what is in front of them. I am sure the video guy did not do this on purpose, but your experience with the show is very valid. As to too many Canadians, come to Illinois, they don't even fly South for the winter anymore, because the farmers don't turn their fieldsover in the fall in order to combat erosion of the topsoil. This leaves all sorts of little "meals" in the fields for the buggers. Why fly to Mexico, when you don't have to? Did I mention the limit in illinois is two birds a day? It hardly seems worth getting the decoys out and setting up a spread.

[butch50]

Giving away meat is an honored tradition. But, you should also eat some of the elk that you kill yourself. I think there is something wrong with people who kill game animals, but don't eat any of what they kill. A ceremonial steak dinner is enough to satisy the requirement of honoring the elk, as long as the rest of the edible carcass is given to someone who will eat it. That is assuming that you have actual valid reasons for not keeping the entire elk and you are not just being lazy about it.

But, even if you do thik that you have valid reasons for not using the whole elk, then you should also consider if it is right for you to be hunting something that you know in advance you can not use. There may be a fine line between your wanting to kill an elk but not wanting to deal with the carcass - and using your wife as an excuse for not dealing with the carcass so that you can kill the elk and shrug off the ethics. Only you can make that call. My immediate thought was that if your wife is unwilling to cook it, what's wrong with you cooking it yourself?

Some of those hunting shows give me the willies, they get on my nerves and just don't seem right somehow. I do not like the ones where a guy is stiing inside a box or up in a stand, with a video on him and he is constantly whispering to the camera, or to his buddy. They come across as wrong somehow. Then he makes a simple easy shot and runs to admire the antlers, acting as though he has just made the shot of the century, and his whole focus is on the trophy aspect of the kill.

I can only imagine how those must appear to people who don't understand hunting and might be fence sitters, and might have been an ally someday in the struggle to preserve hunting. Hunting videos are difficult to do well for the general public, and one poorly made video could turn off a lot of potential allies. Imagine how many people now think that caribou hunters are killing for the antlers only from that one video?

[siotwo]

You would be A O K as long as you don't leave it to rott. There is no dishonor in giving the meat away. You enjoy your hunt, are sucessful, and donate the meat to someone that will eat it. Anyone that has trouble with that is just being silly.

On my last WY hunt we used a meat processer to package our game. About 5 hunters were traveling back to the east coast. They donated their 'hamburger' to the local shelter. I thought that was a great thing to do. They paid good money for the hunting trip and then donated some of their 'prize'. These guys were top notch in my book.

[Capt. Charlie]

When I worked for the Natl. Park Service, this is the one thing that we butted heads over. We occasionally had mule deer hit by cars, and NPS policy was (is?) to pull 'em off the road and let them rot. Natural recycling, they called it. It really bugged me to see all that meat go to waste. One day I was struggling to pull a deer off the road and a Navaho family drove by, and asked if they could have it. I was required to say no, with the above explaination, but I also told them that "since I'm the only ranger on duty in this sector, I have a lot of territory to cover, so I'm leaving and won't be back for hours" . Checked back later and the deer was gone .

[CarbineCaleb]

I also told them that "since I'm the only ranger on duty in this sector, I have a lot of territory to cover, so I'm leaving and won't be back for hours"

Well done, Capt!

[Clayfish]

My problem is my wife. She doesn't mind me hunting, but she has no interest in preparing or serving "wild animal" or elk meat.

Learn to cook!

[zeisloft]

All men are born with an inherent knowledge of meat and fire. Some add vegetables, some don’t. This is called cooking, its usually done outside. Do as you will as far as the meat goes, nothing wrong with helping out those less fortunate. But don’t blame the wife’s cooking.
~z

[mete]

When you hunt in Africa and get an elephant they don't expect you to eat the whole thing !! The meat is given to the natives and if there is anything left it goes to the vultures, hyenas etc.

[butch50]

Here as some permutations:

If the question was asked in this manner - I am going to shoot a cow elk and my wife won't cook it.....Would that change the perspective any? As in, why would you shoot a cow elk if you weren't going to eat it? Answer: You just want to kill something but don't want to deal with the carcass.

Change that to: I am going to shoot a bull elk for the antlers and my wife won't cook it......Now you are horn hunting but don't want to deal with the carcass, and that becomes acceptable, right?

[3 weelin geezer]

I would say no. Look in to the "homeless" shelters. They might want to take it. Too bad you live in Kansas. I would offer to take it for jerky. Thats a lot of meat to just throw away.

[3 weelin geezer]

I would say no. Look in to the "homeless" shelters. They might want to take it. Too bad you live in Kansas. I would offer to take it for jerky. Thats a lot of meat to just throw away. Besides, why do you tell your wife what animal it is? Throw a party and serve all the steak they want. I would be concerned if the animal wasn't healthy though.

[Trapp]

Though I can't remember how there are ways to give it to shelters etc...I would look into that.

[chemist308]

Well, have a good portion ground. Then start cooking. Slip it into chilis, spaghettis with meat sauce, 'beef'arony, or any Italian dish using a red sauce and requiring beef--no hamburgers. When she learns what you've done it could either go good for you or really, really bad...

Also, check this out: Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry