[tahunua001]

Dakota,
your arguments for hunting are quite right and your objections are also well noted. however the thinking that all hunters don't cringe at having to take the life of an animal is pretty much a myth. we all have a respect for the game that we take, or at least we all should. for me there is nothing worse than shooting an animal and tracking it only to find it still alive when I get there. I use that to help force myself to take better shots and make cleaner kills than before.

however wild game is quite a bit different from farm raised. there is more gristle, more tendons, less fat and even less meat. you will be lucky to get 100 pounds of meat off a 200 pound monster deer. wild turkeys have little of use besides the breasts, the legs and thighs are edible if you boil them but they are really tough otherwise. on a deer, you have the tenderloins that rarely get over a pound or so each, the four quarters(legs) and the backstraps, little else is of use and usually goes towards dog food at our house so the thought of getting the pound and a half of meat off the rib cage and turning it into sausage is probably not going go too well. larger game like elk have more meat on the neck and that can be used for sausage and jerky but little else besides what can be done to deer although you can get quite a bit of meat off an elk, even a young cow. the best argument for it is that the meat from these animals is much healthier for you than farm breed food. less fat, no artificial growth hormones, and you even get exorcise retrieving it.

the best thing for you to do is take a hunters safety/education course, most states require it for anyone 12 and up anyway. during the intermissions and breaks it would be wise to talk to the instructors, the volunteers that have been hunting for years and know the area, the game, and how they like to cook it. then finally you need to think about what game you intend to go after and what kind of gun you'll be using a small 22 caliber rifle for buffalo is ill suited while a 338 lapua is a little bit overkill for a deer and in ruin a great deal of the meat. the best tool for the job can mean the difference between no meat at all and several gourmet meals.