Isn’t this a fun conversation to have at deer camp? How many times have you heard the guy who smokes in his blind, doesn’t have the patience to walk quietly to his stand, walks to his stand after the sun has rise say, “You can’t eat horns”? There is nothing wrong with the concept of hunting for food. Except don’t get all high and mighty on this argument. We don’t live during an era where hunting for food is needed. You can fill out a form and get a credit card delivered to you that says you can go take all the food you want off the backs of the working people of this country. Or you can go to a grocery store who specialized in the efficiency of mass producing food and exchange your specialized labor where you earned cash for…for food. This type of economy and exchange of goods and services has been around for quite some time where not every household needs to be a farmer any more. It didn’t used to be like this, but it is now.
Now if you want to try and make the argument how animals who feed on bark, moss, and who browse from the wild tastes better than grain fed beef or chicken, then that’s fine. If you don’t mix in fat with your deer meat, then I get it. Kentucky deer hunting isn't cheap. Those looking for Kentucky deer hunting leases tend to not be vegans. Historically, the rough and tough hunters don’t avoid fast food restaurant, avoid beer and avoid cigarettes, historically. A healthy diet just normally isn’t on the traditional hunters pallet, in fact, why are you even eating red meat anyway? Shouldn’t you be a Vegan? Now that you know my perspective on this argument, let’s be a little more fair.
For those old timers who were raised on deer meat, who live in the country and don’t have a lot of extra money to spend, I get being raised to shoot deer for food. Whether it’s a spike, a 4 pointer or a doe, who cares! It was the closest animal to shoot that looked like it had some tender meat. That is great! That is way more noble than my selfish purpose of hunting Kentucky whitetail deer just for the mere pleasure of killing an innocent animals to feel good about myself. I don’t begrudge anyone for supplementing their families freezer with venison. It’s the guy who has a decent job, who goes out and blasts a small 6 point buck for the sole purpose to brag to everyone, “You can’t eat horns”, is what bothers me a little. It’s just disappointing that so many people do take pride and methodically plan, stalk and genuintely hunt the smartest, oldest and biggest deer. It’s not a fair match. Man has a gun and the deer doesn’t even has shoes or pants, but it’s what we have left as far as staying in touch with our primitive / hunter side of our DNA.
Conclusion: The guy who says, “You can’t eat horns” is no more right or wrong than me. I get why he thinks I’m a moron for hunting for big horns, but I just don’t believe he gets why I think he’s a moron.