Remember this: The Holy Trinity of
Hunting is meat, life experiences, and pure guilty pleasure but poverty affects
us all.
The United Nation’s Food and
Agriculture Organization reported people are secure when there is access to
proper, sufficient and nutritious food where the acquisition is through a
socially accepted practice.
I will not dwell on the online debate
that lurks in people’s hearts on the hunting methods of pig sticking, spearing,
truck diving, cannon balling, bush jumping or shooting, etc. I will keep the
focus off actual methods for procuring wild game meat for another topic.
Individuals who begin the journey of
the hunt go for different reasons. The major goal I will focus on is the need
for sustenance, food, or meat. Food procurement is one of the prime directives
for Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Otherwise they come to the game starving.
In this economy, money earned is
becoming an issue. Everyone is feeling the pinch. People throughout the world
lack the necessary funds for basic nutrition. Accessing food with limited
financial resources is tough and can bring out the worst or the best in an
individual or group. Another issue that arises for the financially strapped
hunter/huntress is allocating money for:
- Hunting license
- Hunting supplies
- Club dues
- Bait
- Gas
- Costly meat processing if done professionally
- Time
- Stress at being poor with a habit.
- Failure at coming home empty handed
In order for the hunter to work at
optimal level there must be that crucial form of employment or income.
Hunters and huntresses come from all
walks of life. They can be a complete family, a single parent home, singletons,
or the elderly. Whatever their reason for taking up a tool of choice to enact
the procurement of wild game the truth can be said for all of them: they like
to eat and need it to maintain proper function of the body. Of course at any
time due to the economy the stresses put on people who hunt must be evaluated
for solutions. After all, we are in this together if not apart. Hunting is
advertised as a family friendly activity. That same family should be your rock
in times of poverty, recession, and general need for emotional support.
Another reason people who hunt take
up the activity is the impact of poverty. Not all but a percentage participates
for this reason. Participating is multi-faceted but our focus here is clear.
People who hunt may be driven to acquire wild game meat due to past life
experiences such as poverty induced starvation, anxiety over the next meal,
acquiring food in unacceptable ways such as theft, no access to opportunities
to hunt, and barely staying alive off what you can scratch up or dig out the
dumpster.
This can be exhibited when a person
who hunts has a bad season with no game to take home and pack away in the
freezer, smoke, or can.
Families could have the cushion of
two working parents that hunt. Single parents may hunt but perform other
personal management strategies to reduce waste. The elderly may rely on other
members of the community to provide for them if there is no family.
A hunter/huntress might be faced
with a freeze on the hunting of a species due to a biological disturbance that
causes low births or high deaths in a hunted species. There may be previous
infarctions for crimes against wildlife that prevent a hunter/huntress from
participating. Another occurrence might be the lack thereof quarry in the area
you hunt due to over hunting.
Faced with these barriers what can
the person who hunts do? Strategy is the name of the game.
The discerning hunter/huntress can
sit down when meat stores are not low to evaluate the overall plan of action
they initiate when things start going thin.
The following would be good
practices in tough times:
· Keeping expenses down with a budget.
· Self-Managing strategy for food procurement and storage.
· Grow a garden in the summer to harvest, can, or freeze
fruits and vegetables.
· Access food banks
· Stretch meals by measuring appropriate rations of protein
portions per person per meal.
· Ask neighbors for help.
During times of financial stress
people who hunt could be more prone to break laws in order to acquire necessary
food. There may also be the aspect of isolation or even alienation from family,
friends, or community. Helping out your fellow man should be on the list of
life choices one would perform because it is a service to your community. You
may be in that position one day to accept kindness from strangers. Meat is
meat. If you know of someone who is down on their luck give what you can.
Its livable to be a poor
hunter/huntress but you have to remember that the state of having nothing is
only temporary. Be kind to your fellow man, your fellow hunter/huntress and
feed others least not you feed yourself.
Written by W Harley Bloodworth
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
