Luck is a strange animal

December 18, 2011

The past three years in a row, I have taken a buck in the first week of rifle season, less than a mile from home, in thick woods with few deer. Each of those years, I was too busy to spend many hours hunting and didn’t expect to bring home venison. Against the odds, though, [...]

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Hunting philosophies in ten words or less

November 18, 2011

Reminders can be rude. A few days ago, I was driving along, thinking about my time in the woods last weekend. I had hiked into the forest with a near-full moon peering down at me through the clouds, a thin mantle of snow cloaking ground and trees. At sunrise, I had enjoyed the play of [...]

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Flesh without animals: The future of food?

October 15, 2011

Imagine meat that not only comes in plastic, but grows there. For years, scientists have been developing methods to grow “tissue cultures” for human consumption. Last month, an article in Mother Jones reported that these food wizards may be getting closer to bringing lab-grown meat to market, though serious obstacles remain. Not least among these [...]

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A hunting culture in decline: Causes and consequences

September 16, 2011

Are Vermont hunters an endangered species? Fellow writer and hunter Matt Crawford thinks so, and his new article in Vermont Life presents compelling evidence. Crawford notes, for instance, that resident hunting license sales in the Green Mountain State have dropped from more than 89,000 per year in 1993 to an estimated 70,000 today. The decline [...]

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The ‘sport’ of hunting: Why I don’t call it that

August 18, 2011

For some people, hunting for “sport” implies frivolity: killing for fun. For some, it suggests wastefulness and a lack of respect for animals: taking a whitetail’s antlers and cape for a trophy mount, and leaving the meat to rot. Those are two reasons I don’t call hunting a “sport.” When I talk or write about [...]

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Eating and caring: The lines we draw

July 22, 2011

Some hunters pursue and eat birds, rabbits, and deer, but draw the line at bears. For them, bruins resemble humans a little too much: They’re intelligent omnivores. Their eyes face forward. They can stand on two feet and climb trees. I haven’t ever pondered bear- hunting, but I may be one of these hunters. Though [...]

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Mindful carnivores here, there, and everywhere

July 12, 2011

The Mindful Carnivore has been spotted in the wild. First, came the Facebook page. Before I even had the thing properly set up, it was discovered by fellow vegetarian-turned-hunter Anthony Lynn, out in British Columbia. He “liked” it. (If Facebook was a truly social medium, I think he would—at the very least—have had the option [...]

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