Vegan turned hunter - Interesting blog

[Padron]

http://www.tovarcerulli.com/

This is a blog of a vegan turned hunter. In it he explores the more "touchy feely" aspects of hunting. Let's hear some thoughts.

[emerson]

It sounds like he was too logical and honest to stay a vegan forever. Some people have to take a long roundabout journey before they begin living in reality.

[Padron]

It sounds like he was too logical and honest to stay a vegan forever. Some people have to take a long roundabout journey before they begin living in reality.

I'm not sure if it was honesty or logic that led him away from veganism. Rather, it was honesty and logic that led him away from commercial meat consumption to hunting. It seems that, for health reasons, he and his spouse began eating meat after several years as vegans. When faced with the ethics of purchasing commercially raised meat versus hunting, the author came to the moral decision that the quality of life, means of slaughter, and handling of the meat was ethically more palatable with hunting.

[CanuckShooter]

Seems like a gifted writer.....:-D

[budismyhorse]

Kind of ironic that it takes a once Vegan person turned Hunter to write down the unspoken background to hunting. Thanks for posting this.

[gwillim]

I would have to say my own background is similar to this guy. I was vegetarian for years, initially because of student poverty, and then out of habit. When I got together with my wife, we settled on a mainly vegetarian diet, with meat once a week for variety. Not liking the meat industry, and having no room for raising our own animals, I took up hunting. To me it makes a lot of sense to eat what the local wilderness offers to anyone willing to put in a bit of time and thought.

Thanks for pointing out the blog.

[gwillim]

It sounds like he was too logical and honest to stay a vegan forever. Some people have to take a long roundabout journey before they begin living in reality.

The reality for the other 98% of humanity is that meat is unaffordable and/or unavailable. We should be thankful that we can not only afford to buy meat if we choose, but can even wander out into the woods and hunt it down ourselves. Not too many people anywhere in the world have it as good as we do.

[steepNdeep]

I started out hunting for the affordable organic meat. I have since become selective in the animals that I take in order to prolong the hunt and it ain't very affordable anymore... :biggrin:

I think most new hunters endure a period of reckoning in their first few kills like the ex-vegan - Tovar. Many develop a ritual associated with the kill... they range from a prayer to a shot of whiskey. :wink:


The reality for the other 98% of humanity is that meat is unaffordable and/or unavailable.

Where do you get 98%??? I've travelled to ~35 countries and people ate meat everywhere that I went...
Statistics state that less than 5% of the 1st world's population are vegitarian and ~15% of the world-wide population (with India's 30% making a big chunk of that). I agree with you that this is the best country in the world, though! :cool:

[behemoth]

The ethics of food hunting are rock solid. This guy has a great outlook that is slowly catching on in the non hunting community.

Enjoy hunting while there is still relatively few people doing it:mrgreen:

[Jelvis]

I don't know why people just eat veggies but some look quite healthy so it's a choice, potato, beans, coffee, eggs, bread etc.
I guess they don't like the sight and smell of raw bloody muscle tissues or splitting the guts open on a fresh killed deer in the cold winter air or something. The bloody offal steam comes up in the frozen air into the nostrils and some hunters actually puke when doing it for the first time.
Jel .. it'll take some getting use to for an X veggie tarian imho .. it takes guts

[Bowzone_Mikey]

great Blog thank you ....

My Father in Law is a Vegan ... however its not because he is Anti this or Anti that ... well he is Anti Heart attack .... His Clorestoal was through the roof, his LDL??? bad one was at 15 and change points when he had a heart attack ..(normal person should be under 2 points) He wanted no Drugs so he researched how to get his Cl down ... turns out Veganism is a way ... While I dont agree with it I can respect it ... when he visits every October he joins me on a hunt and enjoys feild dressing the animal

[OutWest]

Good read. I'm sure there are quite a few more men & women who come over to the good side than we hear about.

[2slow]

Great blog and a very good read that I emailed to my daughter who is starting down the vegan path.
I have to tip my hat to the true vegans though. Its a hell of a lot of work and costs a heap of money to maintain that lifestyle especially if they want to stay healthy.

[Padron]

What I have found most admirable about the author's perspective is his moral consistency. A defined set of values led him to veganism, and the same defined values led him to hunting. It takes a secure man to make such a drastic lifestyle change in order to remain morally consistent.

I don't expect to agree with everyone I associate with on all issues (nor would I want to), but I will openly support somebody's right to any opinion so long as they have a logical, consistent reason for their convictions, whether you are a hunter, vegan, Marxist, Conservative, Muslim, Christian or a fan of SYTYCD.

[buck nash]

I've never been a vegan but I can certainly see why some would refuse to support industrial farming practices. I worked on a pig/chicken farm when I was a kid and man was it gross. Theres no respect for the animals there. And I cant see how animals raised in that evironment could be healthy to eat.
I eat as much wild game as I can and try to avoid factory raised meat, though I do have a serious weakness for lamb. I also spend a lot of time gathering up wild edibles.
Its also more satisfying knowing that you got it yourself for free (well except for gas money)
I used to brew my own beer and wine too but I found myself drinking too much, especially when a fresh batch was ready and there wasn't enough empty bottles.:-D

[gwillim]

This thread got me curious as to who's eating what. A chart of world meat production, and meat consumption tells an interesting story. The US consumes about a third of the meat produced in the world. Canada consumes close to what India consumes (!). China consumes about 7 or 8 times what Canada consumes.

Read all about it...

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/fas/livestock-poultry-ma//2000s/2007/livestock-poultry-ma-04-11-2007.pdf

[ohno]

Canada consumes close to what India consumes
India 1.13 Billion people
Canada 33.3 Million people
per capita we eat a lot of meat compared to India. :-D

Sustainable hunting is a great source of organic protein and we shouldn't take this great opportunity for granted. Very few places in the world have what we have here in BC.