It never ceases to amaze me how many meat eaters get offended by the sight of a harvested animal. It seems ridiculous to me that someone would favor seeing a non-biodegradable plastic wrapper covering an animal rather than its natural packaging.
A couple weeks back, I received an email from a disgruntled woman from Norwich. She stated she had been upset by the pictures of harvested animals in the paper. She also made the statement, “The hunters in the pictures seemed to be excited they had killed something...she would like to give me a piece of her mind.” I happily gave her my phone number and said, “Feel free to do so.”
As expected, she gave me a call a couple days later to scold me for disturbing her so badly with such horrific photographs. I let her ramble on for what seemed to be hours. She ranted and raved about how wrong I am for the lifestyle I have chosen to live. Rather than join in an argument with the uneducated or misinformed meat eater, I find it more beneficial to them to take the high road.
I find it easy to stump people like her. Their lack of knowledge and understanding of hunting and conservation, along with a complete acceptance of modern meat packaging practices, are the fuel needed for recourse. I typically ask a single question that must be answered before I will carry on with the lesson. Most of the time I find people like her can talk for hours, but are easily stumped by a single, rational question. You can talk for hours about opinion, but facts tend to be conveyed in a short-and-sweet, cut-and-dry manner.
The question I asked her was, “What did you have to eat for Thanksgiving dinner?” The typical silence crept in. I wonder... is that crickets, or the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out how to side step the fact that a dead bird had also adorned her table. The silence had to be broken, so I spoke up and said, “turkey, right?” She reluctantly replied, yes probably realizing she was stepping into a trap. This is the point in which you make the choice to either educate or ridicule her obviously flawed opinion. The next question you ask will set the tone for the rest of the conversation.
I then asked, “Have you ever held up the turkey that you had just purchased, and with a big smile on your face, and ask someone to take your picture?” She instantly and bitterly replied, “no.” I then asked, why? To my surprise she stated, “That people would think she was weird.” I agreed and said, “Probably because it took no skill and anyone with a few bucks in their hand can get one.” She agreed to which I added, “the reason for that response would be the understanding that farmed turkeys have no chance for escape, and they are killed and packaged for your convenience.” This makes it easy for the consumer to get one, and everybody knows, things that come easy need not be bragged about or rewarded. I then said, “This is probably why you feel no connection to the bird on your table, and feel no reason to celebrate its life being given to sustain yours.”
Hunters have the right to thank God for the food provided, while the consumer needs to thank the farmer. All animals, wild or domesticated, need to be respected equally, and herein lies the problem. Farmed animals are unable to escape capture, which makes their death inevitable, while wild animals can evade your pursuit and must be harvested. The hard work and skills used to harvest a wild bird warrant smiles on the faces of hunters after a successful hunt. You have to call in most wild turkeys, the exchange of conversation along with the feeling of oneness with nature creates a connection between the bird and hunter. I thaen added, “the reason you feel no connection with bird on your table is because you have none. It was raised on a farm, far from your sight, killed and processed by the slaughterhouse, again out of your sight and ultimately stuffed into a non transparent plastic package as to not offend people, like yourself, who seem to forget that a dead bird is contained. Fur, feathers and scales are the natural packaging of animals, of which, are biodegradable and useable. You can't say the same of store-bought packages.
The fact that she was giving me a hard time for showing a bird in its natural package disturbed me. Have people become so separated from the circle of life that they are unable to recognize food when not wrapped in plastic? The act of hunting for food is as natural as life itself, and must be understood as essential to conservation. We have displaced nature, along with the production of grains and corn that create an overabundant food source. These factors enable wild populations to exceed numbers in which the land can handle, creating over-browsing issues if not controlled.
She was of the opinion that hunters are not conservationist, and that they only harm nature. I informed her that hunters were the first conservationists, and that were it not for hunting groups, the turkey would likely still be missing from our landscape. She was surprised to hear hunting and true conservation groups funded the reintroduction of the wild turkey into New York in the first place. I then explained that wild animals are considered renewable resources, and as long as hunters comply with sound management practices, the future of animal populations in our state is bright.
She never agreed with me, but I could feel the information sinking in. I thanked her for the topic for an upcoming column, and asked if I could use her name, to which she refused. That’s funny, when I know I'm right, I have no fear printing my name. Guess she wasn't sure she was right. I offered her a pair of hand-made turkey feather earrings, to which, she scoffed and stated that she didn't wear dead things in a discriminatory fashion. I finished with the statement, “They would probably match your leather dress shoes nicely.” She actually replied, “you got me there.”
I thanked her again, and asked her to look at my information as educational and not of a derogatory nature as hers. She ended by stating that she expected more of an argument from me, I said, “you don't argue the facts, you simply convey them.”
Good wishes and peer through the package to see the poultry.

Questions or comments about this article may be emailed to Sheldon at sheldonsoutdoorbusiness@hotmail.com.