Thanks Airdale -

I appreciate your posts. (I almost said "I love to read them..." but to love to hear that which you observe would be perverse.) There's been some discussion of hunting in the last week. I believe, based on my experiences and knowledge, that folks are completely deluded if they think ANY edible North American creature could last more than 1 season if even a fraction of our current population decided it was time to hunt and gather.

One thing humans do well is to hunt. Our state of overshoot would be abundantly clear in about 2 days if even a fraction of the population made an effort. This goes for any resource - deer to mushrooms, ducks to trout. We could drive any species to extinction in 2 or 3 years. Fantasies about living off game are just that, utter fantasies.

Fried Green Tomatoes ... it'll be like that.

Funny thing is- lots and lots of deer running around here, everybody has killed one with a car, usually to tune of big bucks for repair ( groan!), and yet people who bitch about too many deer DON'T hunt them!

Right at the moment I have three split carcasses hanging in my coldcave, awaiting my work, and a lot more of my wife's work, to put them into nice little bags for the year's meat.

I tell people we eat no meat but deer and chickens. They shudder in disgust, as if I have confessed to cannibalism-- Jeez. I am sure that in need they would eat deer, or for that matter, rats -or students, but not now, still high on petroleum, they scorn anything but fat sizzling beafsteak.

So, I agree with Orlov- the higher we are flying now, the harder we hit the rocks when we run out of juice. So, for goddssake, people, let's get down to a lower altitude fast, please.

But then I keep coming back to that old bad, bad thought lying back there in my reptile brain- maybe people aren't worth saving anyhow.

My lifestyle doesn't include hunting ATM, but I have in the past and probably will in the future.

Some of my community college classmates and instructor were discussing the different taste of deer. I've always had corn fed deer (Nebraska).

One said his brother had cooked up some deer from, I think, Colorado. The deer's staples were scrub brush and what not. His brother thought the meat was great but classmate strongly disagreed - but didn't have the heart to say anything derogatory about the meat to his brother.

Hi wimbi,

re: "eating deer and chickens"

Something I've wondered about...

The agricultural system is supported by a cadre of soil scientists and other specialists who can advise farmers on both organic and commercial farming.

When it comes to hunting and fishing, (and poultry-raising) there's a similar issue, in the sense of the health of wildlife populations - that they need to be monitored, and also, someone(s) have to understand how to do this.

This is a quote from an undated article on the problem of information.

“While humans have places such as the National Center for Infectious Diseases and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, biologists aren't as fortunate. Organizations such as The American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, the National Wildlife Health Center and Wildlife Diseases Association exist to help monitor wildlife diseases. But the weak link in the chain is getting reliable, consistent, quality data to these organizations.”

http://www.createstrat.com/muledeerinthewest/diseases.html

And here are some links on the subject, more generally.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/cwd/gametrails.htm
http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/cnwds/ann2_e.cfm
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_168752.html

So, the question then becomes: How does "peak oil" and the economic consequences of same affect our ability to feed ourselves, eg., specifically, in this case, how do we maintain our ability to apply the benefits of science to our food supply?

I pause in my little chore of cutting up the meat to note that I am a descendent of a very long line of deer eaters, all of whom lived long enough to get to me. In other words, everything is risky, for sure, and maybe I won't make it past my next chomp on a haunch.

My wife worries a lot more about this sort of stuff so I will somewhat reluctantly pass your good links (we thank you for your kind attention) on to her to worry about, hoping she will not shut down our present cosy relation with those deer out there staring soulfully in the window at their passed-on siblings.

The risk I worry about is getting nailed by the toyota piloted by that boozer at the end of the road.

I wonder about crawfish and nutria. In part because of their habitat(s) and limited human access to some of them.

Alan