LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-15 AT 04:05PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-15 AT 04:02?PM (MST)
I hunt for the enrichment of the hunting experience and for the meat. I do not hunt for trophies, although I keep antlers when I kill a buck or a bull. I have killed does or cows nearly as often as bucks or bulls. The experience of hunting is unique and highly satisfying to me. My main hunting experience now is do-it-yourself elk hunting in high Colorado mountain country (we camp at 11,500 feet elevation and hunt between 12,000 feet and 10,800 feet). The challenge of finding the elk, shooting the elk, gutting it, cutting it into transportable pieces, and bringing the elk meat out ourselves is very demanding. We camp in a canvas wall tent heated by a wood burning stove. We do all the camp set-up and chores ourselves. It is an incredible way to be a part of nature and to see nature. I'm walking in the dark in the cold morning (say 25 degrees) to my appointed hunting spot. I sit in the cold waiting for the light to grow and reveal the world and more importantly hopefully reveal elk to me. I like to backpack, but this elk hunting is an even more complete and fulfilling an experience.
And I love the meat. I take the big chunks (two 56 LBS hams, two 30 LBS shoulders, two backstraps, two tenderloins, meat taken off the ribs, etc.) of elk meat back home from Colorado to Texas where I butcher it myself. I then cook the elk meat myself. I have different highly prized recipes for (1) elk backstrap and tenderloin, (2) elk roasts, (3) elk stew, (4) elk scalopini, and (5)elk terrines (a kind of meat pie with seasonings that is cooked in a mold in a bath of water and then cooled and served chilled in slices 1/4" thick). I serve these preparations with very good wines. I love elk meat, and my family and dinner guests love it too. It is interesting that I have never served elk meat (or venison for that matter) to anyone at my table who did not like it a lot. Some people don't like lamb. Some people don't like fish. EVERYONE likes elk!
As a final note. I would not hunt an animal that I didn't want to eat. I have taken some pot shots at coyotes on a deer hunting ground, because my host said the coyotes were a nuisance to him and had killed a cow that was down giving birth. I didn't feel real comfortable (I missed in any case) shooting at an animal I wasn't going to eat, but that was something of an exception.