It is what it is.

Mostly because it is not what it's not. Along with the many things that I am, I am a hunter-gatherer. Not solely a hunter-gather, but a hunter-gatherer as well. When you also practice animal husbandry while raising livestock and tend to a garden, you learn to appreciate the ease of hunting and gathering. When you consider raising a sheep for a year or two and then harvesting it and compare it to hunting a deer, obviously you've got a lot less invested in the deer. This adds to the appeal.

With the invention of talking animal cartoons and the personification of any living creature frequently portrayed through a wide range of media, many have shied away from eating meat altogether, and most of those who still eat meat seem to not harvest (kill) the animals themselves. While both of those options (not eating meat and not harvesting your own animals) are permissible, and I'm not speaking ill of either of them, to continue to eat meat and to strive for greater self-sufficiency leads me to hunt, fish, and raise animals for meat. This puts the "harvesting" of the animals into my own hands.

While seeing a dead animal in person, especially one you've just harvested, is much different than having a waiter or waitress bring you a well done steak on a plate, it also comes with the territory, and "someone's got to do it." I must also point out that every tomato, leafy green, or apple we've ever eaten also "died" when it was harvested, as it was disconnected from its lifesource prior to consumption, so just like "meat is murder" and "lumber is murder" (can't forget the 'tree-killers') it's worth pressing that line of thought a little further and pointing out that "salad is murder" too... although in reality a person killing another person is the only thing that's actually murder, if you're willing to think about it and not just use emotion-laden propaganda speech in an attempt to trigger others, LOL.

Anyway, before I show these photos of a carp I shot in the head the other night, I thought I'd mention that hunting, even hunting fish, is primal, and savage. Death is real, and all creatures, and plants that for that matter, will eventually die. Not all of the fish I bowfish are shot in the head, but when they are, a couple beneficial things happen. For one, the fish usually dies more quickly with less suffering. For another, the meat is not pierced by the arrow, so the fillets are left intact.

These photos are from the last fish I shot the other night. I was blessed to be able to bring home seven, and we'll use them all. The meat, we'll eat. The carcasses will be picked clean by the chickens. The skeletons will be buried in the garden. And for me, I'll continue to hunt, and gather, even if it gets primal and savage at times.

FISH HEADACHE PHOTOS

Until next time…

Make today special!

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