I've got a number of posts in process. It's going to be a busy week in other areas, so I want to get some suff in the queue. Then I reviewed my email and I've just got to toss this up immediately.

My nearest younger brother Dave, in Utah, deer hunting. A 360 yard shot. Custom made 300 Ultra Mag. That's a 4-pointer, still in velvet.

Nice kill. And, within a couple of weeks, I'll have my assorted venison (my favorite is the sausage, Dave). With our family, the hunt is just as much about the food as the sport. That's the ethic we grew up with. I loath trophies for trophy's sake. That looks to be a nice mule deer, just like the ones we used to take out of northern Nevada, Elko County, when Dave & I were kids and everyone participated (including my maternal grandmother, who always got her deer, and alway a neck shot in order to ruin the least amount of food). We consumed everything, including liver and heart.

I understand this sort of thing might take some people aback, and trust me, Free the Animal is not about the necessity of any of you ever doing this. I understand fully that some are not up to it, and you're no lesser for it. While we're 100% animal, inescapably, we're 100% rational as well, integrated, and we happen to have invented the convenience of money and the division of labor. In concert, you can live as we evolved to live (eating meat) without getting your hands dirty or offending your own values. I understand that people can eat meat in a detached way without thinking of what it takes to put it on your plate. That's a good thing. But also, understand: someone has to do the dirty work. So let's not give 'em a hard time, so long as they do what they need to do as humanely as possible. It's only human.

A couple of notable pasts post concerning mine and my family's ethic when it comes to hunting and fishing. See them here (Remote Control Killing) and here (What Do You Think of Yourself). As to the latter, if the essential video link doesn't come up, here's the YouTube.

As a final note, I'm not big on what a lot of hunting has become, with outfitters and ATV's, etc. We had 4-wheeler's to get us remote, but more than once I had to climb a mountain or descend a steep valley wall with my dad, dress a deer, and haul it out. In one case, it was an all day job. We had to get it to the valley floor hundreds of yard below (using deer trails, ironically — at least they know how to switchback), then drag it out several miles to camp. It was very Animal.

I've got lot's of stuff; lots of unanswered / unblogged emails. Unanswered comments, too. I'll get to everything.