The Hunter’s Guide to Butchering, Smoking, and Curing Wild Game and Fish

502 Pages·2013·62.38 MB·English

by  Philip Hasheider

Contents
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 MUSCLES ARE MEAT
Chapter 2 PREPARATION & TOOLS
Chapter 3 BIG-GAME BUTCHERING
Chapter 4 SMALL-GAME BUTCHERING
Chapter 5 GAME BIRDS & WATERFOWL
Chapter 6 FISH
Chapter 7 FREEZING, CANNING & COOKING
Chapter 8 CURING, DRYING & SMOKING
Chapter 9 SAUSAGES
GLOSSARY
METRIC EQUIVALENTS AND CONVERSION
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
H
unting wild game has been a human activity since the beginning of our
existence. The pursuit, capture, and consumption of wild animals, fish, and fowl
provided protein for our early hunter-gatherer ancestors. In many countries, the
long arc of history has seen a transformation of hunter-gatherers into consumers
who routinely purchase their daily meals at supermarkets, restaurants, and
convenience stores. Most people no longer hunt for their food. This means that
expertise in handling wild game, which was once commonplace, has declined.
Hunting Defined
Hunting Defined
Hunting, in its most widely accepted meaning, involves the search for wild game
animals that will provide meat protein to the diet. This term today refers to
lawful hunting (where specific rules are obeyed) and not to poaching, which is
the killing, trapping, or capture of an animal contrary to established law.
The ethics of today’s hunting culture require hunters to use as much of the
carcass meat as possible. To hunt, shoot, and kill an animal simply for sport
should be discouraged and is, in many ways, illegal. The exception to this
involves the elimination of vermin to prevent the spread of diseases or
overpopulation. Vermin, such as rats, are not typically a part of the North
American diet and are not held to the same ethical treatment.
Societal Evolution
For our hunter-gatherer ancestors, a successful hunt, in which prey were killed
and subsequently eaten, was a matter of survival; with no success, there was
little or nothing to eat. The development of small tribes or clans into cohesive
units may have been as much for hunting purposes as it was for group protection
and socializing—the more hunters, the greater their chances for success. To keep
all members satisfied, distribution of the captured prey was determined by the
group in a manner that was fair and equitable. Food had to be shared in sufficient
quantities to ensure adequate nutrition for the hunters, who needed to maintain
their strength for future hunts.
As human civilization evolved, community participation was an integral part
of its development. Shared concerns helped bind people together, as did
marriages within groups. This cohesiveness encouraged the sharing of difficult
tasks such as planting, harvesting, and butchering, among others.
Hunting can occur in many different locales, such as in grassy fields, which often contain small-game animals
like rabbits. Each habitat provides unique experiences and challenges for hunters.
Wild game found in hilly or mountainous terrain may make the hunting experience more challenging. A
successful hunt with a trophy to take home can provide a lifetime of memories and stories.
A major shift occurred in food-gathering methods during the Industrial
Revolution. As people left rural areas for urban employment, there was no
longer ready access to wild game or the opportunity to hunt. Urban areas with
dense populations restricted animal husbandry due to potential human health
problems.
With the rise of meat markets and local butchers, people gradually shifted
away from hunting as a necessary method for obtaining meat to hunting as a
pastime or sport.
Diet Evolution
There are two types of meat protein presently available to consumers: wild game
and domestically raised. There is an ongoing debate about the health benefits of
each.
Our distant ancestors hunted wild game that was available, which typically
included small game such as birds and fowl, rodents, turtles, rabbits, and
anything else that might have wandered across their paths. Large animals that
were hunted often included bison, deer, bear, moose, and elk.
Over time, as populations changed and migrated to urban areas, diets
subsequently changed as well. As less effort was required to secure a meal,
physical activity decreased and associated health problems increased.
This change in diet also paralleled a decrease in the use of some animals as
food sources and an increase in the use of others. Today, the typical diet in the
United States draws from four groups of animals for most of its meat: cattle,
sheep, pigs, and domestic fowl. The vast majority of consumers rarely eat any
other kind of animal, especially those we now label as exotics but that may have
been normal fare for our ancestors. Exotics include squirrels, rabbits, frogs,
snakes, turtles, or other small animals.
As a result of these changes, most people no longer know where their food
comes from and, rather than observing or participating in its processing, they
purchase meats that may have been processed great distances from where the
animals were raised. This situation in turn now seems to be a driving force for
those seeking locally grown foods.
Another attitude shift has recently surfaced regarding wild game meat.
Television shows, food networks, magazines, blogs, chefs, restaurant reviews,
and a vast array of other media outlets now promote wild game as a food source.
This increased attention to the uniqueness and value of wild game has made
people aware of its potential benefits.
A Healthy Choice
Are there health benefits to including wild game in our diets? The answer to this
question has many facets. The simple answer is that wild game such as deer, elk,
and antelope tend to have very lean meat due to their active lifestyle and natural
diet. Their meat is typically lower in total and saturated fat than red meat found
in beef. In comparison to lean cuts of beef and pork, game meat has about one-
third fewer calories, and game birds about one-half the calories. Fish, with high
omega-3 fatty acids, appear to offer more health benefits then either wild or
domestic game animals.
There are, however, health-related concerns outside of simple nutrition to
consider in any discussion of wild game. Among these are chronic wasting
disease (CWD), which can be found in deer and elk, and the potentially harmful
lead levels found in some hunted animals.
lead levels found in some hunted animals.