(no subject)
Umm...hi?
I came back here because I wanted to say something, and facebook, where I've been mostly hanging out, doesn't seem the place to do it.
The link (and yes, I'm aware this is likely a dead horse by now, and no, I haven't read the Friends page yet. It's been six months and Wil's blog is dumping again): Sorkin/Palin nonsense
First of all, it was a caribou, which is more like a reindeer, not a moose. Caribou is not moose.
Secondly, I get what he was saying, and to some degree, I agree with him.
But in Palin's defense (OMG, did I just say that?), she was hunting for food, and that was clear from her actions. A little background: Jeff and I watched that episode. Jeff's a hunter, and next year, I will be getting my combination hunting/fishing license as well. Jeff shot an elk bull this fall and the first thing he did was notify the other hunters so they could help, but the second thing he did was send me a picture from his cell. He was very proud and happy. At the bottom of the picture, he typed, "Fun part's over."
When we watched the show, he was smiling, because Palin and her family were dressing the carcass exactly how Jeff and his friends dressed the elk. They quartered it, took the backstrap and as much rib meat as they could carry. Jeff said, "See that? They left the antlers." As Jeff and his friends like to say, "You can't eat horns." If Palin was there for a trophy, she failed, because she left the trophy behind.
Jeff, two of his friends and I spent several hours working on that meat after it had aged. Jeff and one friend butchered with sharp knives and freezing hands, while the other friend measured out pound and a half portions for me to wrap. And wrap I did, in butcher paper, for hours. All of us were very happy and proud of Jeff. I wrapped something like 65 pounds of steaks and roasts, and 125 pounds of burger. That's a lot of meat for the freezer, and it's 190 pounds of meat we don't have to buy at the store! That's something to celebrate, really.
Now that elk didn't die with the first shot. It was a good shot that brought it down and it was certainly a mortal wound, given time, but the animal didn't die right away. Jeff had to come in and deliver a second shot to finish it. Is that torture? He then had to cut the neck to make sure the animal bled out quickly. This is reality--this is what hunting is.
Believe me, all you have to do is visit a slaughterhouse to know that the meat you buy from the store is not killed so humanely.
I can't stand Sarah Palin. I think she's a little insane at the very least. But on this point, I think she's in the right. The hunters I know who "grocery shop with a gun" -- that is, they hunt for food, not trophies -- do exactly as she did and are just as happy about the results. Jeff said he did thank the animal for its sacrifice and did take the time to comfort it out of this world. He tried to do what he did as kindly as possible, but he was just as happy as Palin was when he shot the elk, and after.
I can't fault Palin on this. I'm sure I can find any number of things to fault her on, but in this case, I think Sorkin's talking out of ignorance.
I came back here because I wanted to say something, and facebook, where I've been mostly hanging out, doesn't seem the place to do it.
The link (and yes, I'm aware this is likely a dead horse by now, and no, I haven't read the Friends page yet. It's been six months and Wil's blog is dumping again): Sorkin/Palin nonsense
First of all, it was a caribou, which is more like a reindeer, not a moose. Caribou is not moose.
Secondly, I get what he was saying, and to some degree, I agree with him.
But in Palin's defense (OMG, did I just say that?), she was hunting for food, and that was clear from her actions. A little background: Jeff and I watched that episode. Jeff's a hunter, and next year, I will be getting my combination hunting/fishing license as well. Jeff shot an elk bull this fall and the first thing he did was notify the other hunters so they could help, but the second thing he did was send me a picture from his cell. He was very proud and happy. At the bottom of the picture, he typed, "Fun part's over."
When we watched the show, he was smiling, because Palin and her family were dressing the carcass exactly how Jeff and his friends dressed the elk. They quartered it, took the backstrap and as much rib meat as they could carry. Jeff said, "See that? They left the antlers." As Jeff and his friends like to say, "You can't eat horns." If Palin was there for a trophy, she failed, because she left the trophy behind.
Jeff, two of his friends and I spent several hours working on that meat after it had aged. Jeff and one friend butchered with sharp knives and freezing hands, while the other friend measured out pound and a half portions for me to wrap. And wrap I did, in butcher paper, for hours. All of us were very happy and proud of Jeff. I wrapped something like 65 pounds of steaks and roasts, and 125 pounds of burger. That's a lot of meat for the freezer, and it's 190 pounds of meat we don't have to buy at the store! That's something to celebrate, really.
Now that elk didn't die with the first shot. It was a good shot that brought it down and it was certainly a mortal wound, given time, but the animal didn't die right away. Jeff had to come in and deliver a second shot to finish it. Is that torture? He then had to cut the neck to make sure the animal bled out quickly. This is reality--this is what hunting is.
Believe me, all you have to do is visit a slaughterhouse to know that the meat you buy from the store is not killed so humanely.
I can't stand Sarah Palin. I think she's a little insane at the very least. But on this point, I think she's in the right. The hunters I know who "grocery shop with a gun" -- that is, they hunt for food, not trophies -- do exactly as she did and are just as happy about the results. Jeff said he did thank the animal for its sacrifice and did take the time to comfort it out of this world. He tried to do what he did as kindly as possible, but he was just as happy as Palin was when he shot the elk, and after.
I can't fault Palin on this. I'm sure I can find any number of things to fault her on, but in this case, I think Sorkin's talking out of ignorance.