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Novice Hunters Stalking Dinner

Summary: By SEAN PATRICK FARRELL CHARLOTTESVILLE Virginia The call to forge deeper connections with the food we eat has drawn thousands to farmers markets sprouted a million backyard seedlings and stimulated fresh interest in canning baking from scratch and other pursuits from an older time Now add hunting to the list Novice urban hunters are forming classes and clubs to learn skills that a few generations ago were often passed down from parent to child Jackson Landers an insurance broker teaches a course here called Deer Hunting for Locavores Mr Landers 31 started the classes this year for largely urban adults who like him did not grow up stalking prey but have gravitated to harvesting and cooking their own game Jackson Landers prepares a meal from fresh deer meat JAY PAUL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES He teaches deer biology habitat and anatomy and rounds out his students education with field trips to a firing range to practice shooting and a session on butchery and cooking One of the last lessons covered field dressing a freshly killed deer As the students gathered around Mr Landers produced a hunting knife and explained its gut hook feature which promised to open the deer like a zipper I d never fired a gun before said Michael Davis 44 a graphic designer and a student in the class I grew up in Southern California We surfed we didn t hunt But Mr Davis said he needed to understand what it meant to hunt for food I think going through my life without at least experiencing that most primal thing of hunting would be cheating he said It was a taste for wild boar that spurred Nick Zigelbaum 26 and Nick Chaset 27 to form the Bull Moose Hunting Society a hunting and dining club in San Francisco The society founded in 2007 was designed to appeal to young urban residents looking to expand their horizons The club now has roughly 55 duespaying members many of them in their 20s and 30s who hunt for boar pheasant and waterfowl together They share the spoils in the field Across the United States the number of hunters has been in decline for decades The shift from rural to urban life is the main reason said Mark Damian Duda executive director of Responsive Management a research firm that specializes in natural resources and outdoor recreation issues According to his firm s research only 22 percent of hunters now say they hunt primarily for food Most say they do so for recreation or to spend time with their families Thirty years ago it was about half the hunters who were hunting for food Mr Duda said Anthony Licata the editor of Field Stream magazine said he wasn t surprised that a new generation was discovering what traditional hunters have known all along There s nothing more organic and free range than meat you hunt for yourself and your family he said When you do hunt and if you re lucky enough to fill your freezer with venison and feed your family it s a powerful thing They aren t going to want to stop Mr Landers who tries to take Virginia s full limit of six deer a year agreed For the cost of the necessary licenses $36 50 he said he can stock his freezer with nearly free protein He also argued that for the environmentally conscious hunting is fairly carbon neutral If you can shoot a deer in your own backyard butcher it there that s zero food miles he said A recent convert to hunting Mr Landers became interested in wild game a few years ago when he inherited his great grandfather s hunting rifle He read up on deer management queried his in laws many of whom are hunters and was soon putting venison on the table Like many people he d become concerned about large scale agricultural methods the use of antibiotics in livestock and the ethics of raising animals in tight quarters Hunting seemed like a good alternative I felt bad about meat he said but not so bad that I was willing to give it up Before founding their hunting club Mr Zigelbaum and Mr Chaset wanted a closer connection with their food but finding information about hunting in the San Francisco area was daunting Mr Chaset recalled searching for a suitable wild boar hunting weapon at a gun shop in San Francisco The staff tried to convince him that a pistol would be fine He left with the shop s only rifle which he used to fell his first boar an experience he described as an epiphany I got this strong sensation of the cycle of life he said It didn t hurt that he thought the taste of the boar was amazing Mr Zigelbaum said wild boar meat which tends to be darker and denser than domesticated pork was lean but tasted like bacon He plans to travel to the south of France where he hopes to study traditional charcuterie methods Wild boar prosciutto he said would be awesome More young Americans are hunting game for food Nick Chaset with a deer he shot helped found a hunting society for urban neophytes MICHAEL TEMCHINE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지 By SEAN PATRICK FARRELL CHARLOTTESVILLE Virginia The call to forge deeper connections with the food we eat has drawn thousands to farmers markets sprouted a million backyard seedlings and stimulated fresh interest in canning baking from scratch and other pursuits from an older time Now add hunting to the list Novice urban hunters are forming classes and clubs to learn skills that a few generations ago were often passed down from parent to child Jackson Landers an insurance broker teaches a course here called Deer Hunting for Locavores Mr Landers 31 started the classes this year for largely urban adults who like him did not grow up stalking prey but have gravitated to harvesting and cooking their own game Jackson Landers prepares a meal from fresh deer meat JAY PAUL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES He teaches deer biology habitat and anatomy and rounds out his students education with field trips to a firing range to practice shooting and a session on butchery and cooking One of the last lessons covered field dressing a freshly killed deer As the students gathered around Mr Landers produced a hunting knife and explained its gut hook feature which promised to open the deer like a zipper I d never fired a gun before said Michael Davis 44 a graphic designer and a student in the class I grew up in Southern California We surfed we didn t hunt But Mr Davis said he needed to understand what it meant to hunt for food I think going through my life without at least experiencing that most primal thing of hunting would be cheating he said It was a taste for wild boar that spurred Nick Zigelbaum 26 and Nick Chaset 27 to form the Bull Moose Hunting Society a hunting and dining club in San Francisco The society founded in 2007 was designed to appeal to young urban residents looking to expand their horizons The club now has roughly 55 duespaying members many of them in their 20s and 30s who hunt for boar pheasant and waterfowl together They share the spoils in the field Across the United States the number of hunters has been in decline for decades The shift from rural to urban life is the main reason said Mark Damian Duda executive director of Responsive Management a research firm that specializes in natural resources and outdoor recreation issues According to his firm s research only 22 percent of hunters now say they hunt primarily for food Most say they do so for recreation or to spend time with their families Thirty years ago it was about half the hunters who were hunting for food Mr Duda said Anthony Licata the editor of Field Stream magazine said he wasn t surprised that a new generation was discovering what traditional hunters have known all along There s nothing more organic and free range than meat you hunt for yourself and your family he said When you do hunt and if you re lucky enough to fill your freezer with venison and feed your family it s a powerful thing They aren t going to want to stop Mr Landers who tries to take Virginia s full limit of six deer a year agreed For the cost of the necessary licenses $36 50 he said he can stock his freezer with nearly free protein He also argued that for the environmentally conscious hunting is fairly carbon neutral If you can shoot a deer in your own backyard butcher it there that s zero food miles he said A recent convert to hunting Mr Landers became interested in wild game a few years ago when he inherited his great grandfather s hunting rifle He read up on deer management queried his in laws many of whom are hunters and was soon putting venison on the table Like many people he d become concerned about large scale agricultural methods the use of antibiotics in livestock and the ethics of raising animals in tight quarters Hunting seemed like a good alternative I felt bad about meat he said but not so bad that I was willing to give it up Before founding their hunting club Mr Zigelbaum and Mr Chaset wanted a closer connection with their food but finding information about hunting in the San Francisco area was daunting Mr Chaset recalled searching for a suitable wild boar hunting weapon at a gun shop in San Francisco The staff tried to convince him that a pistol would be fine He left with the shop s only rifle which he used to fell his first boar an experience he described as an epiphany I got this strong sensation of the cycle of life he said It didn t hurt that he thought the taste of the boar was amazing Mr Zigelbaum said wild boar meat which tends to be darker and denser than domesticated pork was lean but tasted like bacon He plans to travel to the south of France where he hopes to study traditional charcuterie methods Wild boar prosciutto he said would be awesome More young Americans are hunting game for food Nick Chaset with a deer he shot helped found a hunting society for urban neophytes MICHAEL TEMCHINE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지

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