Slow Food Waltz

INTERVIEW WITH A HUNTER
I asked Duane some questions about hunting.

Q: Do you think elk meat is healthier than store-bought beef?

I've heard that grass-fed beef is healthier has more of the beneficial Omega fatty acids. Elk would have the same, it's leaner and lower cholesterol. The grain that they feed to fatten them up before they slaughter them is not as good for you. The elk feed mostly on grass and they eat flowering plants like daisies and shrubs, etc.

Q:Where did you get the elk:

I was nine-mile canyon in Carbon Canyon, up by Mount Bartles in the Book Cliffs. It was one clean shot, no thrashing around or anything, it was a clean kill, we'd been up, we took care of it, the next day we rode up and got it. It was the 6th day of hunting.

Q: I've heard that some hunters like to take the liver out first and eat it while they are still camping out.

They say that fresh liver is really good. You shoot it and take the liver right out that day and they say it's really good. But what I've tasted isn't very good.

Q: What do you like about eating wild game verses store-bought meat?

I don't want to eat corporation meat. On the one hand, I don't like to kill stuff, but I'd rather have wild meat than corporation meat. There's not many corporations that control the meat we consume, it seems like. It's a more satisfying feeling when you are involved in the process of getting it. Plus you don't have any farm land that you have to plow up to feed the animals.

Q: Explain that a little more:

In order to feed beef, you need so many acres to grow alfalaf and grain, it's better to have farmland rather than development-- everything comes at a cost. But beef takes up a lot resources. But I guess if they didn't have farms, they'd just build houses on it. With hunting, at least you know the meat is coming from land that's wild land and wild habitat.