Toward Ecosophy

Just got a doe this morning, that's 40-50 pounds of free range, organic, local, lean meat after I butcher her. I never hunted until a few years ago, and though there is a learning curve to shooting guns and dressing/butchering deer, there are plenty of youtube videos to watch, and experienced hunters just waiting to share all they know about it, and it's a heck of a lot easier than the learning curve on gardening. I've still got 2 tags to fill, and could easily end up with 150 pounds of meat this season, for nothing but a few shotgun shells and my time. It certainly helps that I live on a few acres, but there are plenty of deer everywhere on the east coast - way too many - and I've known of bow hunters hunting in the middle of the city and being quite successful. Also, the strategy of planting deer gardens is great. I am lucky to have a few ancient apple trees, and that's where I hunt, but I've been planting lots of American persimmons, up here in the northern edge of their range, and those are the perfect deer magnets - persimmons tend to hang on through November and December, and are the sweetest treat a deer - or human - could ask for (I think anything sweeter than a persimmon is kinda gross).