Ethics, Karma And Dead Deer

Dear You know who you are.

We live in a world where it is socially acceptable to have others mistreat animals before we eat them. Fact.

Unless you have hunted: felt your nervous system change gear and go into predator mode, killed and felt the vortex of emotions, then feasted on the flesh of another being, your opinion is abstract, a fantasy based on accumulated preferences, prejudices, and reactions to social norms. It's your right to engage in that, I'd defend that right to the death if need be. Just, please, please dont eat a burger from a factory farm and tell me killing is wrong.

So you used to be vegetarian, but now you eat some meats, but nothing with a face. A lot of animals died for your vegetables to grow, so it's OK to kill mice and bugs but not deer? I keep searching google images for that 'fish that doesn't look like fish', and the 'faceless animal' (we both know you've never tried worms) and they don't seem to exist. Those soya beans grew in a field where a lot of plants and animals had to die for a mono-culture to exist. Your morality, the same morality your parade in front of me, can only exist if someone else kills and processes animals for you out of your sight.

Oh you like eggs? Me too, lets us put the suffering of the factory chicken to one side for a moment, and think of the Fox who had to die so you could have eggs. Non lethal means? So you'd prefer Mr Fox starved to death rather than the bullet he never saw coming?

Karma: I'm going to spell this out for you. Nowhere in the original concept is there a one-to-one relationship between actions. End Of. Karma is not a concept of fairness, never has been never will be. "Karma's a bitch, she'll get you every time" is an entirely western concept. A comfort blanket for the person who wants revenge, but wants to take no responsibility for seeking revenge and cannot bear to think of themselves as a vengeful person. I'm sorry but life just isn't one plus one equals two.

Now for the emotive bit:

The other day a wannabe Buddhist and I sat down for a chat, I'll admit I was stirring the pot - when I need to spend time with someone who agrees with me I stay at home and talk to myself - I told him about WDM Bell and the 1,100 elephants he shot. Bear with me I said it was the emotive bit.

Wannabe Buddhist pulled his 'oh the pain of the world' face and told me that it was to be Bell's karma to be the last elephant, and to be shot by a fat american. Putting to one side his prejudice against fat people (frankly he could lose a few himself) and his prejudice based on the accident of a persons birthplace.
Bell did it for the money, yes he revelled in a sense of adventure, but fundamentally he shot the elephants because he wanted the money their ivory was worth. As a by product of the way he hunted, he fed hundreds of people. Yep he went to Africa and fed poor people. Where Elephants lived wild and free he shot them without their ever having known he was there, they were dead before the rifles bang reached their ears. The locals ate them. Where the Elephants were trampling and eating the crops of the poorest people on earth, he turned the loss of farmed foods into meat. Now tell me about about your cozy definition of Karma.

Sitting Bull "when the buffalo are gone we will hunt mice, for we are hunters and we want our freedom."

Let's not get started on the racism of your views about indigenous hunting, me and the deer are indigenous to northern europe, maybe if I dressed a little more colourfully you'd show me the same courtesy?

At last when we've talked it over, and you can't overcome the simple honest logic of the meat eater hunting their own dinner, I ask you if your objection isn't simply that I enjoy it, and you've said yes, so I'd like to pose this question

We humans are hard wired to enjoy the things we need to do in order for us to survive, thrive and procreate. Only in industrialised society do people toil at jobs they hate, to live lies that leave them unfulfilled.  I wish to live wild and free in nature, I'd like my dinner to live the same way, it's a freedom I'd extend to you too.

Thanks for reading
SBW

If this post has made you think differently about your dinner, or your more certain than ever, or somewhere in between Leave a Comment I'd like to hear what you think.

Urban Hunter [Spoof]

OK they're joking, but for how long? While I'm not a doom and gloom prepper myself the number of credible voices starting to talk seriously about coming food shortages are certainly rising. Suburban Detroit is already to be turned over to Cuban style city farms and several other cities are not far behind.

My own [early days] experiments with baiting suburban gardens suggest that while you wouldn't get fat, you'd be able to get a reasonable amount of protein from passing pests. If you supplemented pest control by keeping Rabbits and Hens even a very small space would feed a family.

Of course in Europe there are several precedents; during the Siege of Paris (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871 Franco-Prussian War) market stalls did a thriving business in cat, dog and rat meat.

Le Monde Illustre, April 1871. 

The food shortages of WWII were felt even by the winners, with the rationing of most foods continuing into the 1950's. In Berlin pets weren't seen for quite a while after the conflict ended.

More about this to come

Your pal
SBW

Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Be SBW?

Really? I was delighted to read that you and I dear reader are not alone in our desire to have a more honest relationship with our dinner. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook is joining us

"This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have. This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals.

I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don't have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from."

See the very very rich are just like us after all.

Rumours that Mark is a regular reader of this blog remain unconfirmed, although a 'close friend' was quoted as saying "who wouldn't want to be like SBW?"
Meanwhile SBW was quoted as saying "My life? He's welcome to it, even if he only wants to try it out for a week or two, I'll swap places with him in a heartbeat. it's the least I can do"

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Hat tip to Chad for finding this one, and if you don't believe me the story is here.

Locavore Escargot AKA Snails

It's that time of year again Helix aspersa or the common garden snail is out of hiding and on the move. Towards my dinner table.

The plateful in the picture were harvested (picked?) from a pile of unused border tiles in a wooded, but still inner-city (zone 2) London garden. I kept then in a lidded bucket and fed them on salad trimmings for two days which purged all the grit they had accumulated from their natural diet. Then they were fed for two days on white bread. The bread passing through the snails and staying white, tells you the purge is complete. A lot of recipes say you only need to purge them for twenty four hours but my 'white bread test' reveals that it's not quite long enough.

Boiled, rinsed and boiled again (approx. 5-10 changes of water) until the slime and froth were gone. Stuffed back into their shells with a dab of parsley, garlic and butter. I baked them until I could stand the deliciousness of the smell no longer. Served with rustic bread to mop up the melted butter. Yummy.

More soon
SBW

If You Only Had One Wild Food Cookbook

'We live in an edible world. And yet many of us have forgotten the feast that lives all around us'

Regular readers will know that I'm a HOOJ fan of Hank Shaw's writing and recipes, his enthusiasm for reclaiming the foods of the wild is a massive inspiration to me, his book is finally out and for you lucky people in north america his book tour is under way. Hank has pulled off that rare feat of being a blogger who has been lauded by the publishing mainstream, twice nominated for the James Beard Food Awards basically the Oscars of the food world.

"I am not simply cobbling together all my old blog posts into a book. You will definitely see some of the same topics I write about here, but Honest Food will go deeper, be more helpful for those looking to get started on these endeavors, be less regional in focus (I’ve lived all over the country, so the book will not be California-centric.) and will – I hope – not only tell readers how to hunt or fish or forage wild greens, but will also tell them why they should bother in the first place."

So far Hank has confirmed for 20 dates across the US over the next three months and if you ask nicely he may well take a detour to vist your local book shop!

UPDATE several people have asked for a visit and Hank has now added:
San Diego, Toronto, Memphis, Billings, and probably Boulder, someplace in Michigan, Eugene and maybe even Bozeman. With Los Angeles TBC


Hank is updating this post with dates and adresses

Amazon have it for less than $15 and you can try before you buy at his blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

If I can scrape the money together you may even see me at the readings in Boston and or NYC

Your pal

SBW

Kifaru Stuff Sack Review

Well who-da-thunk-it a sleeping bag stuff sack that's actually worth reviewing?

I've always seen sleeping bag stuff sacks as a necessary evil, yes they do what it says on the tin and make the bulky less bulky, but they make your bag into a far from ideal shape 'Football' shape [OK 'soccer ball' to some of you].  So why no one ever thought of this before?

Of all the terrific and innovative stuff Kifaru offers, this is among the best.

http://exploriment.blogspot.com

In summation
As usual with Kifaru, not cheap, but brilliantly thought out, terrifically well made, and frankly worth the money.

More soon (as in more kit soon as I can afford it)
Yours in well equipped penury
SBW

Link to the kifaru site

Skinning Rabbits - Made Easy

Advice as good as this deserves a wider audience.

Yeah I know filler post, but a funny filler post.

More soon

SBW

Unboxing: Parker Hale Phoenix Air Rifle Review

Parker Hale Phoenix PCP (Pre Charged Pneumatic) Air rifle spittin' .177's @ 11.22 Ft/Lbs.

I first put my hands on one of these about a year ago, but sadly had to leave it in the shop. Apparently a pre-read newspaper and half a Kebab wasn't an aceptable offer, they wanted money too. Lots of it.

Parker Hale have taken the road less traveled with the design , there's no visible bottle so it looks more like a centre fire rifle. Air rifles (as opposed to BB guns) usually come bolt action or straight pull, Parker Hale have gone for a leaver action, that really works - straight out of the box 10 [poorly] aimed shots in 8 seconds!

I've sold my Air Arms S400 to Nurse Mc [you'll meet him later] and he kept threatening to collect it, which would have left me perilously under armed - you know how it is, the Tree Rabbits would literally eat E's woodland to stumps, if your pal SBW and The Northern Monkey weren't on hand, pellet guns at the ready, rubbing our hands with glee at 'the culinary solution'. So when I found a chap selling off dads old rifles I bought the the Parker Hale. Even as I went to collect it I was in two minds, as I'd been saving up for a Weihrauch, but the price was good so if it didn't work out I could probably chop it in against the Weihrauch. No way.  While a little heavier the Parker Hale has similar build quality and accuracy to the Weihrauch, but the leaver action is a revelation, it's just so much fun to shoot!

200 BAR bottle good for 60+ shots more if you go for the longer barrel and .22

PROS
Nicely made, fast to the next shot, easily accurate enough for hunting

CONS
A bit heavy, no pressure gauge, can't fit an adjustable butt pad

Next steps
Lower scope mounts, find that Accucover, choose a bipod, and a posh leather sling

Your Pal
SBW

PS Hubert isn't blogging at this time but his blog Rabbit Stew is far and away the best air rifle hunting blog on the web, and attracted intelligent comments. Here's how the grownups debate .177 vs .22

For really informative air gun writing visit B.B. Pelletier's Pyramid AIR and Nigel Allen's Air Gun Blog.

Food Inc.

I cannot recommend this highly enough. A fascinating documentery about the industrialisation of the food chain. Here's the link to LEARN MORE

More Soon
SBW

Modern Life - Still Rubbish

I feel a paralysis not because these images are horrible but because this particular issue is just one (a faraway one at that) of the many problems in the world and I don't know which should get my attention and hence no issue gets my active attention.

From the excellent Boiled Down

More soon

SBW

Weekend Reading: New UK Blogs

I've been meaning to update the blog roll for a while now, but time and tide haven't deigned to coincide, so in the meantime I thought you might be interested in these blogs, linked by the simple fact of being UK based. Some mentioned before, some I'm glued to either way worth a read

First up, bit transatlantic this one (and all the more interesting for it)

Milkweed and Teasel an American from a liberal New England college town who ended up in Old England 15 years ago. My day to day life is like something out of the 19th century, working for nobility and living on an estate (as seen in period films). I was the head gardener when I met my husband, the head gamekeeper on a neighbouring estate, a few years ago. Between us we hunt, shoot, fish and grow lots of our own food and supplies. We have the best and worst of both worlds - the present and the 'peasant'. This is a story of our successes and failures as we try to get the balance right.

Another Shout for Artemis and his blog, I know a few of you have been to check him out already- well worth a read. Hunter's Harvest I am 34 years old and I love the countryside, I have been shooting since I was big enough to tag along with my dad

McShug who I stalked with on the East Sussex Safari with The Bambi Basher has started a blog, he's still introducing himself and the cast and crew at the moment, but he's going to post lots of his amazing wildlife photography from a trip to India any day now and they're stunning - definitely worth adding to your RSS feeds McShugs Life

The fascinating Working For Grouse Making the most of advice from professionals, friends, books and the internet, I have thrown myself into the task of converting 1,600 acres of desolate sheep farm into a shooting paradise; a place where respectable bags of snipe, woodcock and red grouse can be summoned with a simple click of the fingers; a place where roe deer in graceful abundance can be taken for the pot at a moment’s notice; a place where declining black grouse numbers can be developed to provide a shootable surplus, and where groundnesting birds infest the peaty tussocks of heather and bracken.

For foraging and bushcrafty stuff Paul Kirtley's blog is very good
A professional Bushcraft instructor. I studied under the guidance of Ray Mears, the world-renowned Bushcraft and Survival expert, for 10 years. I worked for Ray from 2003 to 2010. I now split my time between bushcraft instruction, writing this bushcraft blog, and having my own adventures.

More of my own stuff to come
Your pal
SB-Dub

Where Architecture Meets Bushcraft

This filler post comes from the intersection where architecture and bushcraft meet

'The living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks'. Learn how the locals get them started, and a whole lot MORE HERE

back soon

SBW

One In And One Out

The ethics of the hunt have been in my thoughts this weekend. One young man had to be deleted from the blog roll after reporting that he and a friend had caught a very impressive Trout which they'd then nailed to a fence post and used as a target. My blog my rules, do one.

An interesting  conversation about the perception of hunters and hunting broke out over at Tovar's And in an unprecedented move I've added a blog with ONLY ONE POST to the blog roll, I've not added people with less than ten posts before, so this really is an unprecedented move, Artemis kicks off with a really good post about a deer management stalk where he ends up taking the pictured 'antlered doe' interesting stuff and well written too, it really does look like his blog Hunters Harvest will be that good. Stop by, say hi and encourage him to tell us another one

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Unboxing: The DD Frontline Hammock Review

900g and fairly small although it can easily be modified to be smaller and lighter

I first slept in a hammock about 25 years ago [so no one could accuse me of rushing into this] and everyone I've ever known who has one rates them over a tent any time. As usual I started researching the options online and realised that by getting a hammock and tarp, I was basically getting a rig I could use as an ultralight tent too, with just the addition of a pair of hiking poles. I've already got a tent I really like (cheers BoB) but while it's not the lightest by today's standards it's too good to chop in. While sleeping under a tarp is fine most of the time, when you want a built in mosquito net you REALLY want a mosquito net. So after a scout around I settled on the DD, I chose the Frontline model. Here's for why:
1.Cheapness: at £50 they are really good value, quite a bit cheaper than the alternatives and DD were kind enough to do me a deal on a group buy which made it a no-brainer
2. Lightness: They also make a waterproofed version that's a little heavier, but as an old fart when I sleep on the ground I sleep on a mat so I wasn't that fussed and went for the slightly lighter 'frontline' version.
3. Delivery time: I thought I needed it in double quick time (sadly plans for winter camping got kiboshed) FYI-I've read a few reviews from US buyers who got their's shipped within a week and if you're ordering a whole set up they send them Fed-Ex which is only 2 days.
4. Pablo's recommendation: you can see his video here, he's had one for ages, has tried most of the other brands, and swears by it. Good fella that Pablo and a serious kit-tart
5. Nick and Penny are well travelled outdoors people, they sell a product that does what is says on the tin at  a price they can only do by being online only. They might not be your, or my, neighbours in a geographical sense but they are in every other way.

DD supply the hammock in the simplest possible configuration, if you want to get all gadget-tastic and pimp it to your spec you can, or you can just take it out of the bag, tie it to a pair of trees and you're good to go.

Straight out of the bag it's obviously very well made, all the stitching is strong and the built in mosquito netting feels like it's going to last. The webbing that you tie around the trees to hold it up seems easily adequate to tow a small car with, and the zips are reassuringly robust. It's going to stay up all night and last and last. [That's what she said]

You and I might have imagined a hammock to be a simple device, you know, an old sheet of cloth and some string, right? No. Oh no. Its just not that simple, or rather it is, but only making/buying cool little gizmos that we can we reveal it's true simplicity. Sounding a lot like a kit-tarts dream come true, no? If you want to know more about the myriad ways the design can be tweaked
have a look on hammockforums.net to be truly astounded at the gadgeteers and their inventiveness.

There is usually a group buy on BCUK so you too can save a few quid.

So that's the unboxing over, I'm still tinkering with my set up - and choosing accessories, so you'll have to wait for the field test.

Your Pal
SBW

Deer Hunting In The UK Pt6

Zombie Jesus weekend dawned warm and dry and with it our last chance to hunt Fallow bucks this season. I'd finished [for the time being] the works on the Ex Mrs SBW's house, so I seized the chance to get out of town and hooked up with The Bambi Basher for another trip to Jinx Wood. 

The entry point to Jinx wood is very convenient, you can park at the farm house and usually stop for a chat with the couple who own most of the wood and then walk into the wood over a meadow or up a bridle way depending on the prevailing wind. Prevailing! Prevailing my arse. This time the wind was more changeable than bank-holiday-weekend train timetable, it blew hither, it blew thither, we stalked into it, only to have it change round and announce our arrival.

Bluebells were out in force, but the ground was bone dry and we crunched our way into the woods for an afternoon stalk. A mile or so away some kind of super pneumatic excavator had thoughtfully been laid on to drown out the worst of it, but it wasn't our sneakiest hour by a long way. I was once again the winner of 'biggest stick' this time by sitting on a hurdle made of 4 inch thick telegraph poles, how was I to know it was going to make that much noise?

We saw movement in the thick stuff several times, but nothing daft enough to confirm itself as a deer.

Still that's why it's called Hunting rather than Shopping or Killing, and that's why it's called Jinx wood.

More soon

your pal

SBW

Kifaru And Mora

One of those Kit Tart's 'gear shots' we like so much. Sad isn't it.

I saw this sentiment on a forum the other day and thought that sometimes sitting in front of the laptop chatting with other kit tarts actually does do some good, and of course it enabled me to bask in the smug glow of I-told-you-so.

"When I first got into bushcraft I bought a £300 knife and had a £50 pack, now I've got a £300 pack and £10 knife"

If this doesn't make sense to you, perhaps best not stray too far from the car.

More sad kit-tartism and occasional outbursts of yer actual kit-usage to follow
SBW

PS I also saw this one "Please, no bad mouthing the next guy's pack, it's like badmouthing his GF. I'm sure it's perfectly fine, unless you have to carry it."

It Is One More Word Uttered By Nature

“For some people, perhaps especially for Englishmen and Russians, what we call “the love of nature” is a permanent and serious sentiment. I mean here that love of nature which cannot be adequately classified as simply an instance of our love for beauty. Of course, many natural objects – trees, flowers, and animals – are beautiful. But the nature lovers whom I have in mind are not very much concerned with individual beautiful objects of that sort. The man who is distracts them. An enthusiastic botanist is for them a dreadful companion on a ramble. He is always stopping to draw their attention to particulars. Nor are they looking for “views” or landscapes. Wordsworth, their spokesman, strongly deprecates this. It leads to “a comparison of scene with scene,” makes you “pamper” yourself with “meager novelties of color and proportion.” While you are busying yourself with this critical and discriminating activity, you lose what really matters – the “moods of time and season,” the “spirit” of the place. And, of course, Wordsworth is right. That is why, if you love nature in his fashion, a landscape painter is (out of doors) an even worse companion than a botanist.

It is the “moods” or the “spirit” that matter. Nature lovers want to receive as fully as possible whatever nature, at each particular time and place, is, so to speak, saying. The obvious richness, grace, and harmony of some scenes are no more precious to them than the grimness, bleakness, terror, monotony, or “visionary dreariness” of others. The featureless itself gets from them a willing response. It is one more word uttered by nature. They lay themselves bare to the sheer quality of every countryside, every hour of the day. They want to absorb it into themselves, to be colored through and through by it.”

CS Lewis

Hat tip to Wandering Owl who found this.

Off to the milds of East Sussex in search of Roe Bucks and Muntjac (don't you wish you had our interlocking deer seasons?)
More soon
SBW

Weather - You Predict It

Here's a thought:
The last two summers have been very wet, and the last two springs have seen HOOJ amounts of frog spawn in the Ex Mrs SBW's pond - this year not a lot, still tadpoles, but not as many.
In for a hot one? Hmm we'll see?

SBW

Yea Mini Crossbow!

Border line filler post I know but ..............

Do you remember the Mini-Cannon (Part1 and Part 2)?

The same dude is back with MINI CROSSBOW!!!!!! Perfect for mouse hunting.

Warning: the sound track is the worst kind of euro techno, but I have to forgive him because of his outstanding commitment to pocket weaponry. Literally Outstanding!

More safari stories from East Sussex in the offing.
SBW

The Skinny On .50cal Pistol Shooting

During one of his rare periods of productive employment SBW used Blogger's 'post options' function to continue with his 'filler posts' series, justifying this example he was quoted as saying

 'when it happened to me you all laughed'. 

Regular readers decided to persevere in the hope that he'll start posting actual blog posts rather than relying on silly videos to fill in for his lack of blogging productivity. Rumours that the readership are better looking, cleverer, and more charming than he deserved were well founded.

More soon
SBW

Credit to Funny Videos