Post by Greenedog on Oct 2, 2008 7:11:32 GMT -5
Deer hunting more economical as grocery costs rise
BY BRIGITTE RUTHMAN REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
LITCHFIELD, CT -- Deer hunter Mike O'Connell has no interest in raising livestock in his backyard or buying food from a local farmer. He hasn't bought store-packaged meat in years.
He takes to the woods every fall to pack his freezer, a popular goal this fall that could halt or reverse a steady decline in the number of hunters.
"It's cost-effective if you don't have to invest in the equipment -- a bow or a long gun -- and if you do all the butchering yourself," said O'Connell of Goshen, who said it takes about five deer to feed three people and friends for a year.
"It's better meat, with no additives, qualities that are catching on. More of the landowners who give permission to hunt on their property are asking for some meat back. If it's properly prepared, you can fool people into thinking it's a fine cut of beef."
A 110-pound doe provides about 60 pounds of meat. With prime beef cuts selling for about $8 to $10 a pound and premium ground beef for about half that, the return on a successful hunting trip can easily pay for the cost of ammunition -- which has more than doubled -- plus licenses, tags and travel expenses. The high cost of hunting was cited as a factor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006 nationwide -- from 14 million to about 12.5 million. In Connecticut, the number dropped from 65,590 in 1996 to 51,000 in 2006. The deer herd has increased to about 80,000.
It's not cost effective if you have to go out and buy equipment and specialized clothing that can easily exceed $1,200, O'Connell said. Still, Barry Hall has noticed a significant increase in the number of new bow hunters this year at his shop, Newbury Archery at 525 Sharon Turnpike.
Bjarne Svensson, a butcher at The Litchfield Locker along Route 4 in Goshen, considered it more worthwhile to work extra hours on overtime during recent hunting seasons than to risk nonproductive hours waiting for deer. This year the math has changed.
"The cost of everything in the store is up, except celery," Svensson said as he swiftly carved prime cuts of tenderloin for a bow hunter who paid about $100 to have cuts of loin and hamburger processed for him. Hunters who provide skinned game pay $25 less.
"It wasn't worth it financially for a long time, but that has changed," he said.
Hunters like O'Connell and Raymond Reynolds, who runs The Outpost, a deer check station in Oxford, are quick to point out that they don't hunt just to fill the freezer. It's just an added incentive to the benefit of the recreation of being in the woods.
Svensson has carved half a dozen deer so far this year, about average for the first week of bow season, which runs from mid-September until mid-November. That's when the three-week gun season begins. Archers with the longer season also have a more difficult challenge -- they must wait until their prey is within 40 yards.
"Most bow hunters do their own butchering," Svensson said. "We won't really know what happens until that first day of gun season. Last year we had 46."
As a representative for Hunters for the Hungry, O'Connell accepts hunters' contributions and delivers ground venison to Foodshare in Bloomfield, a regional clearing house for food banks. Donations this year are expected to be on the higher end of 2,500 to 6,000 pounds contributed annually to benefit food banks. Special legislation exempts donors from required federal meat inspections.
"Most of the hunters who donate always get more than enough," O'Connell said.
Bjarne Svensson butchers a deer for a customer at the Litchfield Locker in Litchfield on Monday. Steven Valenti/RA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BY BRIGITTE RUTHMAN REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
LITCHFIELD, CT -- Deer hunter Mike O'Connell has no interest in raising livestock in his backyard or buying food from a local farmer. He hasn't bought store-packaged meat in years.
He takes to the woods every fall to pack his freezer, a popular goal this fall that could halt or reverse a steady decline in the number of hunters.
"It's cost-effective if you don't have to invest in the equipment -- a bow or a long gun -- and if you do all the butchering yourself," said O'Connell of Goshen, who said it takes about five deer to feed three people and friends for a year.
"It's better meat, with no additives, qualities that are catching on. More of the landowners who give permission to hunt on their property are asking for some meat back. If it's properly prepared, you can fool people into thinking it's a fine cut of beef."
A 110-pound doe provides about 60 pounds of meat. With prime beef cuts selling for about $8 to $10 a pound and premium ground beef for about half that, the return on a successful hunting trip can easily pay for the cost of ammunition -- which has more than doubled -- plus licenses, tags and travel expenses. The high cost of hunting was cited as a factor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006 nationwide -- from 14 million to about 12.5 million. In Connecticut, the number dropped from 65,590 in 1996 to 51,000 in 2006. The deer herd has increased to about 80,000.
It's not cost effective if you have to go out and buy equipment and specialized clothing that can easily exceed $1,200, O'Connell said. Still, Barry Hall has noticed a significant increase in the number of new bow hunters this year at his shop, Newbury Archery at 525 Sharon Turnpike.
Bjarne Svensson, a butcher at The Litchfield Locker along Route 4 in Goshen, considered it more worthwhile to work extra hours on overtime during recent hunting seasons than to risk nonproductive hours waiting for deer. This year the math has changed.
"The cost of everything in the store is up, except celery," Svensson said as he swiftly carved prime cuts of tenderloin for a bow hunter who paid about $100 to have cuts of loin and hamburger processed for him. Hunters who provide skinned game pay $25 less.
"It wasn't worth it financially for a long time, but that has changed," he said.
Hunters like O'Connell and Raymond Reynolds, who runs The Outpost, a deer check station in Oxford, are quick to point out that they don't hunt just to fill the freezer. It's just an added incentive to the benefit of the recreation of being in the woods.
Svensson has carved half a dozen deer so far this year, about average for the first week of bow season, which runs from mid-September until mid-November. That's when the three-week gun season begins. Archers with the longer season also have a more difficult challenge -- they must wait until their prey is within 40 yards.
"Most bow hunters do their own butchering," Svensson said. "We won't really know what happens until that first day of gun season. Last year we had 46."
As a representative for Hunters for the Hungry, O'Connell accepts hunters' contributions and delivers ground venison to Foodshare in Bloomfield, a regional clearing house for food banks. Donations this year are expected to be on the higher end of 2,500 to 6,000 pounds contributed annually to benefit food banks. Special legislation exempts donors from required federal meat inspections.
"Most of the hunters who donate always get more than enough," O'Connell said.
Bjarne Svensson butchers a deer for a customer at the Litchfield Locker in Litchfield on Monday. Steven Valenti/RA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just another night at work for me and Monty will be back here again bright and early. 
