americanhunter.org ❘ 31 ❘ august 2019
Share some of your bounty. Pass a package of wild game to a
niece, nephew, neighbor or coworker. Don’t get in someone’s
face about our lifestyle, but communicate the health benefits
of lean, wild game. Describe its organic nature and how it’s
available within minutes of most locales. Include a recipe with
your gift. Close out with a visual of spending time in the great
outdoors and see if the dining experience sparks future interest.
In the meantime, research all deadlines and license oppor-
tunities for nearby, high-success hunts that can fill a freezer.
Introduce protein seekers to low-cost license options that pro-
vide high success in easily accessed areas. Economical, easy
and fruitful all add up to repeat hunters. Take it a step further
and reach out to any property owners you may know who are
burdened with too many deer or elk, especially antlerless pros-
pects. Also explore public access where success is attainable.
Advise your meat-seeking understudy of hunter safety require-
ments. Research and embrace any mentor programs available
in your region.
Ditching antlers creates a winning scenario. In addition to
the likelihood of more animals being available to hunt, many
states lower the cost of antlerless permits to entice additional
harvest for management. Most states also have options for
multiple antlerless tags to be held in the same year. Some even
mandatorily add the tag to a buck license. A resident doe/fawn
license in my home state of Wyoming is $22, and it’s only $14 for
youth. An elk cow/calf license is $43, and it’s just $20 for youth.
Pair it with do-it-yourself butchering and that’s affordable pro-
tein, especially if you only have to add the cost of a tank of fuel.
One afternoon while stopped at a Wyoming Game and Fish
Department office, I had to look twice at a truck brimming
with antlerless pronghorns. Legs were sticking up everywhere.
When I queried the hunters on their noticeable success, their
reasoning was sincere and forthright: They were filling the
freezer as inexpensively as possible. They also helped out a
landowner with a mushrooming pronghorn population. Prob-
lem solved for everyone.
If you really have a person interested in the meat portion
of the hunter diet, help him out with gear. We all have a shelf
or closet with gear we no longer use. A newbie doesn’t need
the latest in space-age clothing, Hubble telescope optics or the
newest centerfire caliber to secure venison. A retired .30-06,
an old binocular, a folding knife and a wool coat can go a long
way to aid someone with a freezer mission. Toss in a box of
ammunition along with an invite to the range for a sight-in
session and your protégé could be ready for launch.
The green movement has become trendy among millenni-
als. Introduce some of them to hunting and a way of life that
immerses them in the environment with an outcome to enjoy a
renewable, locally sourced, healthy and organic protein source
minutes from home. ahMillennials lean toward a
diet defined by terms such
as organic, sustainable and
locally sourced. Venison fits
soundly into this category.
Photo: Mark Kayser