Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A Tale of Two Daughters, Vegetarianism, & Hunting... sort of...

Gun Geezer's "A New Anti" thread got me to thinking a bit, so I thought I'd share this story.

My elder daughter came to the decision to go vegetarian when she was 15. Wrote me a real nice letter telling me how she respected me for hunting to bring home the meat we ate, but she couldn't eat "factory farm" food. She asked me to read a couple of her books, which were pretty damning toward the factory-farm concept. I figured that there was no way I could force her to eat meat, but made sure she had some good references to follow to make sure she got proper nutrients from non-animal sources, and she did OK with it, and so did I.

Her stand made some sense to me. After all, I grew up on a family farm, we raised and butchered all our own (organic!) meat. I had (and still have) a great mistrust of corporate farming & food production, having seen how farming corporations had taken over all the family farms back in Saskatchewan where I grew up, and the proliferation of chemical treatment of animals (antibiotics, hormones, etc), so it wasn't a hard sell for me. I decided at that point I was not too old a dog to learn a new trick, so started buying our poultry and eggs from a local organic farmer. Pork, and a bit of beef, too. Venison was and is our main meat.

Elder daughter stayed vegetarian until she was about 23, then finally confessed she loves eating meat too much and is back to a full diet again... but she tries to eat locally grown/raised organic meats, and the game I send her. She won't turn down a nice rare ribeye at a good steakhouse, mind you!!

Now, my younger daughter never embraced the vegetarian lifestyle at all, even though her favorite foods tend to be starchy (mac & cheese, spaghetti, etc) and she eats SMALL meat portions, always has. But younger daughter loved going hunting & fishing with me since she was a little girl, could bait a hook and fillet a bluegill since she was knee-high to a grasshopper, and was pretty darn good with a .22 also.

But she never actually hunted until she went to college and took a Philosophy class (taught by a friend and hunting buddy of mine, as it happens) entitled "The Philosophy of Hunting and Fishing". She came home from school one fall break (sophomore year, IIRC) and announced, "Daddy, I want to learn how to kill things and eat them."

So now younger daughter kills things with great gusto (birds, mostly, but other small game, and will get her first deer one of these days), cleans the animals and cuts the meat. Cooks and eats it, too, but as I said, she eats small portions, so much of her meat goes to her big sister's house for consumption there.

I have no point to make at the end of this story, really. I raised my kids to know that the meat on their plates used to be living animals, and they have always respected that. They've grown into the adults they are, one a hunter and the other a meat-eater, and I respect the women they've become.

I guess a dad can't ask for anything better than that.

It sounds like you have very intelligent daughters. Any man would be proud to have children like them.

Great read, thanks. Middle son went through the vegan thing for a short while. Back to venison and squirrels. Let him make up his own mind.

Doc, that looks like a great example of giving kids a lot of love and a healthy dose of respect, while they figure-out how to make their own decisions.

I've seen Dads who were completely, "hands-off" in raising their teenagers, and the kids fared about as badly as those of the "control freak" Dads. There's a fine line to walk between the two, and and none of us will get it absolutely right.

But being able to have a good relationship with your productive adult children is its own great reward. Kudos to you.

FC

FC, thanks, I take no real credit for finding the "fine line to walk" in this instance, it was mostly luck as I look back on it. Luck to have been raised by my own folks to be respectful of others' opinions and decisions, and to luck to know that love is the glue that holds a family together.

My daughters are my rocks. I guess I'm theirs, too. We look to one another for support, love, practical help/advice, prayers.

Doc,
very interesting story!

I have 3 kids, 5,3 and 1yo. The 3 of them love meat so far, no questions asked and the older 2 know that meat in their plate, whether chicken, beef, venison, pork, was a living animal. No problems with it.
Although not quite like your daughter, they did go through a no milk drinking phase a few months ago. Mom and I did not fight it, we would offer it, and that's it. They went through gallons of yogurt and cheese during that time so no problem. Recently they went back to their milk drinking ways.
Hopefully I can get go out hunting this year and get some venison for the table.

Great read, Doc.

I am convinced that vegans are mentally ill.

Doc
A good job we need more citizens that have their head screwed on squarely and and are a contributing member of society. Well done Sir. Cheers NC

"Daddy, I want to learn how to kill things and eat them."


A truly golden moment in any Real fathers' life!

A tip of the hat to you and yours, sir.