I consider myself a meat hunter. I hunt for the freezer, not the wall. I do have a few heads on the wall. During the rut, I do hold out for a bigger dear. Like someone mentioned earlier, bigger deer = more meat. I don't hold grudges against rack hunters. I have had rack hunter buddies fill my freeze for me during bad years for which I am grateful. It does make me a little sad when I a rack hunter says they don't eat the meat. I love venison. I eat it 4 to 5 times a week. I rarely buy meat in the grocery store. I think hunters that don't eat their game have a psychological aversion to game meat or they ate some really poorly prepared and cooked venison. I have a brother who does not hunt that has a psychological aversion to all game meat. I think its because he was forced to eat squirrel as a child. I have to admit that the squirrel was gross but my mother did not know how to cook it. My mother grew up eating venison and hated it. Everytime I would come home empty handed, she would yell out "Praise the Lord!" at the top of her lungs. My guess is that the deer she ate probably sat too long with the guts in, wasn't hung at the proper temperature, wasn't butchered and cleaned properly, and last but certainly not least was cooked improperly. All this adding up to some of the grossest food imaginable and caused her to hate all venison. I can't imagine anyone who loves beef wouldn't like venison that was processed and prepared properly. Squirrel and waterfowl on the other hand, I can certainly understand. They can be made to taste good but it takes allot more work.
