It’s illegal to sell game meat, but hunters say that hunted meat is an important part of food security for their families.

By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative

Mike Dumont, of Greenfield, doesn’t buy any red meat. Instead, he saves all his vacation time for hunting season, during which he focuses on providing venison for his family, which includes his wife and stepson.

“We rely on what I put in the freezer,” said Dumont, 40.

When Dumont goes hunting he thinks about the amount of food his family needs and what they already have in the freezer. In a given year he harvests between 1 to 3 deer, depending on what meat is left from the previous season. 

The coronavirus has accelerated the already-thriving trend toward local and sustainable foods. For some New Hampshire residents, like Dumont, hunted meat is the ultimate local, sustainable and ethical food source. 

“I decided to hunt to be more connected to the natural world and my food,” Dumont said. “To be part of the system the way nature intended. It’s changed my life for the better.”

The Impact Of Hunting Your Food

When Dumont first started hunting, as an adult, he wasn’t sure how he’d feel about killing an animal. 

“I wasn't sure how I would react to taking a life and field dressing a deer, so I invested slowly at first,” Dumont said, referring to the necessary process of removing the internal organs from a hunted animal soon after harvest to keep the meat from spoiling. 

When it came time to field dress his first deer, he was surprised he was ok with the process, although it still weighed on him. 

“It’s never easy to take a life. You kind of have to shut part of your brain off from what you just did and focus on the work ahead,” Dumont said. “I always thank the animal for its unplanned sacrifice to sustain other organisms' lives -- my family and other creatures of the forest.”

Nicole MacLean, of Nashua, is on her second hunting season. She and her family hunt deer, turkey, rabbit and squirrel. They also go fishing and clamming. She talks openly with her two kids, 7 and 8, about where their food comes from. 

“Hunting is such an important food resource for my family,” said MacLean, 33. 

Her extended family swaps meat and recipes, which has become an important family bonding process. 

“We can get lost in conversations just on how to prepare a fabulous meal out of the meat we harvested,” she said. 

She teaches her kids about the difference between killing an animal and harvesting one. 

“We choose our words very carefully when talking about hunting,” MacLean said. “There is a major difference in our household with these words. To kill is to take a life aimlessly, whereas to harvest gives purpose to the life taken.”

MacLean’s kids are involved in every part of the hunting process, from tracking to butchering. 

“I believe all kids should have a better understanding of where their food comes from,” she said. 

A Sustainable Food Source — But One You Must Get Yourself

Each year, roughly 56,000 individuals are licensed to hunt in New Hampshire, according to the Fish and Game Department. While hunters can share their harvest with friends and family, it’s illegal to sell wild game meat. 

“If you’re interested in hunting, that’s the perfect food source, but you have to do it yourself,” said Lt. Heidi Murphy, of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Law Enforcement Division. 

The fact that it’s illegal to sell game meat is rooted in the North American Model of Conservation. The theory was established in the early 20th century, in response to the overhunting of many species, which led to the near-extinction of animals ranging from buffalo to wolves. The second tenant of the theory is that markets for game meat are eliminated; removing commercial incentives helps protect hunted species, according to the theory. 

“Once you set wildlife up as a commodity, people want to abuse that, not conserve it,” Murphy said. “They don’t use it wisely.”

In New Hampshire, it’s illegal to sell anything that you’ve hunted, with the exception of the head, hide and feet of bear, deer and moose, Murphy said. Those are often byproducts of animals that have been harvested for personal meat consumption, Murphy said. 

There’s never been a big effort to make it legal to sell game meat, and Murphy doesn’t anticipate that changing, she said. 

“Once you start commercializing, you start getting into problems regarding poaching and illegal hunting,” she said. That can undermine the sustainability of the wildlife population. 

While many states take a similar approach to New Hampshire, Vermont allows a very limited sale of large game meat, like venison. Hunters can sell their big game meat within the state only, for the open hunting season and 20 days after. 

Pushing Back On Misconceptions About Hunting

Many hunters who spoke with the Collaborative expressed their frustration at negative attitudes toward hunting, especially from people who eat commercially-raised meats. 

“Sometimes hunting gets a bad [reputation] because you’re going out and killing an animal, but [people] don’t think about where their own food comes from,” Murphy said. 

MacLean and her family choose to harvest as much of their food as possible, feeling that it’s a more responsible way of eating. 

“We care about where our food comes from,” she said. “To know that our meat was truly free range is an amazing feeling to have. We know that the animal had choices and had no cages or walls around it.”

Stephanie Love, 50, lives in Dracut, Massachusetts but hunts in New Hampshire. She goes to great lengths to ensure that no animal products go to waste. She eats what she can, and shares animal parts that she doesn’t like to consume. She even donates animal parts to help with the training of tracking dogs. MacLean and Dumont both said they make sure there’s as little waste as possible. 

Dumont said that being involved in the harvesting of your food gives you a new appreciation for the life cycle — something that people who consume commercial meat are often a step removed from, he said. 

“People who complete this process on their own have more respect for the animal and everything that goes into it,” he said. “Taking a life to sustain your own really puts things into perspective and has made me respect even the smallest life.”

MacLean agreed. 

“More people should consider hunting,” she said. ‘It provides a deeper appreciation for what goes on the plate.” 

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.