Free Meat with a side of Misogyny

This Christmas brought an abundance of fresh elk meat when a couple of friends came upon a recently road killed young bull. Instead of writing it all down myself, I'll just provide a link to their webpage for most of the details. Here is a brief excerpt from his blog:

"In these parts, elk meat is a coveted delicacy, so when you come across a free find, you don’t just pass it up. As I mentioned before, the body was in fairly good condition. The body was also still warm, which meant this was a fresh kill. Erin had me continue home to grab a rope and a sled so that we could haul the carcass back home and salvage the meat. Erin called our friend Colleen, an avid hunter, and had her talk my wife through removing the viscera. The next day, she came out with her knives and bone saw and, for the price of half the meat, helped Erin to butcher the elk."  Matt Singer

By all means read his whole entry for the complete story. It was a great adventure. The only sour note I experienced was the day after I talked her through gutting the elk.

I was running some errands to get the supplies we would need to do the butchering and stopped by the local outdoor store to inquire about the salvage permit that is required by Idaho Fish and Game. Unlike some states, Idaho allows salvage of road kill and you just need to get a free permit. I assumed I could do the paperwork at the same place I buy my annual hunting and fishing licenses. So I walked up to the counter and two young men were standing there and asked if I needed help. I smiled and said I needed to get a salvage permit for an elk. The both laughed at me, looked at each other and the male customer also standing at the counter. "We have no idea what you are talking about!" ***guffaw, chuckle, snark*** It looked at them and said that the permits are required by Fish and Game to salvage roadkill and since I buy my hunting license here I thought they would have them. They still grinned and looked confused and humored by my request. "We don't know anything about that (tee hee, silly girl). Maybe you should call the state patrol." Their condescension and patronizing attitude oozed from them.  I just looked at them and said, "No, I'll call Fish and Game" and walked away. I was so very angry at their disrespect and it was all I could do to not lay into them about treating customers property. You'd think the staff at the biggest provider of hunting licenses in our area and the largest hunting store within 80 miles would be aware of such regulations. Instead I was treated like a silly girl interrupting their gun talk. I was in need of a bone saw and decided to ask the woman in that department instead of interact with those two buffoons again. Thankfully she was professional and extremely helpful. In all my years shopping for guns and hunting equipment I have never had such a negative interaction with staff in these departments. Instead of letting the bad behavior of these two boys bother me too much, I decided to write about it here and will likely include it in my dissertation when I write about treatment of women in hunting/outdoor stores.

After the long day of butchering the young elk, I came home with tons of steaks, a few roasts and stew meat. Luna will even get a few good bones to chew on. I really can't imagine getting a large cow or bull elk or even a moose. It takes a lot of time and energy to get your food prepped and stored. If anyone ever tells you that hunting is an easy way to get meat, don't believe them. It is hard work but so very worth it! We may not have done the hunting part of the equation this time but we did all the work required after. I am grateful that my friends happened upon that elk when they did so that his death provided us with some meat as I didn't get a deer this past season. His short life will nourish ours.

Well, I've got some stew cooking right now and it is about done so I'll sign off now and wish you all a wonderful new year.