Does anyone else butcher their own meat?

[lcertuche]

We don't have a gun but if we did we would hunt pigs. Most our neighbors freezers are stocked with wild pig. I don't know what moose taste like but I've eaten elk and it was great. I do have a little venison in the freezer a friend gave me. If meat is in our freezer it is usually chicken since DH works for Tyson. I'll be glad when I can raise my own meat birds. Now it's only a few BSL cockerels. I also am trying to figure out what kind of rabbit cages since I also want to be eating rabbit someday soon.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Here Bear and Elk are Lottery and we do not have Moose hunting at all because the re-introduction of Moose to northern Michigan is not going to well.

They re-introduced approx 70 Moose in the mid-30s but the population declind by the mid-40s and then again introduced approx 60 Moose to the Western UP in the 80's which were doing great with roughly a 25% population increase bi-annually until 2009(estimated 450 Moose) when it slowed and now since 2013 it has been dropping. Atm there is somewhere around 325 re-introduced Moose and another 100 native Moose in the east. THe target was 1,000 Moose by 2000 but that didnt happen at all.

 

[NH homesteader]

I had moose once when a friend won the lottery and got one. It was good!

Bear lottery? Ha! Here they practically beg us to hunt them. We have sooooo many!

I love seeing moose. They're so awkwardly adorable!

 

[TAH]

Moose jerkey!! My grandpa had the best moose Jeremy ever!!

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Oooh, I'm looking forward to trying moose jerky when I'm in Alaska in March.

 

[Latestarter]

When I was in Maine they limited it to 1000 moose permits, 900 for residents and 100 for out of state and all hunting had to be north of the cross state railroad (can't remember the line but was midway up the state). I submitted for the draw several times but never lucked out. 1 adult moose is a LOT of meat! Enough for a family of 4 for about a year! I guess the moose pop in Maine has grown rather substantial... they've had them walking through down town Portland! I understand bear numbers are getting pretty high as well, throughout New England.

Just a few years ago I think they started re-opening moose in Colorado on a limited special draw license. They were spreading really well and turning up in places they were never transplanted into and hadn't been seen in for over a century. I've walked up on several bulls in CO. They are huge animals! I'd love to try moose meat, I've never had it but have heard nothing but good reviews.

 

[lcertuche]

Well I sent four BSL cockerels to freezer camp this a.m.. I still have one for the ladies. I can't convince DH they don't need a male, lol. Well maybe he'll learn to protect them. We started off with 12 roos and 8 pullets buts dogs have been hard on them. (my sons little starve strays). Now we have the 1 cockerel and 5 pullets. I do have plans on getting much more pullets but only for eggs. All boys have the potential for future chicken dinners. A friend of mine just got 4 pigs for $10 a head. I would want to try and butcher a couple and sell a couple. So many hunt pigs instead of buying pork though.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I've never had moose, i've most of other northern wild game though.

Here pigs are $17/head atm and we dont have a lot of wild pigs up here, the ones we do have mostly stay to the southern part of the state.

 

[lcertuche]

A friend just ask if they can hunt pigs on our place. I'm hoping for a mess pork if he gets one (or ten).