Thoughts on Sustainability

I took a sunrise timelapse yesterday morning & began writing about hunting...

How is this elk and deer leather "sustainable"?

Well, to start....

My family hunts in Montana, in the valley where I grew up. This hunting system is monitored and regulated by @montanafwp and guided by scientific research to restore & maintain healthy populations of deer, elk, and others.

"The United States has the most successful wildlife management system in the world. Hunters and anglers have contributed more financial and physical support to this system than any other group of individuals."-rmef

The hunting economy (of hunting tag fees, and taxes on amo and guns) funds these open lands and prevents them from transferring into private ranchettes or developed land. It's an entire system that maintains balance and growth of healthy, quality habitat.

Hunting season is in the fall (late Oct. for us). This timing is intentional by @montanafwp to protect any spring babies.

MTFWP also holds open public meetings each year to discuss the coming season and new goals.

@rmef_official also works incredibly hard to conserve land and even restore elk populations (which is an organization we donate to annually).

Moreover, my family only harvests what we need each year to feed ourselves this clean super-organic meat. This breaks down to a few deer. The elk are so much larger, to the point that we really only need one (...IF we can get one. They're much harder to hunt).

Our processing & packaging of this meat is WAY more sustainable than the commercial meat industries.

We also harvest as much as possible from each animal. The rest we leave in a safe space for other animals along the food chain. Those leftovers and insides are packed full of nutrients, and are coveted before winter. It's not unusual for us to come back to a carcass two days later and see it stripped clean from coyotes, foxes, eagles, hawks, critters, etc.

Did you know most hunters leave the hide behind? It's heavy to pack out, and it also takes a lot of work to process into leather. So the hide will just decompose over time and goes to waste.

More info on our harvest coming this week!