Aside from cooking, growing a garden, making art, and being in love, hunting wild animals is one of the realest things you are still allowed to do as a human.
Butchering or breaking an animal down into muscle groups for food feels almost intuitive. I feel like I’m living in the present. and 100,000 years ago at the same time.
Whatever the pursuit, going into an animal’s habitat to kill it is hard, it’s cold, its wet, its uncomfortable, it’s emotional, it’s physically and mentally draining. Your limited by time, season, daylight, weather and tide. Success is rare.
So why?
I respect artists and writers who have put in the work to learn the animals they make art about inside and out, and I strive to do the same. I like knowing where my food comes from, I like the connection between my meal and the experience. I want to be a part of the food web, I don’t want to pay someone to do the dirty work for me.
Elk Quarter
7” X 11”
Acrylic on Wood Panel