Hunter Education Application

My last post reminds me... for our 12th anniversary I surprised James with an awesome present -- HOG SCHOOL! I read about this chef in the Chronicle who was working to change hunting from "gun culture" to "food culture" and, naturally, I though of James. So, I applied for him (you have to apply to yuppie hunting school) and was accepted, and gave it to him as a complete surprise! Below is the application I wrote for him.

1. What is your favorite vegetable?

       

Either hatch chiles or okra. Both are special to James – hatch chiles because they are seasonal (and in fact we have an alarming number in the refrigerator at our house right now, filling an entire crisper drawer of our refrigerator) and okra because it’s hard to come by where James grew up in the north – we would have to drive down to South Chicago stores where there is a large African American population to get it.  James makes amazing dry-fried cumin okra, and our children adore okra too (their preschool teacher teases us for sending them to school with okra and seaweed in their lunchboxes, but they truly love it). Since marrying me (I’m half Indian), he’s become great at preparing Indian food, including many okra recipes.

2.  What is your profession?

James is a law professor at University of Texas, specializing in corporate and securities fraud

3.  What would you like to learn most from a hunting school?

I think James has always felt a moral obligation to at least try hunting once, since he loves animals and also loves eating them.  I know he’s very curious about the experience – I grew up in Alaska, so I am familiar with hunting and most people I knew went hunting, but he knows almost no one that hunts and has rarely had the opportunity to taste wild game. I know he will be fascinated by the butchery process – since we’ve moved to Texas a year and a half ago, he’s become interested in smoking and curing meats and does so regularly.

4.       Describe the best hunting/food experience you’ve ever had.

James has only gone hunting once – for ducks. I gave him a duck hunting trip with my brother for Christmas when we first moved to Texas and it was the best gift I’ve ever given him. He didn’t shoot a duck, but he enjoyed the experience and really admired the hunting dogs. But James’s love of nature (though a city boy raised in Chicago and for the past ten years living in huge cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles) combined with passion for cooking  have combined in other ways – for example, clamming, fishing, berry gathering, and gardening. We were in Nova Scotia over the summer, and James got up at dawn each morning to catch the low tide and dig for soft-shell “seamer” clams (see below). Probably our best food experience ever was a meal of homemade seamer clam chowder (with vegetables from a neighbor’s garden) with clams dug by us and the kids, followed by berry cobbler from berries picked by our children. Even if you are really into food and cooking (which we are)  -- it just doesn’t get any better than when you catch/pick it yourself! He also enjoys exposing the kids to these activities – below is a picture of our four year old daughter, Rosemary, enjoying Pollack which she caught and helped clean herself.  James – our family’s very creative, curious, patient chef – understands that food is love!

5.  Will not taking an animal affect your experience?

James seemed really excited by his duck hunting experience, despite not shooting a duck, so I doubt it. I think he’ll be content to get out there in nature, and learn about the process itself – and to taste the wild game which we don’t get to do too often!

6.  How do you intend to use any animals taken?

If we have any to take home we’ll definitely eat it! And, more likely than not, make wonderful meals to share with family and friends.

7. What animal or bird do you think you would enjoy hunting the most?

I think James is particularly curious about hunting for wild hogs.

8.  Will your family or friends enjoy eating wild game if you harvest an animal?

Of course! We definitely tend to attract friends that enjoy preparing and sharing wonderful meals.

 9.   What is your hunting background?

See above – only gone hunting once (for ducks). James has gone to the shooting range a few times, but nothing more than that.