My two older brothers and my dad have always loved hunting. I’ve never actually hunted anything before, but I have been dragged into helping them on their adventures several times. Alaskan game tastes much better and is more sustainable than store processed meat, but not all people are willing to go out and hunt for it.

My family used to moose hunt annually. We would freeze the meat and it would usually be enough to last us throughout most of the year. A couple years ago in Gustavas, Alaska, we took our boat there and my mom, dad, and two brothers woke up at dawn to go and try to get a moose. My sister and I got to just sleep in and wait for them to do the hard part. At around 9:00 AM, we were awoken from our nice sleep to a radio call from our parents saying that they needed our help and that they got one. We had to quickly get some materials they asked for, then we walked to their location in the forest. They told us how many paces they were in a certain direction and we managed to find them. For the following hours we had to carry the meat in bags to a van to take it back to the boat. However, once our freezer was full of delicious meat for the year, the hard work was all worth it.

My brothers have also been into deer and duck hunting, but throughout all my life, I have refused to eat wild duck. I personally feel that hunting is appropriate if you are going to eat what you shoot or catch, but if someone is hunting just for the fur or sport than that’s completely different. Overall, wild meat in Alaska is pretty common and hunting is not considered strange or wrong.

Would you ever hunt for an animal in the wild?