Bami redux (courtesy nytimes.com)

“The government sharpshooters worked so efficiently in the dead of the night in Rock Creek Park that by the end of this year’s short killing season, they had shot 106 white-tailed deer,” nytimes.com reports, without a hint of their usual anti-gun perspective. (Well, they were government sharpshooters.) “Make that 3,300 pounds of local venison turned into meatloaf, burgers and more for the surprised directors of homeless shelters and other charities across the capital.” The problem being? I mean, there has to be a problem, right? Of course! Rock Creek Park is smack dab in the middle of the nation’s capitol! Where people run and bicycle and grow marijuana. Leading one charity director to bleat . . .

“I don’t think of Rock Creek Park as a hunting ground,” said Michelle Durham, program director of Rachael’s Women’s Center, speaking of the expanse of forest and ravines where President Theodore Roosevelt once rode horses. She said she was shocked to learn that a recent batch of venison served at the center came from deer in the park, just two miles away . . .

“Now I’m wondering what other things I don’t know,” Ms. Durham of Rachael’s Women’s Center said.

Which leaves me wondering what else she’s wondering about. Me, I’m wondering why kids aren’t taught about hunting from an early age, regardless of their urban environs.

“The holiday had just happened,” said Brenda Thomas, a youth development specialist at [Hubbard Place]. “So the smaller kids were like, ‘Like Rudolph?’ ”

Ms. Thomas was also surprised to learn that D.C. Central Kitchen receives venison donations from Rock Creek Park, where the children have admired the deer they have seen on nature walks with Ms. Thomas. Among the children’s comments about the deer, she said, was, “Aw, that’s Bambi.”

As for the meals of venison that come from the park, Ms. Thomas said, “I would probably never tell the children that.”

Do it Ms. Thomas. Do it for the children. Tell them a dead deer is a terrible thing to waste.

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128 COMMENTS

  1. Years ago a friend of mine hit a deer on the highway and immediately took it to a processing facility and showed up at our door with 50 pounds of ground venison.

    Some of the best hamburgers I ever had.

  2. I think if these people saw 30 seconds of what goes on at the average meat processing plant or large farm they would LOSE. THEIR. MINDS.

    • I think most of these people are just plain ignorant. They don’t think for a second about where the meat from the grocery store comes from.

      Clue-by-four: It doesn’t magically appear overnight, dropped off by meat-fairies.

      • You mean someone that sneaks into the bedroom of a lovely woman in the middle of the night and ‘slips some meat underneath the sheet’ is not a meat-fairy?

        Moms Demand Meat Fairies

      • I’m pretty sure that the meat at my local grocery store only comes from animals who slit their hooves to commit suicide. Isn’t that right?

      • You already answered that. Meat comes FROM THE GROCERY STORE! Damn, some people just don’t get it.

    • I once spent 3 days at a pork processing facility for a legal case that I was working on. The facility was in a small town, and the only nice restaurant specialized in – guess what – pork. I ate tenderloins and pork chops each night. They were delicious. Maybe I am just a bad person.

    • Ding!! Vhyrus wins the “pertinent comment of the day award”

      While meat is oh-so-tasty, the modern “processing” plant is like an Orwellian nightmare for animals. I would rather eat an animal that was taken instantly and without pain than the experience that animals go through in slaughterhouses.

    • A friend told me of a class trip to the Armour meat processing plant in H.S., most of his class became vegetarian after that little excursion.

      • I saw the Hormel plant tour as a kid (Austin, MN, ca. 1960’s) and I lost my appetite for about three days, but I got over it. I’ll never forget the stench, but don’t even want to think about what it’s like in the basement, where all those chutes empty out.

  3. My only problem with urban culling of deer is that they don’t release permits to bow hunters. They paid some sharpshooters to do the hunt instead of taking in revinew.

    • Well if they sold licenses to hunt those locations, they couldn’t use the harvest to buy votes help charities.

      But yes, I would love to see the local governments open up the hunts to archers. An arrow shot from a tree stand (even out of a crossbow) is far less dangerous than “government sharpshooters” launching lead.

      • It’s at least less dangerous, I’ll agree. RCP, which you might be unfamiliar with, is smack dab in the middle of DC, and the woods are really, really dense. If you were plunked down in the middle of it, you would have no idea you were in the middle of a city.

        If you got towards the fringes, you would hear traffic. But otherwise, it’s like being in the middle of the Jefferson National Forest.

      • Bad comparison. Sharpshooters are kind of la creme de la creme of the elite (and so actually can shoot); the majority of street cops are Paul Blart with a badge and WAY too much firepower.

    • Actually, MNCPPC floated that idea initially, before calling in the SWAT snipers. And of course, the Menopause Marauders (Animal Rights Section) was all over the idea like stink on you-know-what. The same bunch that wanted the deer trapped and given birth control as an alternative. Until they started eating their flowers. Completely divorced from this universe.

  4. People, adults and children alike, are far too removed from the realities of life. I’m not saying everyone needs to be Daniel Boone of the suburbs; but come on. Is it too much to ask that people not be so over fed and under accustomed to nature that upon seeing venison their first thoughts are of cartoons?

    • It’s a common thing for people around here to eat venison at potluck dinners and such and not even know it.

      My sister “won’t eat venison,” yet she does all the time. The relatives that serve it to her just don’t tell her what she’s eating and she assumes it is beef.

      So, that’s part of the problem with stories like this; why are they ‘advertising’ what kind of meat it is…why tell the children, for example.

      None of that changes the sad fact that yes, it is pretty ridiculous that it gets the reaction that it gets. It’s meat; you are getting it for free. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

      Oh man…I guess it’s a good think they are not serving horse.

  5. “Now I’m wondering what other things I don’t know.”

    Well… I know *I’m* not wondering about what things Mr. Durham doesn’t know about. I’m pretty sure I have a pretty good grasp on the things that she doesn’t have a clue about.

    • I believe we could fill many libraries with the things Ms. Durham doesn’t know.

      • I think if he discovered even a small fraction he’d throw himself under a train.

  6. That is the most ungrateful comment ever, a slap in the face to the “hunters,” the butchers and the deer. I guess they have enough food to go around.

    • Woman: “Doesn’t EVERYONE have beef tenderloins with asparagus for dinner?” (Bats false eyelashes)

      I have ZERO respect for these sons-of-bitches.

  8. Growing up a family friend told stories of hunting small game in the wooded areas of Queens back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Queens is a borough (county) of New York City. Top that off he was a kid of 10 or 12 at his youngest running around unsupervised with a loaded gun ! OH THE HORROR !!

    • And probably with a .22 LR. The father of a good friend of mine STILL hunts deer with a .22 LR, despite being highly illegal. Head shots only to guarantee a kill and not damage any meat. He remains the only person I’ve seen fill his tag each and every year on opening day.

    • My late stepdad fed his family with a .22 single shot rifle when he was 12, during the Depression. The family got the squirrels and rabbits, he ate the rats. I have the rifle.

  9. When living in Southern Appalachia, white tail were running into cars so much that the state expanded the hunting season, almost all year. My wife ran into two deer and we processed them and had a freezer full. No limits for awhile, so we would go out and get a few, then a few more, then a few more, and after our friends’ freezers were full, we donated the remainder to our local non-profits, as did other hunters.

    Of course, a bleating heart like Michelle Durham, program director of Rachael’s Women’s Center (I think it was her distant cousin) complained the the local newspaper, “How can you eat Bambi!” To which I sent her a photo of my friends and I cooking venison burgers on a long grill with the caption, “We eat Bambi, one bite at a time! Uuuum Uuuum Good!”

    • I had no idea the deer population was so high … I will have to seriously consider moving to Southern Appalachia. Are you talking Alabama, Georgia, or …?

      • Parts of Northern Virginia are unsafe to drive on after dark. Cars are hitting deer practically every night.
        And just about anywhere in the Appalachians or the Allegheny Mountains, deer, deer, deer everywhere.

        But especially in the DC/Baltimore suburbs, where few people hunt, deer, deer everywhere!

        They’re starving in many places, because of the feeding pressure. They come in yards and eat peoples’ gardens at twilight till dawn…

      • That was Northeast Georgia a few years ago. I don’t know if we thinned them out or what, but after two years of intense hunting, they did not seem to be a threat to motorists as often.

  10. Ok, so not feeding the poor is bad, not culling the herds of deer in urban and suburban areas is bad, culling the deer is bad, and giving the meat to shelters to provide food for people is bad. Got it.

  11. These people are ridiculous. My grandmother ate horse meat in WWII. And liked it. If one of these kids asks if they are eating Bambi, a simple “No” will suffice.

    • If I had to go Vegan, I’d starve to death, If it’s green, it’s mean!
      Bring on the Steaks!

      • To be honest, I’ve eaten at folks’ home where the vegan cuisine was very, very tasty. I’m fine with meat, but honestly, I get tired of it sometimes. I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I know it’s good, and good to eat.

        Now put a plate of crabcakes in front of me, and I’ll eat until you get tired of watching me.

        • I’m the same way with crawfish etoufee or shrimp and sausage gumbo, or just about anything cooked by a decent Cajun chef.

  14. Taking care of the deer population so it doesn’t get out of hand and feeding the homeless, sounds like a win win to me. As for Ms.Durham, since she has a problem with this she should never eat meat again.

  15. I seem to recall seeing videos on another channel about protesters trying to block the snipers from going into the park to do what they were being paid to do. I know they wanted to Save Bambi but for the life of me I can’t figure out why. guess they’d never seen a starving deer before. Probably had to do with it being so “unfair” that these government hunters were using “high powered rifles” against “these poor defenseless creatures.” I had to shake my head.

  16. I dunno. I certainly applaud them, and I’m sure MOST of the charities were happy to have the meat, but it could have been a real “teachable moment”.

    Instead of gifing the meat in a surprise kind of way, they could have called these directors in, said “okay, here’s what we are doing. It is absolutely essential to the overall health of the herd for reasons X, Y , and Z. If we don’t do it” blah blah blah, you guys know.

    Then say “understanding all of that, would you like this meat to feed your clients?”

    Hell, it’d be a good time for a ranger to explain what’s going on to some kids, too. Maybe. That may be a little much, actually. F’ing Bambi movie.

    • None of that would matter to them. Those are facts. They don’t care about facts.

      They care about emotion. Their own emotion. Their own solipsist emotion…it is quite literally all that matters to them.

      And they are apparently raising the next generation to think the exact same way.

      The right answer to “Is that Bambi” is…”If that’s they way you want to think about, that’s your choice. But it’s a free meal, kid. Take it or go hungry. That’s your choice, too. NEXT!”

  17. I’m not sure if I’ve eaten Bambi, but probably have at least shot a distant relative. I guess it depends if Bambi and co ever ran through SE WI. This just in – for city dwellers – steaks come from cows. So does leather. I wonder how many vegetarians driving Priuses (Prii?) have leather seats. Meat comes from creatures that have faces. Even liberal progressive students living in urban enclaves ought to eventually learn that truth.

    Now, for my other issue: if WI deer hunters can send 600,000 plus hunters in the woods on opening weekend – and have less than a dozen injuries – why can’t NY do the same? This sounds like an excellent opportunity for bow hunters and crossbow shooters. Heck, a 300 BLK AR with a suppressor. Ah, but its New York. Only the government can be trusted.

    • Hmmmm, not just meat and leather.

      I wonder how many of these complainers wear make-up?

      Hypocrites.

    • Um NY does send 600,000 plus deer hunters into the woods,and we do,just fine thank you.

      • Yup. Despite downstate efforts to disarm us all, over 500,000 folks hunt deer, not to mention bear, small game and waterfowl.
        This from NYS Dept. of Conservation: “The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is New York’s most popular game animal and is found throughout the state. Residents and visitors to the state derive countless hours of enjoyment from the white-tailed deer resource. Each year, more than 500,000 deer hunters contribute nearly $690 million to New York State’s economy through hunting related expenses, and through license purchases and federal excise taxes hunters generate over $35 million to support management activities of NYSDEC. Hunters take some 220,000 deer annually, filling freezers with roughly 10.8 million pounds of high quality local venison, and due largely to efforts of more than 3,000 volunteer Sportsman Education instructors, hunters continue to demonstrate exceptional safety records.”

      • Mea culpa. I was thinking NYC for some reason. I can admit when I’m wrong, and this is one of those times.

    • “Ah, but its New York. Only the government can be trusted.”
      Are you referring to the Rock Creek article? It’s not in NY. It’s in D.C.– the other place only government can be trusted.

    • Accur81, I do believe that you are correct in the term Prii. It is a second declension noun in Latin.

  19. we went to the zabiha halal live poultry joint to pick a rabbit from a cage. “how many pieces?” the disembowler asks. the kids love grilled bunny. they chose the critter and witnessed the process to the table. only not so much anymore, they just want the eating part now. at least they’re not clueless.
    up north of here there is wasting disease due to overcrowding of the deer population. some really expensive suburban landscaping gets devoured completely by these herds. but they don’t seem to want to thin the herds. salt licks for everybody.
    drive carefully.

  22. “Now I’m wondering what other things I don’t know,” Ms. Durham of Rachael’s Women’s Center said”

    How about; years back, feminist organizations pressured government Not to provide financial assistance to a shelter for abused fathers and children.

  23. A couple of weeks ago I was at one of the local urbanite outdoor stores in Northern Virginia looking for a rangefinder/binocular combination. (Way too expensive). I asked the associate some questions while he was helping this 50 something woman with sunglasses. He asked me what I wanted it for. I told him I was going coyote hunting in Colorado and the woman freaked. I turned to her and said I guess you never have been on a farm or ranch because those cute little wild doggie things cost them a lot of money when they are left unchecked. Totally clueless.

      • They TRIIED to go after my dog once. No more yotes, not a scratch on the dog. For being a spoiled baby, he’s a tough sumb1tch.

    • It’s actually pretty strange, because any urbanite in an area with coyotes know that they are an ever-looming threat for outdoor pets, and will eagerly snatch cats, dogs etc. There’s certainly no love lost for coyotes around here in Seattle suburbs.

  24. These gaga women are freaking out of their minds, and out of touch with the reality which surrounds them daily. Rock Creek Park is literally CRAWLING with deer. Meat on the effing hoof! Has been as long as I’ve been alive. And that’s a purty long time…

    Let ’em eat Bean Loaf, eh “Ladies”? They make me sick to my stomach. No, they make me flat-out PUKE.

  25. Gov’t “marksman”, DHS ammunition, butcher/process. Got to be at least $10.10/lb and THAT stimulates the economy.

  26. The problem is most people are removed from reality, they think meat comes from the store.

    Our state is overpopulated with deer and really they should just let the bow hunters kill the pests all year round because they are literally starving to death. But no the bleeding hearts start to cry that they are killing bambi! I guess in their world its better to have bambi slowly starve to death and suffer from malnutrition.

    These are the same people that screen when the UI trims trees away from the power lines, but scream even louder when said tree takes down the lines and they can’t get on Facebook.

    Morons.

    • We have residential areas here in Austin so jammed with deer it is difficult to believe, years back I saw a man sitting in his car at the entrance to his driveway honking the horn for like, 5 minutes trying to get a herd of about 40 to let him park his car. I thought at the time that deer season should be unlimited, no license required, bucks, does, and fawns, no limit, as long as you use nothing but a knife, club, or bare hands. IOW, if they won’t even get out of the way, kill as many as you like. That guy could have unlimbered his baseball bat from the back seat, picked out the three tastiest looking ones, and filled his freezer right there. And then called the neighbors!

  27. Heck, I thought that was poaching, oh it’s o.k. It was our government in training!

  28. “Now I’m wondering what other things I don’t know,” Ms. Durham of Rachael’s Women’s Center said.

    Dem brownies sure made everybody happy….

  31. why didnt they just go to the grocery store where the didnt have to kill anything for meat /sarc

  32. Lots of giant rats…er deer in Southern Cook County,Illinois. I’ve never hit one but have come exceedingly close several times. Years ago my ex-wife wrecked her car and got hurt. It would have been funny but my kid was with her( he was OK). You can’t shoot ’em around here either. After 6months of winter( it’s COLD NOW!) I can only see it getting worse. Mass fish & bird death in Lake Michigan too. The local food pantry gets regular wild game too. I have to admit I’m not a fan of Bambi meat. Maybe I never had it prepared right.

    • Northern Michigan is rife with them too. My auto insurance agent once handed me a deer whistle to stick on the bumper that was supposed the scare the deer away. That conversation went something along the lines of:

      “So, this thing puts out a whistle that makes the deer run?”
      “Yup.”
      “And when a deer is scared and starts to run you’re guaranteeing they run AWAY from the road?”
      “Ummm…”
      “And when a scared deer runs INTO the road you’re completely covering ALL damages, no matter what, right?”
      *crickets*

  33. Rock Creek is really a narrow stream valley. Lots of steep slopes for backstops.
    The best hamburger I every had was a moose burger, up in the Youkon.

  35. Pet peeve of mine “The holiday had just happened,” Why can’t people just say Christmas? sheesh, unless there is soe kwanzaaaaa deer its not like you are being inclusive, sometimes I think people just hate Christ’s name idk but I find that as annoying as “assault [object]”

  36. Any time I hear someone bitch about “eating Bambi” I like to go back and listen to Louis CK’s tirade about deer. It’s not the tiniest bit safe for work, but it sure is funny.

  38. I don’t understand.

    It is natural, eating meat is like breathing or kissing. Something completely natural.

    Also if kids are really that weak, then I feel sorry for your future generations. I am not what you would call particularily tough but I have been helping my father when he needed to slaughter sheep since I was 5-6 years old.

  39. Wait,… so these people are running charities, and they’re bitching about the free food given to them?! WTF is wrong with these idiots?!

    So hunting a deer is somehow less moral and evil compared to the factory farms serving up sick, tortured, mistreated, animals that live caged, in their own shit?

    The hunting of a free animal that has lived a good life is somehow bad, but it’s ok to force animals to live the horrors of factory farms, then kill them for food??

    These people are complete morons. Helpless, stupid, useful idiots.

  41. Soooo am I to understand that eating deer killed in a park is less humane/more gross/etc than eating chickens and cattle than the conditions those farm animals are brought up in?

    Get real

  42. I’m a big advocate of eating local, organic, and free range which is easily sourced every fall with my 6.8 AR-15. It’s only cruel if you’re a bad shot.

  43. My house backs a state park with many hogs. The rangers love to shoot the pigs but will not let anyone have the meat nor will they let trappers remove the pigs. The rangers shoot them and let them rot, one time 20 yards from my house. I like the pigs and feed them but would have no problem with them shooting them if they did not waste the meat.

  44. Some years back one of the Chicago area high-fence parks was dealing with an excess of deer. Bowhunters were approved to go in and reduce the population by around 25%, but a local animal lover group got a court order to stop the hunt until it’s legality could be argued. Winter set in, long and cold. When the court finally told the tree-huggers to bugger off it was a moot point; over 70% had died of starvation and disease. Folks don’t understand that having enough food to feed 100 but not 125 doesn’t mean 25 will starve, it means there’s no food left. That and excess proximity to one another passes sickness more quickly, same as colds in humans. Morons.

  45. Well,.. now I’m all hungry for Venison Tenderloins. It’s IPAs and bacon wrapped back straps tonight, ya’ll!

    I wonder how many Tenderloins didn’t make it to homeless shelters??

  46. “As for the meals of venison that come from the park, Ms. Thomas said, “I would probably never tell the children that.”

    The kids likely will not care. My kids have seen me kill and process deer, when we eat the meat the kids know exactly how it got to the table and couldn’t care less.

    My kids have even eaten animal we named, raised and slaughtered. Its only a big deal if you teach the kid it’s a big deal.

    • Like the hog with the peg leg. He was a family pet, and had saved the kid from drowning and was somewhat of a family hero. The peg leg? “You hate to eat an animal like that all at once.”

    • All my life I’d thought it was an alien person from the Vega system. Vegan cigars are practically a staple in most sci-fi universes. And it’s supposed to be pronounced “vague ‘un,” not “vedjan.”

  49. “Now I’m wondering what other things I don’t know,” Ms. Durham of Rachael’s Women’s Center said.

    I wouldn’t be surprised how little you know.

  50. This is nothing compared to how many they kill in the Gettysburg Battlefields. I used to live in GBurg. Google Gettysburg Deer Kills sometime.

  51. “106 white-tailed deer …Make that 3,300 pounds of local venison”

    Really? 31 lbs of edible meat from one deer? Makes it sound worthwhile just for the meat!

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