This year Botswana officials announced that sport hunting would end in the country after the 2013 season. The decision was an emotional (not scientifically-based) one made by President Ian Khama, who stated: "The shooting of wild game purely for sport and trophies is no longer compatible with our commitment to preserve local fauna as a national treasure, which should be treated as such."

This decision was met with much criticism as the country has no formal wildlife protection plan. Some experts say the move will hurt wildlife (with some estimating that certain species will decline by 75%) thanks to the ever growing threat of ivory poaching and poaching for meat. Both types of poaching are currently being curtailed by hunter dollars. Wanting to see what the closure of sport hunting would mean first-hand, I stayed in Botswana for three weeks last month and was fortunate enough to tag along on elephant hunts for two of those weeks with Ivan Carter of Johan Calitz Safaris. [ Read Full Post ]

Beef has taken a beating lately. Biblical droughts in the Heartland last year have prices on the rise, new research suggests that bacteria in the human digestive system could make red-meat eaters more prone to heart disease, and health-conscious consumers from Seattle to Brooklyn are demanding "grass fed" and "free range" fare.

And the flaws in beef only seem to highlight the qualities of venison. With the latest (and strongest) trend in dining being all about eating organically and locally, there should be no meat trendier than deer right now. Not to mention that the whitetail deer population, approximately 15 million in the U.S., has never been larger than it is today.

As hunters, we like to brag about the qualities of wild venison: "Most people can't even tell the difference between a beef steak and a venison steak;" "It's way healthier than beef is;" "I haven't bought beef from a grocery store in years;" and on we go.

But is eating wild venison truly better than eating beef? Or is that just something we say when we feel the need to justify killing deer? I conducted an objective (and partially subjective) investigation to find out. [ Read Full Post ]