Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt At A Time

By Georgia Pellegrini

The author was recently featured on MPR Midmorning.  She described fascinating tales of her hunting experience in search to track down the ingredients for the meals she prepared as a classically trained chef.  Other callers relayed their experiences with wild game hunting, including a college student at Bemidji State who hunts and eats mostly wild game and avoids the college cafeterias.  I added the book to my reservation queue at the library, and just had the chance to read it now.  Here are some of the stories she highlights in her book:

• Turkey and duck hunting in the southern United States
• Elk hunting in Wyoming, where she encountered a shady character and had some discussion of poaching
• Squirrel hunting in upstate New York
• Grouse hunting in Montana
• High class hunting on a British estate
• Hog hunting in the south west, with tracking and hunting hounds

For each type of game she encounters, Georgia includes recipes at the end of each chapter.  Knowing that we all don't have easy access to wild game, she includes modifications with more common meat items from your local grocer.  You can also read more at her blog: http://georgiapellegrini.com/topics/blog/

Along with the hunting skills and tips, she shares some local trivia from the various places she visits.  While in Wyoming, she mentions that it was never supposed to be a state.  "If Ulysses S. Grant had his way, the land would have been split among Idaho, Montana, Colorado and South Dakota.  But the citizens of Wyoming put more people on the official rolls than actually inhabited the state.  They begin naming babies before they were born, and they were the first to give women the right to vote because they needed all the voting power they could get" p 71.  Go Wyoming!

I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons.  One, it makes you face the reality of where some of our food comes from.  I respect Georgia for her research.  I've taken comparative anatomy and done plenty of dissections, but I haven't mustered up the courage to ever fire a gun. Second, it makes me appreciate the efforts of my family who are more than happy to share their bounty of venison, fish and the occasional bit of elk.