Is It A Hunt or Is It A Harvest?

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Patricia DeAlmeida tosses acorns by the bucket over a fence to an eager group of red deer clearly excited by snack time.

“These are acorns, naturally find them in the woods, and they love them, they are like so good, they also like carrots, cabbage, crab apples…”

DeAlmeida says red deer are gentle animals…and surprisingly noisy eaters.

sound of crunching on acorns

A herd of eighty-one red deer roam 17 acres of fenced in pasture on Patricia and Joe DeAlmeida’s farm in Boscawen.

Like most New Hampshire farmers in the red deer business, the DeAlmeidas raise the animals for meat.

And like most raising red deer for meat, the DeAlmeidas are finding that business is tough.

“We’re okay, we’re just okay, I mean we’re not breaking even, it takes time to built a herd the size you need to make a profit with it, takes a while to get to that point, then it takes a lot of getting out on the street doing what you have to do to get a good customer base, so we’re right now working on that.”

Currently, when the animals are ready for slaughter, they are trucked down to Goffstown, where the meat is processed, packaged and returned back to them USDA approved.

The DeAlmeidas say it would be a boon to business if they could eliminate that extra cost.

They’re suggesting people interested in the red deer could come to their farm and pay to, as the Dealmeidas put it, “harvest” the animals themselves.

They’re supporting a bill that would allow them to do just that.

“We’re not interested in having someone hunt them off our property we’re interested in harvesting (rk: “what’s the difference?”) Hunting gives the idea that someone’s going to go out and run loose and take pop shots at it and that’s not what we want to do, we want to harvest them and slaughter them humanely.”

The couple says they have already been approached by people interested in “shoot-your-own”. But they’ve always had to say no.

While the state Department of Agriculture classifies the animals as livestock, the New Hampshire Fish and Game department classifies them as wildlife.

And Fish and Game prohibits the activity.

The department is also vigorously opposed to the harvesting bill.

They are joined by animal rights activists and many hunters.

Don McGinley is with the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation, a pro-hunting organization.

“When we see a farmer that’s going to put a can of grain down in his field in a closed less than four acre zone and guarantee that a sport or trophy hunter can shoot straight before knocking down that 9,000 dollar bull elk we see the real truth to this bill.”

McGinley says that truth is that it’s not a harvesting bill but “canned” or “penned” hunting.

“It’s against the principles of North American hunting, against the tradition giving any wild animal, any wild game the opportunity to escape, in other words fair chase, it’s fair for the hunter, but it’s exceptionally fair for game, without that it’s not really hunting.”

Jim Griswold says that’s just the point.

“If you look at it as a hunting bill than any reasonable person would oppose it because putting an animal in a pen or in a small pasture and shooting it is not hunting.”

Griswold is the owner of the Velvet Pastures Elk Ranch in Lee.

He says if someone came to his farm interested in slaughtering an animal he would take the necessary precautions—like making sure the person knew how to handle a weapon, and doing it in an area of the pasture well out of shooting range from his neighbors.

Griswold says his elk are livestock as much as cows, pigs, and chickens.

He adds that if harvesting is permitted on bison farms, there’s no reason to prohibit it on his farm.

“It’s a harvest bill, we are looking at animals that have traditionally been wildlife but are now farm animals and like farm animals they are a product and you need to harvest that product, what is important to me is that that animal is put down as humanely as possible.”

In the late 90s, Griswold’s was doing well selling the velvet from the elks’ antlers overseas, particularly to Korea where the velvet is thought to have health benefits, including as an aphrodisiac.

When that market closed due to concerns over the contagious neurological disorder affecting deer and elk known as chronic wasting disease, Griswold was forced to turn to the meat business.

Now, Griswold—who is also a geologist-- is trying to hang on to his 60 acre farm by selling elk meat, which he says is much more competitive than the antler market was.

Griswold estimates buyers would pay between 800 to 1500 dollars to take an elk, depending on its weight.

What really worries critics of the bill is just how much people would be willing to pay for an elk with a full rack of antlers.

They say in that instance people aren’t shooting the animal for the meat, but as a trophy.

And they add that an elk with a big rack could potentially go for upwards of 10,000 dollars.

Hunter Don McGinley has an additional concern. Right now, the state’s borders are closed to importing or exporting elk or red deer because of the threat of chronic wasting disease.

McGinley says with such high prices at play, some might be tempted to sneak an animal over the border.

“When you look at the prices that are going to be charged for an elk hunt, typically from a low cost of 2500 dollars to in some cases over 10,000 dollars an elk there is—and I’m not pointing the finger at anyone—a high likelihood that fraud will take place and a way will be found to bring in that super trophy elk that may yield a 15-20,000 dollar hunt, we don’t need this in the state of New Hampshire and we want to put chronic wasting disease as far away from us as possible.”

Farmer Jim Griswold rejects that notion.

He adds that it would be hard for him to turn away someone interested in paying 20,000 dollars for one of his an elk with a nice rack.

“I have no problem with someone taking the hide of an animal and tanning it for a rug, taking the antlers and making it into candlestick and frankly I have no problem if someone wants to mount the head, I don’t have an elk on my wall but if they choose to do that, that’s fine.”

The bill received overwhelming support in the house, where it passed 217 to 98.

It’s likely to face a tougher time in the Senate.

The Senate Environment and Wildlife committee voted 3 to 2 in favor of killing the bill.

And one of its main sponsors in the Senate, Democrat Lou D’Allessandro, say he’s rescinded his support.

D’Allesandro says when he initially signed on, he was under the impression that the proposal had full support from the hunting community.

“The more I hear about the bill and the methodologies the more concern I have, because it’s not hunting, and I think that’s the key issue, hunters from my district have called from my district and expressed concern that this isn’t really hunting.”

The senate is scheduled to vote on the legislation Thursday.

For NHPR news, I’m RK.