Steven took his background in writing and wrote Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter. In the book, he shares his life as a hunter. There is hunting and trapping and the relationships he forged along the way. How he holds his brothers high on a pedestal and lives to be in the outdoors. His words are a collection of adventures that show humanity and a dedication to the hunt.
Now, it’s no secret that I hold hunters on television to a higher level, especially guys like Steven Rinella. I have scrutinized he and his shows before on my blog. There was the time I challenged his hunting ethics and another time where I highlighted a safety issue in his archery set up. Now before you burn me at the stake, I make errors like everyone else. I just feel that when you share hunting experience with the public via a television show, you should take great care with what is shown. Wouldn’t you agree?
Steven takes you back to his roots through an almost historical record of how he learned to hunt, fish and trap. The tales of battling having to go to school, the weather or posted property brought back many memories from when I was young. Steven and I have something in common in the fact that we moved from the country where we could hunt and fish as much as we liked to a big city (he to NYC and me to LA). Now we work our tails off to get into the outdoors, to hunt and fish, and we love the challenge.
Despite my opinion above, I really enjoyed reading Meat Eater. I was drawn into it. I felt at home with the writing and family dynamic. I also like the way Steven rolls out a story. The way he gives the background of a certain situation and just tells it like it is, or how some of the stories give life to other stories of their own merit and then back again to the original point. While it may seem a little ADD and annoying to some, I felt it was exactly how many of us share our stories with one another. We start one story that branches off on a tangent and a new story is created.
There is something to be said for a guy who fills his freezer with the animals he kills with plans to serve them up as dinner in the future. Steven hunts for his meat in the outdoors and not in the frozen food section of the supermarket. I admire and respect that in any hunter.
Even with my scrutinizing and acute opinions tossed in, I definitely recommend reading Meat Eater. It will both fill you like the warmth of a good scotch and chill you to your core like an ice bath in December. It is an open invitation for everyone to see a hunter as more than just a killer. I can almost guarantee that if you are a hunter or fisherman, Meat Eater will keep you entertained. If you aren’t either one, it will be very honest about hunting and will not bore you. Pick up a copy (on sale staring today), read it and judge it for yourself.
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