BRENDAN: I’m from WV, and I know the “take your date squirrel hunting” culture. I’ve personally killed and butchered our own hogs and chickens. I know where meat comes from. A couple of points:

First, your hunting technique sucks to the point where it constitutes cruelty and is irresponsible. Trapping an animal and then breaking its neck was OK. Using your pathetic air gun and shooting at animals, (both loose and trapped) was stupid and cruel and irresponsible. You should never fire a weapon at an animal unless the weapon and the marksman are up to killing the animal cleanly, quickly, and with one shot. If you can’t do that you need a better weapon, or to become a better shot. I suspect you know this, and I also suspect that you persisted with your experiment because you were exploring cruelty and how you felt doing it as much as you were exploring hunting, or where meat comes from.

Cedar McKay

DEAR BRENDAN: “The Urban Hunt” is surely the most inspired piece of reportage that has ever graced the pages of The Stranger, and in fact may be the finest journalistic narrative that I have yet encountered in any American newspaper. You, sir, are an oracle, a visionary, a Goliath among Lilliputians. I salute you. Veritas omnia vincit!

Erik Huber

DEAR MR. KILEY: I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed “The Urban Hunt.” It was beautiful and gripping. I was especially impressed with the various interspersed stories from the past.

Also, it made me glad to be a vegetarian.

Jason

BRENDAN: Nice job on that latest article you’ve written there. I took about twenty minutes to go over every detail that was in the story; normally, I usually glean through articles on The Stranger a bit faster, but really enjoyed chewing on this one. My ancestors were regular hunters as well, but even being a city dweller, I still feel that I’ve eventually got to get back “to the hunt.”

You’re absolutely right; urban lifestyle and the division of labor have removed many urbanities from the actual process of killing for sustenance. We no longer have to endure the aspects of the hunting/gathering lifestyle: tracking prey, enduring endless moments of patience and persistence, not knowing if you’ll eat tonight or not... Modern society has become spoiled on a wealth of foods, produced and provided to us with all the aspects of modern convenience; just look at our expanding waistlines and give me proof contrary.

It is only a wealthy (and somewhat debaucherous) society that can afford to eat meat everyday. The investment required in animal husbandry is so high (water, feed, care, cleaning, killing, cleaning again, etc.) that few people would be able to support more than a simple chicken in their homes. To be honest, it still surprises me when people mention their disgust with the dining habits of Asiatic people: eating cats and dogs, while keeping chickens, horses and sheep as pets. To me, they’re the ones who are right: at least a sheep can provide milk and wool, chickens give eggs and feathers, horses provide labor, and all can provide meat when the time is right. Cats and dogs? Let’s see you live on companionship alone; if you don’t hunt to eat, they sure will.

Last word, hunting is about sustainment and survival; if you’re hunting for sport and not for food, it’s clear that you shouldn’t be hunting. Great article.

Joel Warren

Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR EDITOR: A vegan, I would like to thank Brendan Kiley for his “urban hunting” article. While I found it disturbing that Mr. Kiley killed a rabbit in his bathtub, I am glad that he was willing to do the deed himself. I am so tired of meat-eaters that refuse to acknowledge how their burger/pork chop/chicken wings died. They admit that factory farming is “awful” while chowing down on a chicken skewer. As part of my volunteer work with a local animal advocacy group, I hand out a pamphlet called “Even if you like Meat,” which basically says “fine, go ahead & eat dead animal, but maybe eat less, and that makes a difference”. I can’t tell you the number of self-described meat-lovers that take one look at the pamphlet, then hand it back saying “oh, no I can’t look at this”. Jesus people, if you aren’t willing to even LOOK at pictures of slaughtered animals, MAYBE you shouldn’t be eating them. If you are going to continue to eat meat, grow some balls and be willing to at least face where that pork chop came from. Killing isn’t nice & clean, and the animals don’t live on a happy farm. Face facts or stop paying someone else to kill your food.

Rachel Bjork

EDITOR: Your recent article about hunting and killing stray animals in Seattle was beyond disturbing. The tragedies of factory farming and discarded pets do not justify other acts of cruelty. Shooting a trapped, terrified and wounded rabbit in the bathtub and watching it convulse and bleed to death to make a political point is repulsive and, by the way, a possible felony. Wild or stray animals in the city, whether cute like rabbits or “dirty” like pigeons or rats, do not exist to entertain or to feed you.

Suzanne Rubin

EDITOR: This article disgusted me. I made it through the rabbits but couldn’t get to the end of the pigeons. One of the reason I love Seattle is that its people are so enlightened. Politically, environmentally, and ethically. Seattleites are open-minded and unusually compassionate. THIS article made me feel as if I was back in Texas, or Georgia. I know the Stranger lives on open-mindedness, but this was gratuitously cruel, which is something quite different.

Franziska Edwards

EDITOR: I am sure that you will receive hundreds of complaints, hate mail, and office firebomb threats for the Urban Hunt article. I however offer praise to Brendan for taking a realistic look at what we dare not to think about every time we buy meat at the supermarket. As I read, I tried to anticipate what animal was going to be Brendan’s next snack, I was sorry that the rat got away. We are happy to consume a variety of animals offered to us in the meat department, yet scoff when we hear of someone going hunting. People don’t like to think of the blood, guts, and the actual snuffing out of an animal’s life.

Humans have an aversion to killing things that we deem cute, but it’s much easier to eat them when their extremities are removed and they are shrink wrapped for our convenience, or served with potatoes and parsley. As I read, I was reminded, that even though I don’t have to kill every animal I eat, I should definitely appreciate those who do the dirty work for me. I was reminded not to be a hypocrite. Thanks Brendan.

Julian in Oregon

DEAR STRANGER: Thank you for printing Brendan Kiley’s engaging, smart and hilarious article about urban hunting. Just last week my housemate and I beheaded, scalded, plucked and gutted a rooster in the relatively-public setting of our driveway. It was the first time after years of eating meat that I had taken a life with my own hands and the experience was not at all banal but powerful and connective. I agree with Kiley’s premise that, as urban dwellers, our relationship with the violence inherent in the food we eat (be that in the rendered flesh of animals or plants) needs to be one with much greater intimacy. I would add that engaging in the predator/prey relationship is not only empowering in the way it connects us to our food but in the way it connects us to the ANIMALS THEMSELVES. Predation, though obviously violent, is more of a conversation than an act of cruelty, something that was difficult for me to grasp before I’d killed a nonhuman member of my community and impossible to comprehend in the years that I was vegan. After reading the article I finally feel inspired and motivated to trap the invasive grey squirrels who live in my backyard. Thanks.

Chris Somerville

HELLO BRENDAN: I just finished reading your article and I have to say I was intrigued. I am sure ya got a lot of hate mail about this from a lot of tree hugging, crystal gripping hippies but I personally think it was one of the best articles I have read in a long time. Just wanted to thank you for the entertainment.

K

EDITOR: Thank you for publishing this article. I am an instructor for the state’s Hunter’s Education program, and come from a family of hunters. I’ve been having to listen to people call my father bloodthirsty, cruel, all of that. My father was raised that you say a prayer of thanksgiving to the animal, and that you put a sprig of clover (or something similar) in its mouth when it dies in memory of its sacrifice. Growing up in a hunting family you learn that your food deserves respect, something that a lot of people now don’t understand. Mr. Kiley set it out very simply in the article, in a way that I don’t think that most non-hunters could understand. We know what we eat, we are thankful for our food. I eat meat, happily and often, but I never pretend that my hamburger didn’t once chew on grass or that my chicken meal was not once covered in feathers. Hopefully, after reading that, some of the other meat-eaters around will take responsibility for their choices as well.

M. Safford

MR. KILEY: I LOVE your story. I have been asking friends if the duck in the park is the same kind of duck we eat in a restaurant and what would happen if we ate urban vermin. I am so glad you answered all my questions so completely and with your own personal touch. I only have one question does cooking it take care of all health concerns? I love how your story is entwined with impending disaster that we all feel living here on the fault. Thank you for writing this wonderful tale, it makes me curios to see if I could do the same.

Keep up the fantastic work.

Corina

DEAR EDITOR: I really enjoyed Brendan Kiley’s feature article “The Urban Hunt.” I work in the farmers’ markets and am really interested in sustainable foods. I have often remarked on the fact that Green Lake bunnies and Canada geese are the most local, sustainable foods we have in Seattle. I think that there should be an effort to bring these foods to local food banks rather than destroying the animals and their carcasses, as has been done in the past. Thanks for the insight into how to hunt in the city.

Teri Milstein

BRENDAN: Though vegan for 14 years now, I could not stop reading your very interesting “Urban Hunt” story last week. We might not agree on the killing of animals, but you presented a great argument for the situation of starvation... what a fascinating piece, really! Though I wanted to stop reading the bloody words, every soaked word I did read. Bravo.

Aaron

EDITOR: Your lead article by Brendan expressed more of my emotions than you can imagine -- unless you too have hunted, killed (yes, even by hand) animals by hand.

I applaud the courage that it must have taken to write this viscerally poignant and telling piece and to publish. The Stranger is certainly no “stranger” to being out there on the edge and I am not even a regular reader -- I reached inside the news box for a Seattle Weekly and in my hands instead was your paper with a cover that grabbed my complete attention and totally absorbed me during by 1 hour and 50 minute bus commute to the Eastside (Metro was not at its best on this Monday morning, but this country boy that never rode a bus to work until mid-life is doing what he can to leave the Jeep behind and help save the world one bus trip at a time).

Us cosmopolitan hunters rarely read articles in this liberal metropolis that tell our story and “feels our pain”. Instead we have learned that it is advisable when leaving the cubicle farm for a hunting trip, to just tell our coworkers that we are going on vacation, or up into the mountains to go camping than to say that we will be stalking deer and elk in an attempt (and usually just that) to stick them with long, sharp, pointy objects. The “Bambi” factor is just too indelibly imprinted into the psyche of most city folks to get past the emotion and rationalize hunting, all the while having no problem enjoying a club sandwich with no sense of guilt.

I think that every meat eater that condemns a hunter should have to spend a hands-on day at the farm, ranch or meatpacking house before passing judgment on “hunters” or consign themselves to being “gatherers”. Hunters do know the feel and smell of blood and all of the other unpleasantries associated with bagging, processing and butchering game. If people had to do it for themselves, they would either become vegans or appreciate the packing industry doing the stinky and dirty work for them. City folk ought to know. They should know how meat gets into their ravioli, they should know where there water comes from, they should go to the sewage treatment plan and see where their shit goes and everything else they flush down the toilet, and they should go to the garbage dump to see where all of their excess packing finds their final resting place.

City folk don’t get it and Brendan got it right. It wasn’t pleasant or even comfortable with all of it myself, so I know that most urbanites either quickly turned to another article to read, or were horrified to the point of having Brendan arrested and are already organizing PETA to stage a rally to protest the Stranger for supporting this article. In either case,

I applaud Brendan’s audacity to say what needs to be said and to make societal suggestions that are uncomfortable to the general urban populace to hear, accept and support.

Thank you for opening the eyes of the denizens of our community..

Don

HI BRENDAN: I’m writing from England, I’m a chef and I used to live in Seattle, in Fremont. It’s late here, and I’ve been drinking Vodka and chewing Valium, so please forgive my glib prose.

I was there (in Seattle) for the Millennium, and I often thought about what would happen to us if some disaster were to occur. I often walked around lakes’ Union & Green, and considered the possibilities, and the idea of feeding the homeless with the geese that were being culled at the time. What a waste. I started writing a book and it was based upon a disaster occurring and how we’d all survive in the city. I never completed the book. But the consensus is that we’d all be fucked. Humans are never more pathetic than when foraging for food.... Who keeps 3 days of supplies in our homes?

I also worked in an abattoir, and although I was often disgusted (and I still am when preparing meat for my fat over-fed patrons) I soon overcome my feelings and eat it. We’re hard wired to do it, vegans are ridiculous creatures. I wonder how they’d taste? Several months ago, out in a country lane at 4 am, I ran over a stray sheep, they’re everywhere here. It was stuck under my car and although still alive, badly injured. I tried getting it out, but it tried biting me, I was pissed. I had my chef knives in the boot of my car, so I slit it’s throat and had to partially dismember it to drive off. It was in terrible pain (I suppose) so I hope I did the right thing. The bastard farmer should have paid for my muffler, but didn’t.

I felt strangely savage there in the middle of the night, primal, covered in blood. I really liked the story about the ortolan; never heard that one before. I liked your story in general. My sister has AIDS. I’m waiting for the day that I might have to “euthanize” her. She and I have discussed it; it’s what she wants. But is not something I’m looking forward to, obviously… but what can be said about it…

Anyhow, I’m soon moving to Morocco, to a sustainable farm. Good luck with that Bush fellow.

Van

BRENDAN: Wow... I don’t usually read the “longer ones” online, but I was captivated. Powerful and thought-provoking. Well done.

Chad M

YOU FUCKING MONSTER: Holy shit was that a great article. I was going to write about this myself after I got back from the running of the livestock in Puyallup -this idea that in order to be a meat eater you should either be willing to visit slaughterhouses or hunt, but I couldn’t get it to work (maybe because I wasn’t willing to strangle a goose with my hands). Anyway, thumbs up; loved the article, think it could have been 2 or 3 or 10 times as long, and glad you stopped before you got to cats.

Dan Gonsiorowski

BRENDAN: Brilliant. Beautiful. A+

I once had a conversation with a bunch of people in Uni who felt hunting was crueler than raising animals for slaughter.

“Like, the cow KNOWS it’s going to die”

I sat befuddled.

Good luck with the impending backlash!

Ryan Whitney

BRENDAN: I just wanted to let you know that I was completely blown away by your feature story this week. It was elegant and eloquent; without flaw. It was the perfect example of the devastating combination of humor and depth.

Thank you. I loved it.

Ariel Squirrel

HI BRENDAN: Well, it was superbly written and engaging, for one thing. For another thing, I happen to agree with you that people should be willing and able to kill if they want to be carnivores.

I am a definite meat-eater, and I’ve thought along these lines before. As a young girl, my dad took me fishing and hunting. I’ve done a lot with fish, but not much with the larger animals. However, I have helped skin and field-dress a couple of deer, and have completely prepared an “ex-rabbit” for the stewpot.

Interesting to note, my old version of “The Joy of Cooking” gives instruction on skinning a rabbit. The new version doesn’t.

What I found most entertaining about the article, though, is that you were doing your hunting in an urban environment, and the reactions you got while doing so.

Carla Holley

BRENDAN KILEY: I loved your article. I’m sure the backlash toward your honest and courageous piece will be immediate and immense, but please know you’ve earned my admiration. I am a hunter (I don’t say “also” because your actions don’t fall under a hunter’s realm of personal—or legal—ethics) and have often daydreamed about the exact actions you put into practice. The “what if” scenario of surviving using hunting skills if disaster struck. But more than a hunter’s daydream, as a wannabe writer I applaud you for your original voice that is raw, open and bold. I am in awe of your willingness to take a risk as a writer. Rah!

Steve Malloch

DEAR BRENDAN: Just wanted to say how interesting your “The Urban Hunt” article was. As a native of Seattle and someone who went to culinary school and incidentally worked at Cafe Campagne, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to hunt, kill and cook something. I’ve read accounts of Thomas Keller the Chef at French Laundry who ordered live rabbits because he wanted to kill them himself and prepare it from start to finish. He goes on to say that he did it but did not enjoy it but has a greater respect for food. I’ve stopped cooking professionally for various reasons, but still enjoy cooking. The only urban hunting I do is squidding. As a fan of calamari I join the hoards of people out there that brave the elements late at night and with the aid of a light jig for squid.

Sorry for going a bit off tangent, but I was wondering if you had any more information or resources about hunting for small game within city limits? I have a few friends that have also read the article and found the idea fascinating. Since we are classically trained cooks, it’s a little embarrassing to admit that we know nothing about actually skinning or cleaning the animal. I feel I’ve taken enough of your time, but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your article and if you do have any additional information, I’d appreciate it if you are willing to share it. Thank-you again.

J. Noh

BRENDAN: Thank you for your wonderful Urban Hunt article! I found it beautiful, engrossing, and totally in step with facts that many meat-eaters refuse to acknowledge. Here’s to imminent disaster!

Tanner in Georgetown

HEY: I’m not a hunter, a hipster or a survivalist, but I loved your article. It was great, funny and poignant and I had a blast reading it! Thanks!

Brian M

BRENDAN KILEY: It seems there is one urban prey that you (thankfully) missed--or at least missed writing about. Have you read “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell?

Not that I’m advocating you hunting man, I just thought it was a funny connection. I really enjoyed your article--it made me think about how casually I eat meat that probably did not enjoy the happy life that your prey did, but I feel ok about it since I didn’t have to kill it. Thank you for your work.

Sigrid Brunet

BRENDAN: Your article reminds me of trapping and shooting Rock Chucks (golden marmots) on a farm here in SW Idaho. They’re usually fattened up by late summer and taste like chicken. Wild rabbits are hard to hit, but I managed to get one with an arrow one time (just to give it a sporting chance). Most people aren’t involved with game or livestock or even vegetables and the disconnection from their food sources is rather sad.

Paladin press has a few books on urban hunting; the best one is a poaching book by Ragnar Benson. I also recommend Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen (Brigham Young University Press). Larry writes about the same food prejudice encountered in most of American culture.

BTW, I had a great-uncle Arthur who owned property on Lake Washington back in the day; my dad and uncle canoed out there many decades ago. Arthur was an inventor who designed the locking hubs and winches you see on 4x4 trucks and jeeps. He also tried wiring his draft horses to a Model T Ford coil to shock them into going faster-but it just made them bust the harness and run away!�

Darcy Warn

near Boise

BRENDAN: “The Urban Hunt” was one of the sharpest articles I’ve read in a while. Edgy but eloquent, you communicated a lot of emotion in a short time. Where can I read more?

Clint Diehm

BRENDAN: I moved to the Seattle area nearly two years ago, and have been a fairly loyal Stranger reader ever since. Great publication. Indispensable goings-on info. Love the price.

But this is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write a contributor for a job well done. Top-notch piece on killing things, man. Really great stuff, which incidentally begs a few questions:

1. Now, I know The Stranger is all liberal and anti-establishment and stuff, but honestly—how the hell did you get that published? Don’t misunderstand me—I LOVE that it WAS. I’m just wondering how much trepidation there is/was surrounding its release, both within you and within the higher-ups?

2. Expecting/Prepared for any backlash?

Just wanted to drop you a note. Thanks for the article, and keep up the good work…

Bill Wolfe

BRENDAN: Probably the best article I’ve ever read in the Stranger. It was brave, informational and nutritious! It made me think about my hypocrisy, what I eat and what I’m going to eat when the shit hits the fan.

Marcus Massie

HELLO: My goodness--how I loved your most recent article!!! As a crazy, chi-town city girl with an appetite for all things crazy and wild game (went to Bastyr for nutrition, after all…) I never met an American whom would have pleasure in the same things as I—(I happened to have the opportunity to hunt the world’s largest rodent in Paraguay…) So, just wanted to let you know your article made me happy!!

Lacey Bediz

HI BRENDAN: Glad to hear I’m not the only urban hunter-gatherer out there. I’ve culled ducks from the local arboretum, but my problem is that the meat turned out incredibly tough. Any processing suggestions? Thanks.

Davina

PLEASE, EDITOR: I am baffled by what point you were trying to make, with this pointless repugnant story that I am more convinced is fiction and brain squeezens of a defective mind.

Are you sure that you did not share that toxic pigeon with the editors of the stranger who must at least be having a rabies induced contact high to even publish this written tripe.

You sir would be better off scraping road kill up with a shovel than being a reporter. I don’t blame you. Having lived in Seattle for five years I smell the rancid morbidness that gets in to your soul like the stench of cigs stink your garments.

Pissing on the sidewalk in the city is pollution, pissing in the woods is natural, the same applies to hunting. I live in an even larger stinking city. Get out to the woods if you want to kill and eat some thing. If you are so freaked by this disaster that is crumbling the city in your mind move back to Alaska dig a deep hole and live in protective darkness licking the dirt for sustenance and warming your self with your own urine.

And why you can’t keep a girl friend...#1 you live in Seattle (bitches there are spoiled and crazy)...#2 Taking a girl to your next fresh kill is not working unless you wear black lipstick and troll Hot Topic for 14 year olds...#3 If you honestly ate those vermin GET THE TO A CLINIC!!!!

In ending I would like to say,

To the person or persons that green lighted this stinking pile of crap, I grew up on the farm, I raised it, I killed it, I ate it, I am not squeamish about this mental case shooting a rabbit repeatedly in his bath tub, but WHY publish it. The most profound omission is the total lack of real connection with other humans, the real pulse of the city, and why is this is deemed worth of publishing.

Dieing for a response

Doug Savercool

DEAR BRENDAN: Thank you for exploring the hunt of our city’s “wildlife”. I have often remarked on the sustainability of eating Green Lake bunnies and Canada geese (both a nuisance). I work for an organic farm at the farmers’ markets and I think it’s really important for people to know where their food comes from and that it doesn’t come from far away because of the oil burned in bringing it here (like your rabbit from California and Oregon).

I am sorry your motivations were disaster-driven and that you were plagued by images of death and destruction. Hunting your own food is an admirable thing to do. Although I eat meat, I have never killed anything myself. I have witnessed the killing and preparation of two farm animals but left just before both were consumed. Did you think about using something other than a gun in your hunt? Guns seem unfair and barbaric to me.

I hope your mom is okay.

Teri Milstein

BRENDAN: First, let me first say that your “Urban Hunt” piece was probably the most enjoyable article I have read in The Stranger in a very LONG time. I have never personally hunted any large game but have hunted many ground and grey squirrels in my time. I prefer a nice .22lr for varminting but unfortunately, discharging a firearm is a punishable offense within city limits.

Joe Korbuszewski

BRENDAN: I just finished reading your article online, after jogging around Green Lake an hour ago. I’m totally serious when I say I think this is the best article I’ve ever read in The Stranger. Well-written, thought-provoking, funny, sad, ironic, etc. etc. I have often thought about doing my own hunts, except that don’t own a weapon and would probably be way too wimpy. More often, I’ve thought about the fact that we are hugely removed from our food sources...anyway, I appreciated the way that you wrote about something incredibly true-to-life, in a way that made it highly enjoyable to read.

Kelly Smith

HELLO: I loved your article about urban hunting. But you forgot a fantastic source of post apocalyptical protein… bugs. They are plentiful, nutritious and when prepared correctly quiet delicious.

Much more appetizing then say Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Sausage on a stick.

Charles Drabkin

DEAR BRENDAN: Amazing and fascinating. A true original piece. I can’t help you with the girlfriend issue, but I sure do admire this piece of work.

Would this qualify as “gonzo journalism” as Hunter Thompson called it?

Dan Wright

BRENDAN: La Conner has a flock of (domestic but) wild turkeys that are sorta taking over the town, or at least Second and Third Streets on the hill

MG Kershaw

HELLO BRENDAN: Just finished reading Urban Hunt and it’s got to be one of the gutsiest pieces of local journalism I have read in years and years. You completely put the lie to the whole animal-rights, vegetarian, vegan, politically-correct, urbanista pretentiousness that afflicts this city with simple illustrations of a fundamental truth: life requires death. I doubt I’ll ever look at a bunny at Woodland Park in the same way again. Have you considered hunting raccoon? There’s a couple as big as dogs in my neighborhood.

Joe Follansbee