If you are interested in reducing the impact you have on the environment but you can’t give up eating meat, eat game! When our EcoCamo’s hunt for their own food they not only connect with nature, they are also treading lightly on the Earth. The amount of energy required to get you to and from your hunting location, get your animal, clean and process the meat is negligible compared to cattle farms processes. On cattle farms there is a significant amount of resources that go into each pound of beef (refer to Meatless Mondays for more information).

In nature when animals are free to graze pesticide-free fields and are not injected with antibiotics and hormones a leaner meat is created. The meat is lower in saturated fats than beef and is higher in nutrients and protein. Game meats also have higher iron levels because they are typically slaughtered later in life than cattle. There is little to no water quality issues with game as there are with large cattle farms. Game’s droppings are distributed in nature naturally, whereas cattle excrement is typically held in a lagoon type hole in the ground that can contaminate groundwater or make its way into streams or lakes. Game eats what is present in nature, unlike cattle farms who grow crops for feed that need to be tended for weeks on end. When it comes to the environmental impact of game meats versus industrial cattle farming operations, game meat is by far the best option.

If you are not a hunter but are interested in trying different selections of game ask your local butcher what they carry. You can also find game meats at farmers markets, or local co-ops.