There is a hunter in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, who makes a living by hunting deer. He believes in circulating "life" by reviving deer as food, rather than simply disposing of them. Photographer Suzuki interviewed him. The Oshika Peninsula, which straddles Ishinomaki and Onagawa, is located at the southernmost tip of the Sanriku Coast. It is surrounded by clear seas and lush forests. The Oshika Peninsula is the site of a 25-year veteran deer hunter, Nozomu Onodera (55), who is a member of the Ishinomaki Hunters Association and is responsible for exterminating deer and other animals on the Oshika Peninsula. Deer hunter Nozomu Onodera: "We're going to start hunting (exterminating) deer now to keep the overpopulation down to a certain number." The hunters surround the mountains and drive the deer in with hunting dogs, exterminating them in a hunting session. Deer hunter Onodera Nozomi: "Here they come. I can't shoot them like this. Don't stand diagonally from them. That's how sensitive they are." Cameraman: "Sorry." After that, they finally spot a herd of deer. Cameraman: "That's an incredible number." Onodera: "I think there are more than 50." Onodera approaches carefully, with the cameraman following behind him. Then, a gunshot rings out. Onodera: "That's a fine male deer." About 10,000 Japanese deer live on the Oshika Peninsula, causing serious damage to crops and forests, including damage caused by eating them. For this reason, extermination is being carried out, but most of them are discarded. However, Onodera and his team don't stop there after extermination. Deer hunter Onodera is a former chef who says, "Don't waste a life" Deer hunter Onodera Nozomi: "I don't want to waste anything. I started a meat processing plant because I wanted to make the life I was given delicious, since it's a precious life." After graduating from high school, Onodera moved to Tokyo and worked at a French restaurant for three years. He got a hunting license so he could treat his friends to the ingredients he had gathered himself. He started because he wanted to get his own license and treat his loved ones to meat. In order to use it as meat, the blood and heat inside the body are removed on the spot. Onodera: "We have to process it properly. It will go bad if left for a while, so we heat it up." The deer that were killed are sprayed with electrolytic water, which has a disinfecting effect, so that it can be stored for a long time. Onodera: "It's one of the safety measures (to make meat)." The next day, the venison is carefully butchered in a refrigerator kept at 1 degree Celsius to prevent hair and bacteria from adhering to it. Onodera: "This is the shape of thigh meat that everyone is familiar with. If we process it properly and make it delicious, everyone will be happy, and we don't want to kill the deer twice. We want to eat the life that we killed once and revive it. Then the deer will be happy." The butchered meat is vacuum-packed and left in a refrigerator for two weeks to a month to remove moisture and blood, and the flavor is concentrated and completed. The butchered deer meat is delivered to... "It has no peculiar taste at all" The deer meat was delivered to the Japanese restaurant "George" at the east exit of JR Sendai Station. Owner Omiya Joji: "This is the deer meat we purchased from Onodera. It looks very delicious because it is carefully prepared." Owner Omiya Joji was impressed by the taste and ideas of Onodera, and offers deer meat dishes. Owner Omiya Joji: "I use it because I sympathize with the way of thinking (not wasting life) and the feelings towards meat, and I want to help even a little. Please enjoy charcoal-grilled venison." Customer: "I thought that game meat would smell bad, or have a strong taste. It doesn't at all. I think it's moist and delicious." Deer hunter Onodera Nozomi: "It's true that we have to produce results since we're doing it under the pretext of extermination. But it hurts my heart to kill them so mercilessly. So let's add a little added value. I think it would be good if people could eat it as a small share of the deer from the mountain." I continue to think about how to make the most of the deer's lives. The hunters' association and others exterminate about 3,000 deer a year on the Oshika Peninsula, but the damage caused by deer continues to increase. For more details, see NEWS DIG! ↓ https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/tb...