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Americans turn to hunting amid fears of coronavirus food shortages

More Americans are turning to hunting during the coronavirus pandemic — and amid fears of nationwide food shortages after meat plants were forced to halt operations over outbreaks.

“People are starting to consider self-reliance and where their food comes from,” Hank Forester of Quality Deer Management Association said, adding that he believes there will be a hunting resurgence over empty grocery store shelves.

Outbreaks have recently caused at least three major meat producers — Tyson Foods, JBS USA and Smithfield Foods — to shutter more than a dozen plants across the nation.

Meanwhile, some states have seen a jump in hunting licenses — including Indiana, where there was a 28% increase in turkey hunting license sales during the first week of the season.

Game and fish agencies from Minnesota to New Mexico have seen an increase in either hunting license sales or permit applications.

Nina Stafford, a building contractor from Fayetteville, Georgia, killed her first deer in January, but has come to see hunting as a viable alternative if stores are hit with shortages over the closures.

“The coronavirus has only made me want to go and do it more so that I don’t have that scared feeling of where’s my next meal going to come from,” said 42-year-old Stafford, who also grows vegetables and fruit.

David Elliot, an emergency manager at Holy Cross Hospital in Taos, New Mexico, said he began to consider big game hunting when the virus hit the US back in January and applied for a permit to hunt elk.

“I understand some people might be driven by like antlers or some sort of glory. I don’t want to do that,” Elliot, 37, said.

Since he doesn’t own a rifle, Elliot said he plans to borrow one to hunt female elk in an area of Taos County.

“I want to make sure it’s a clean, humane shot, as much as possible, and get a bunch of food,” Elliot said.

With Post wires