Does it get anymore redneck than
this?
A U.S. company led by conservation enforcement officers is loading cremated human ash into shotgun shells with the intention of honouring hunting enthusiasts.
It is the latest in funeral service options — with families using the ammunition for hunting or in a gun salute — and the new company is slowly attracting interest from around the world.
The service also has some Canadian experts doubtful the service will be popular here, while another expects hunters to clamour for it.
Alabama-based Holy Smoke LLC has received orders from as near as Florida, Kentucky, and London, Ont., to as far as the United Kingdom, Germany and Bosnia.
“For people who loved to be outdoors, who loved to shoot, it’s a celebration of their life,” Holy Smoke’s co-owner Thad Holmes, 56, told the Toronto Star.
“Why not have my ashes in shotgun shells, and sometime in the future my son or some of my buddies can say, ‘Let’s use (them) and go dove hunting or shoot some clays,’ because that’s what I love to do.”
Holmes came up with the idea for Holy Smoke with friend and fellow officer, Parnell, 58, after attending a funeral.
“I wanted to be cremated and, at the time, have my ashes spread in the fields and forests and on the water. I love being outdoors,” Holmes said.
But Parnell, 58, wanted his ashes put in shotgun shells and used during turkey hunting, so the pair spent four years developing a way to market the service. Holy Smoke launched in July.
And an added bonus is those who have unresolved anger issues towards their late relatives have a way of releasing them, by watching the person explode into dust out of the mouth of a shotgun.
