HUNTING

7/29/2017

Embedded in the male psyche is the powerful urge to kill something and supply food to his immediate clan to perpetrate the genetic lineage. This urge has waned over the last few centuries due to vast improvements in provision preservation, storage, transportation, and refrigeration. The hunt itself was a highly skilled ritual that demanded respect and earned the best sportsmen the name, Nimrod, a prestigious term of honor for hunters, named after the Biblical king, Nimrod, that later became derogatory by the Warner Brother’s cartoon character, Bugs Bunny and his buffoon adversary, Elmer Fudd. The difficult use of bow and arrow and spear to kill large game gave way to firearms that greatly stacked the deck in favor of the purser. The development of barrel rifling, repeating rifles, reliable bullets, and accurate scopes with windage charts has diminished the expertise level needed to bag trophies. However, nobody disrespects an individual sporting a high-powered rifle. Today, a billion-dollar industry supports well-to-do individuals, who travel the world to kill and display exotic animals and inflate their egos. The more dangerous, rare, and remote the quarry, the more expensive the hunt. Among the highest bounties paid for a flamboyant haul would be a Siberian Tiger, a Polar Bear, an African Elephant, and a Panda Bear. Never mind that these are endangered species, big money screams. Semi-exotic species that you would consider to be extravagant and hard to find, such as whales and hippopotamuses, in reality, are easily sited at any Walmart store and Burger King restaurant, so the expense of taking one of these fatties out is minimal. The second most expensive hunt to date is the extermination of Osama bin Laden, with costs ranging from 280 billion to 5 trillion dollars depending on what’s taken into account. But the super grand prize winner for the most money ever exhausted is the incessantly and expensively day to day hunt by man for the common beaver.