TP. 59 HUNTING

The 747 closed its doors and was bound for a continent on the underbelly of the planet. On board were 467 passengers, of which 9 were big game hunters on a trek to kill some trophy animals 8,000 miles away. With documentation, paid deposits, and rifles stowed underneath, the 747 accelerated down the runway and rotated at lift-off speed. It will be 15 hours before that behemoth and its anxious passengers feel earth back under their feet. After customs and a few imposed taxes, the hunters are met by the outfitter teams who offer faked welcomes and help the hunters round up their gear for a 2-hour Toyota Land Cruiser trek into the bush where their camp awaits them. The next day, the hunters are ready for the big hunt as 9 successful individuals find satisfaction in thinning the herds. The average wages that these professional capitalists make is around $325K/ year. Big game hunting is not a poor man’s hobby by any means. Driven out to the Savannah and escorted to select blinds, the men are secreting cups of adrenaline and quarts of testosterone. Hunting brings out the beast in men as old rituals play out. Within every blind waits a man who planned this trip for years, and now it’s come to fruition. Pride and impatience boil. As the hunters look out their viewport for the promised 1-ton male trophy, a click is heard. The inswing door on their safe box has just been released, and a small pride of lions comes pounching through that door. The screams and the raw rage that takes place in that box is indescribable, but in a short time all 9 hunters are now being devoured by the pack and in 2 hours the cleanup crews will hose down the remains and prepare for another group of hunters looking for that ultimate thrill of control and conquest. Has anyone ever gotten a shot off and survived this onslaught, you might ask? Well, the guides are expert gunsmiths and know how to file a firing pin down so it never hits the primer. It’s only fair; the lions are unarmed.