Have any of you been to Cabella’s? It is one of the biggest outdoors stores in the country, and we are so fortunate to have one (thanks to Rick Perry’s tax breaks) right outside of Austin in Buda, Texas. When reading Harriet Ritvo’s chapter “The Thrill of the Chase” from her book The Animal Estate, Cabella’s is what immediately came to mind. Much like the British imperialists, Cabella’s displays stuffed animals from the around the globe, “rows of horns and hides, mounted heads and stuffed bodies, clearly alluded to the violent heroic underside of imperialism….The theme of conquest was implicitly expressed by the centerpiece of its natural history display: a tiger and a panther snarling at brightly colored tropical birds. Big game trophies figured frequently in expositions celebrating commercial and industrial prowess.” (X 197) “Each stuffed animal represented a bloody triumph in the field, an impression that might be enhanced by arrangements and backgrounds designed to suggest the animal’s native territory.” (X97) Rednecks from all over come to look at these exotic creatures, imagining their own victory against the beast. Undoubtedly Cabella’s uses these taxidermied treasures to rake in the cash, and every time I’ve been their it has been packed with visitors. However the idea of Cabella’s always seemed absurd to me, not just because of the obvious exploitation of animal lives to make a profit, but because it never seemed to reflect the “outdoors” part of it’s title. It tailored its products to hunters and outdoorsman and yet was clear capitalism, stuffed with materialism and cheesy gimmicks. In my opinion it never really reflected the true atmosphere of natural experiences or even hunting.
So beautiful is should be shot!
The concept of hunting has been a constant battle my entire life. I always believe that killing was morally wrong, that men didn’t have the right kill an innocent creature for his twisted amusement. My father, however, was a devoted hunter. President of the San Antonio Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Dad was out every weekend during turkey season trying to call up the big gobbler. I remember him dragging me to turkey banquets, where drunk hunters would bid on guided turkey hunts, turkey paintings, turkey sculptures, turkey guns, and turkey clothing, so that the organization could protect turkeys for future turkey hunters to shoot. (If you never have been to a Turkey Banquet it is a cultural experience, imagine a ballroom, loaded with turkey merchandise, bar-b cue, guns, a turkey ice sculpture and everyone dressed in camouflage.) I couldn’t understand how my father could get so much enjoyment raising money to protect a bird, so that he could turn around and destroy it. If he and all these other hunters loved the bird so much, why did they want to shoot it? For a long time Dad and I would argue about this, and he would always tell me “hunting was one of the closest relationships man had with nature and that the hunters were the ones who spent the time and energy to take care of mother earth.” This was for a long time never satisfying, until I went on a hunt with my dad, brother, brother in-law and sister.
It is hard describe what hunting is like, so the video helps, but I will do my best to paint the picture. Imagine its 5 in the morning and the first rays of light are trickling over the horizon. You and your pack are nestled down under an expansive oak tree, decked out in camo, invisible behind the shrubbery. In the field expanded before you Henrietta the plastic decoy blows back in forth in the wind. As the sun rises a little higher, your dad begins plucking the box call. The world is silent accept for these sharp, staccato notes. You sit there for maybe an hour, but it isn’t boring or dull, because all around you is the beauty of nature. The grass glows from the rising sun, shapes of trees, flowers, bushes, insects and birds begin to form out of the shadow and if your lucky a fox or deer will dash across your field of vision. It is not exciting or thrilling, you are relaxed in a meditative state, you are not a man, but part of nature and enjoying the oneness of life. Your dad’s box call fugue rises and falls until all of a sudden a monstrous gobble thunders through the underbrush. Then everyone snaps to attention. The dance begins, the demure chirp of the call and the rattle of the gobble, back and forth echoing through the forest. Finally you see him, a mighty Tom strutting through the underbrush, his tail fanned, chest puffed, iridescent feather reflecting the beauty of the morning and his bright cherry head bobbing up and down looking for his lusty lover. He sees Henrietta and puffs up, saying “Baby you lookin’ good!” Your dad whispers to aim the gun towards the turkey and get ready to fire. You lower the gun, hand on the trigger, when all of the sudden Tom Turkey deflates, his sharp eyes have spotted movement and before you can fire he has flown off into the woods.
This is a typical hunt. While Cabella’s and British Imperialist focus on the dead body, the hunter is more interested with the process. The reward is experiencing the natural world, not the killing. The truth is, while we debate a good game about getting in touch with nature, it is the hunters who truly experience and do get in touch with nature. So it bothers me when Ritvo and Dana describe hunting as an example of man dominating and imperializing nature. Hunting is the exact opposite. It is hunting that allows many people to get more in touch with animals and nature. In the Introduction to Reckoning with the Best, Turner admits that during the 17th Century the British had little connection with animals, “but during the following century the social and moral status of animals began a slight but steady rise. With the emergence of fox hunting and racing, the county gentleman’s horses and hounds became objects of pride, although they continue to receive their allowance of kicks and beatings. The new enthusiasm for country life made people take a second look at animals, even if only as an element of the rural landscape, yearned for in the Horationa mode.” (X170C)
Notice the hunter submerged in natural architecture, while academics are pictured in man-made architecture
There are many ways that man flexes its power over the lesser being of the world. As we have explored agriculture we have seen how raising animals is total domination of the beast for man’s desire of meat. Exterminating pests from house is definitely a way man dominates and destroys animals. Owning pets is man exerting his dominance over animals, as the only way for the pet to survive is benevolence of the master. Man has put many animal pets at the mercy of people, and that is completely dominance. And as far as imperialism of humanity go, I see no greater imperialism that the buildings we live, work and go to school in. We are constantly using our intellect to recreate the environment for our own beneficial needs at great cost to the wild, native animals. Hunting has none of these aspects of domination. When you go hunting you and the animal are equal footing, who is smarter and stronger? Most of the time hunters never fall their prey, more than likely the animal is victorious. Hunters are also putting themselves at risk for the good of the hunt, they are at the mercy of the weather, the land and other predators (like rattlesnakes), never really “dominant.” Plus every hunter I have met has huge respect for the animal they are killing. The goal is not to inflict pain, but to eliminate suffering, to make the death as quick and painless as possible. They do not want the animal to suffer like the elephant in George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephants.” “He was dying, very slowly and in great agony.” (X223) A bullet to the head is perhaps one of the most painless ways a wild animal can die (certainly beats a coyote chomping on your leg or starvation from a drought. Hunters also spend more money for natural conservation than any other group. They have invested interest to protect the world and keep it for future generations. Most hunters are not reckless, but educated men and women who try to make kills that keep the balance of the habitat and done in a responsible ethical way.
So Hunting is Exploitive but Owning Pets isn't? These Dogs don't look Free and happy, although they do have those spiffy ribbons.
I still prefer to hunt with a camera instead of a gun, but I will defend the art of hunting, because I believe that relationship between predator and prey is one that will preserve respect and maintain the natural world. When that bond dissolves, I believe that man will become more dominant over animals. More land will consumed for infrastructure and more species will go instinct. This bond between the consumed and the consumer is a beautiful relationship that connects us with nature and keeps us from destroying it. As Robinson Jeffers describes in his poem The Vulture:
“But how beautiful he looked, gliding down
On those great sails; how beautiful he looked, veering
Away in the sea-light over the precipice. I tell you solemnly
That I was sorry to have disappointed him. To be eaten by that beak
And become part of him, share those wings and those eyes—
What a sublime end of one’s body, what an enskyment;
What a life after death.” (X216)
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