Have you been to a Cabela’s?
Do you even know what Cabela’s is? I knew. I’d seen the catalogs. Heck, I’d even ordered from their slim selection of women’s clothes (pink camo IS coming back).
But none of that prepared me for their new store in Washington, south of Tacoma in Lacey.
Think REI, but with guns, hundreds of fishing poles, and actual fishing boats (in the store), all shiny with that sparkly paint Kid loves. Plus, a real fish tank and pretend small town scene shooting range (with guns down low for the kids!).
But what catches your eye upon entering is this:
They have an enormous display of stuffed wild animals, some with plaques of when and who “took” them.
And there’s not just the regional selection of beasts. No, they have creatures from all over the world.
Now you can see for yourself what a kudu looks like. Well, at least the head of one.
It’s not that I am against hunting completely, but as I stared at the 50+ animals on display, I started realizing all these animals looking so majestic, probably looked even more majestic when they were alive, running, jumping, swimming. I mean, they even had prairie dogs. Who’s hunting those? They’re like the little cousin of meerkats, for cripe’s sake. Is this Anthony Bourdain’s newest amuse buche?
Plus, hunting to me is not sport when your biggest hardship is staying awake so you don’t fall out of the tower you are sitting in. I want hunters HUNTING. Marching into the wilderness, hungry, sober, trudging uphill, looking, listening, and maybe worried that a larger mammal is going to take their prize before they get safely back home. And possibly “take” the hunters, too.
Yes, I want the hunters to be hunted at the same time they are hunting. Level the playing field a little.
And if you’re gonna get that prairie dog, you BETTER plan on eating it. With a nice merlot sauce.
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I’ve been killing gophers by the dozen at my place. I never knew what kind of wine to serve with them though.
Yeah, merlot sauce is the way to go. You probably want to braise them, too, for ultimate tenderness.
You should be blogging about your mass gophercide, D! I’d love to read those comments.
And Cabela’s are all over the place with tons of dead animals in each one of them. My aunt and uncle worked at the one in Kansas City. I was shocked as well at what I saw!
Mmmm … prairie dog with merlot sauce. I really should have had that as my Father’s Day meal … (drool)
We have a version of that called Bass Pro Shops. My kids call it the redneck store. Dead animals everywhere, hunting/camping/fishing gear. They also have a coffee shop, so you can make a date of it. It draws and astounding number of people. I went in once and vowed never to return.
Hummm…which is more humane? Keeping a cow in the blistering southern CA sun with no shade and muck to their knees to fatten it up to Safeway’s Rancher Choice standards before shooting it or shooting it mid-stride in the wild where that morning’s breakfast took place in a cool meadow. If you eat meat (which I happily do), a sanitized shrink-wrapped package does not take away the fact that someone killed an animal so you could barbeque. And just because you don’t have a cow head on your wall doesn’t mean you don’t have a cow purse, jacket or wallet laying around the house somewhere. Its all the same….anyone who thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves to feel better. Not that I have any cow head or others on my wall either and yes there are a couple of leather coats in my closet as well. Just trying to get the point across that just because you don’t pull the trigger doesn’t mean someone isn’t doing it for you – mostly aimed at the “vowed never to return” attitude.
I think it’s one to use what you’ve hunted rather than kill for just a token or trophy head.
Everyone should watch 30 Days, the animal rights episode, on the FX channel. That’s an eye opener on what happens at the huge factory farms to feed us.
I appreciate places like Cabela’s. It’s a handy way of keeping track of people who should be encouraged to report for voluntary sterilization.