A different kind of "horn porn"

Boyfriend and I love watching hunting shows on TV, but there's a reason we call it "horn porn" - you willingly endure a lot of bad dialogue, cheesy music and low production values just to get to the "good parts," where you might either witness an expert shot or actually learn something of value.

But lately we've turned away from Versus and the Outdoor Channel to watch a fascinating new show on the Discovery Channel: The Alaska Experiment. It's a reality show that puts four teams of people in Alaska as winter approaches and makes them fend for themselves.

I love survivor shows in general because I like learning what you can do to take care of yourself out in the wild. But I love this one in particular because a bunch of non-hunters have to hunt to survive - they learn very quickly that they really need protein. And they learn hunting isn't as easy as they thought.

Sometimes they come home empty-handed (been there). But sometimes they're successful.

In last night's show, Tim, the handsome IT guy from Southern California, not only shot a mountain goat, but helped dress it on the spot, then packed 100-plus pounds of meat back to his camp. I loved it when he got back to camp and showed his teammates what he'd gotten - and seeing the look of pride in his face. Here's a guy who probably never dreamed he'd kill an animal, and he was beaming when he brought it home. Like your cat does when she drops a dead mouse at your doorstep. Like my boyfriend did when he started hunting and proudly brought home his first ducks. Like I do every time I actually hit what I'm shooting at. Does this make him the stereotypical vicious, cruel, salivating killer?

As the team fried up some of the meat and ate it, I loved hearing one of Tim's teammates recall that she'd thought the show was going to turn her into a vegetarian, but she was feeling quite the opposite at that moment. Not so gross now, is it?

The cool thing is these people are hunting just like we do, only this show portrays it in a context that's neither garish (lots of cheering, whooping and pumping of fists) nor hysterical (oh how dare they kill those poor little animals). It is what it is: hunting for food.

I clearly see myself reflected in this show - especially because I, too, am still pretty new at this, and I, too, am hunting to put food on the table. The only question is whether non-hunters will realize this is what hunting is, or whether they'll continue to compartmentalize it and say this hunting is OK because it's survival, but hunting when you could go to the Piggly Wiggly, Kroger or Safeway is somehow a sin.

© Holly A. Heyser 2008