Rick Bass

Words: 1025
Pages: 5

When most people think of hunting, they tend to think of it as a primal quest for meat, which is technically true, but there is more to it than that. In the essay Why I Hunt, by Rick Bass the reader is given a first hand account of what it is like to hunt in the wild lands of northwestern Montana. Bass also expresses several of his beliefs in the ways hunting shapes people. Some of those statements I agree to and others not so much. Rick Bass´s essay, Why I Hunt, is a short, first person narrative about Bass´s experiences with hunting. The essay begins with Bass´s explanation of how he made it to Yaak Valley, Montana. He says that he “drove north until he ran out of country” and then “ traveled until he almost ran out of mountains” (Bass 743). Although Bass was already a hunter before he moved …show more content…
Bass also believes that people who hunt have better imaginations than people who don’t because hunters have to place themselves inside the minds of their prey in order to find a way to gain the advantage. A hunter faces a problem in the sense that their food has a mind of its own and is constantly trying to elude them. In a way, a hunter is partially shaped by it prey because in order to catch its prey the hunter must become the prey it seeks. Bass says this is the same way human hunters must think because they must “imagine where their prey might be, or where it might go.” (Bass 744). Hunting is an altogether controversial topic in today’s society. Some people argue that hunting is murder and is a barbaric action. I, however, believe that hunting is a good thing and should continue to be performed. I personally consider myself a hunter, but I consider it to be essential for a few other reasons besides the ones Bass expressed. Hunting for me is partially a product of heritage. My father is a