Why I Hunt: The Mediation of a Predator by Rick Bass Five years ago you might have found me hiding under my covers, praying with my eyes to a God I no longer believe in close hermetically, but not anymore. On these nights I offer a two-minute thank you for the love of karma; I look into the darkness and recognize the shadows as objects in my house rather than the faces of my dead grandparents. It's nice to open my eyes, but I've traded that old ignorant twinkle for a steady calm. I duck and cover myself again when an insect the size of my pupil comes within five feet of me, but from a distance I know I'm not that different from the tiny creature. If I am a predator, I am not the kind of predator that hunts but rather the kind that kills out of fear. I prefer the role of prey: it suits me. I avoid conflict: I prefer to spend time at home with my wife, I weigh less than 100 pounds, and I have been known to become paralyzed with laughter after being attacked by testosterone-charged family members. If a human or other animal my size or larger wanted me for dinner, I would be an easy target, even if my meat wouldn't be enough to feed a family of four. As a member and supporter of the earth's small, feeble peacekeepers (little humans with loud voices), I can say that, despite Rick Bass' honorable honesty, I found “Why I Hunted: A Mediation of a Predator” to be a threat to the female gender. Not all women are vulnerable, but with weapons the hunter can make anyone his prey. In the United States there are predators that prey on women like Bass prey on elk. If Bass's nonhuman targets are replaced with women and children, the essay has a quite different effect on the reader, although the topics do not change. When Bass describes his love as "sitting in some leaves, completely hidden and still, waiting and waiting" (63), I imagine him waiting in a park for an unattended child or an unaccompanied woman. My concerns about Bass's instincts are not neurotic. I am a loving woman who occasionally hugs trees and wants to feel safe in the world, I am not a card-carrying PITA member.