“I want to get a bright orange hat, like the one that they were wearing in the gun safety course,” Husband said excitedly, after explaining to me why people wear camouflage.

“But, that makes no sense – won’t the deer see you?” I asked.

“No, they can’t see that color – they only see tan or similar, and the camouflage breaks up your form so it makes it difficult for them to see you,” Husband shared. “It’s similar to tigers and their bright orange coloring. It makes it so their prey can’t see them.”

“What preys on tigers?” I asked, concerned for the tigers.

Husband sighed, “What?”

He looks annoyed. People often think that meat from predators doesn’t taste good, but after the Trapper’s Convention the other week, I looked up all kinds of game meat and which were the best and worst. Beaver is tasty.

I am kinda sad that the beavers that were skinned at the convention last weekend weren’t sitting in freezer camp, waiting for someone to make them dinner. I don’t know if I want to eat beaver.

Shit. Focus. He’s still talking to me.ÂSomething about tigers and prey and what might be preying on tigers. I haven’t really considered the context of those words in the sentence completely. I probably should have before I asked the question.Â

Thoughtfully, I pondered what he said again. “Nothing. Nevermind.”

Bobcats most definitely can see orange. They can see orange and they are in our yard. They aren’t orange though. What prays on bobcats? Humans, sure. What else? Are tigers on the endangered species list?Â

“Humans prey on tigers. We do,” he offered.

I wonder if bears eat bobcats. Bears don’t taste as good as bobcats. We should get some rabbits soon. It’s almost winter. I still don’t know how to keep the rabbit’s water from freezing in the winter.Â

“Bobcats are supposed to taste delicious,” I said, matter-of-factly. “I don’t think I could skin and eat a bobcat. I would have a sad.”

“Uhhh …” he trailed off for a moment. “I don’t want to hunt bobcats. Wait, how do you know they are supposed to taste good?”

Ignoring the question, I continued, “It’s supposed to be really sweet. Like … sweet meat.”

Husband frowned. “That’s what they say about human meat too. I really don’t want anything to do with-”

I was already mid-google, searching the string ‘can you eat bobcat’ and had pulled up an AI blurb about bobcat meat before he asked me the previous question.

Cutting him off quickly, I started reading, “It isn’t that the meat has an unpleasant texture or flavor; it’s actually very good.” (This was from a blurb from Petersen’s Hunting – How to Cook Bobcat & Cougar Meat. Maybe I shouldn’t link the site here, given what comes next but yolo.) “The most common description I hear of both mountain lion and bobcat,” I continued, “is that it tastes like lean pork. And it does. The flavor is mild, almost as bland as far as game meat goes, with a texture that is dense and meaty.”

“I don’t think I want to eat bobcat,” he said. “I don’t want to hunt bobcat to eat, anyway.”

“What if you like bobcat meat? What if it’s really good?”

He made a face.

“What if you had to eat it? What if that’s all there was to eat?”

“Then I guess …”

“That’s how they hook you. Pretty soon that’s all you’ll want to eat. I bet that’s how cannibalism starts too.”

Husband walked away, muttering to himself, “Well, that escalated way too quickly.”