Badgers of any kind have my respect. There's a video, going around recently, taken of a honey badger that is wrapped in the coils of a 9 ft. python. The constrictor is slowly tightening the wraps on the badger, but he continues to struggle to get free, which he does. Then, instead of running off he attacks the python and kills it. As he is doing so two jackals try to move in and steal the meal from the badger. No dice. The badger runs off both jackals, then drags the python into the brush.

Predators so adeptly equipped as the raptors and badgers will be given a pass on my gastronomic bucket list. I did know a man who claimed to have eaten a hawk. When I asked him how it tasted he replied wryly, "Most like an owl."

May God bless America and those who defend her.