You would think that beneath the surface of any poker game there is naked testosterone, the desire to crush the other players, but I don't see it. In fact I see a bunch of guys sitting around enjoying the challenge of the game and each other's company. It is, in a word, civilized.

More so, I suppose, because it's low-stakes. Last night was my best ever, winning 29 bucks. The money is about equal to my worst, and many nights I just about break even. Cheap dates, we are. Of course because we're in the middle of hunting season we consume a lot of venison, not cheap on the market but free, sort of, to the guy who shot it.

Out in the shed where the deer are slaughtered, it's Lord of the Flies Lite, with deer heads, and even the old grizzlies with plenty of points look scared after life on the run. There is an element of civilization here, with the rationale for killing so well-developed and so far from the original rationale: survival of the hunter. We are way past survival. Now it's wildlife management.