A Hunter's Confession tells the story of hunting in David Carpenter's life, including the reasons he once loved it and the reasons he no longer pursues it. When he was a boy, Carpenter and his father and brother would head out along the side roads and into the prairie marshlands searching for duck, grouse, and partridge. As a young man, he began skulking around the bushes with his hunting buddies and trudging through groves of larch, alpine fir, and willow in search of elk. Later, hunting became a form of therapy, a way to ward off melancholy and depression. In the end, as a result of a dramatic experience after shooting a grouse, Carpenter gave up hunting for good.
Winding through this personal narrative is Carpenter's exploration of the history of hunting, subsistence hunting versus hunting for sport, trophy hunting, and the meaning of the hunt for those who have written about it most eloquently. Are wild creatures somehow our property? How is the sport hunter different from the hunter who must kill game to survive? Is there some sort of bridge that might connect aboriginal hunters to non-aboriginal hunters? Why do many hunters feel most fully alive when they
Industry Reviews
"A sterling hunting memoir that abide loves for all creatures—including the human one."—Richard Ford
“a serious and sincere exploration of a hunter’s enjoyment and agony over the tradition he loves"—Sustainablog
“[Carpenter] writes expressively of the joys of the hunt: the hunter's heightened awareness of everything around him; the atavistic tension as hunter and quarry get closer; the humour, and occasional danger, when things go awry; the meals and stories shared with one's companions at the end of the day.”
—Montreal Gazette
“You don’t have to be a hunter or an anti-hunter to appreciate this book. You only need to love fine writing.”
—Jake MacDonald, author of In Bear Country
