David Carpenter

For those of us living the city life, what makes A Hunter’s Confession a compelling read?

Too much of one activity creates a need for its opposite. Many urban dwellers (and I’m one of them) cry out for solitude in nature. And hunting can be a profound engagement with solitude This book is full of hunting adventures, and to a city dweller, these adventures have an exotic savour.

This book is also about food. Good food. Real food. The stuff Michael Pollen writes about so eloquently about in The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. The stuff Susan Bourette writes about in Carnivore Chic. There is a strong movement in North America away from fast food and junk food and toward nourishing food, and no meat I have ever tasted trumps wild game. I am of course referring to species that are in great supply, like snow geese and whitetail deer. This book is much more about giving life than the taking of it.

For those who have never hunted, it’s difficult to see how it has spiritual resonance. How would you describe the hunter’s deeply personal connection to his sport?

Hunting and tracking allow a very dramatic connection with nature because it takes place at that level of predation and flight where the animals live each day. Hunting takes us back to our primal origins, reminding us of the animal and warrior that still exist within us today, even though we are civilized. Hunters think less, and call more deeply on their instincts—this is where the true connection to nature takes place. It takes a keen animalistic focus that is both physically and mentally taxing, all of which is spiritually rewarding and thus immensely satisfying at a primal level.

How have you evolved as a hunter, but also as a human being?

As an older hunter who has hung up his guns, I have evolved, like many other former hunters, into a great lover of animals and the wilderness. There is a state of abiding vigilance that allows hunters to protect the habitat of animals they used to hunt. After all, who doesn’t have at least the potential to love wild animals?

In your opinion, what is the future of hunting in Canada? Will it gain in popularity due to the current trend towards growing and harvesting one’s own food, or will the perceived bad ethics of hunting contribute to its demise?

I suspect that hunting is still on the wane in most of Canada and all over North America. As long as we continue to destroy wilderness habitats in the name of progress (tourism, urban sprawl, mining, forestry, drilling, roads through pristine wilderness), we have fewer reasons to seek solitude in the natural world. And with the expanding line of toys available to wealthy hunters, snowmobiles, ATVs, SUVs and such, it is harder to find solitude. I am starting to think that well-protected wilderness habitats and the solitude they allow are perceived to be bad for business. If the wilderness continues to be nibbled to death by the duck of commerce, then hunters will turn into a memory of who we used to be.