Call of the Mild

Learning to Hunt My Own Dinner
by Lily Raff McCaulou

I found this memoir about the author's introduction to hunting as a grown woman thoughtful and heartfelt. She certainly made me question some assumptions I had (prompted by media outrage) about gun ownership in America. A lot of the book is about her family life, and how her job led her to move from big city to semi-rural Oregon where she began to accompany her husband fly-fishing and found she rather enjoyed it. Her interest in learning to observe the river habitat expanded to a curiosity about hunting- would it allow her to see and read the forest in a new way? She had a healthy fear of firearms- in fact never really lost that- but took a beginner's hunter safety course (full of kids) and started by practicing at a shooting range and then hunting birds- pheasant, chukars, ducks, mourning doves, geese. She was fascinated by the role of dogs in hunting groups she went out with- (but the cover image is a bit misleading as her own dog was not a hunting companion). She kept hunting birds but also shot rabbits and eventually worked up her skills to attempt going after deer and elk. All the while wrestling with internal emotions about taking the life of an animal- becoming more conscientious about where the meat in grocery stores comes from, learning how invested many hunters are in conservation efforts, careful land management and wildlife protection. Overall I found it an eye-opening read (although I'm not interested in becoming a hunter myself) and I didn't mind that part of the book was just about family life and emotional upheaval she went through (a period of many deaths near her- elderly neighbors, family members and friends alike)- it made me understand her as a person better. This quote from one of the final chapters sums it up neatly:

Hunting has changed the way I think about the food I eat and my pet dog, not to mention the animals that live out of sight but all around me. It has give me a deeper connection to the fast-growing community where I live. It has changed the way I follow politics. Still, I have only brushed the surface. I have not yet wrung all the meaning I can out of this new adventure.

Borrowed from the public library

Rating: 4/5         323 pages, 2012