by By Sydney Lea
The Lyons Press, 2002
Hunting the Whole Way Home is a memoir of a lifetime of upland bird hunting. It’s also a paean to embattled wild places in northern New England (author Sydney Lea lives in the Connecticut River valley in Vermont) and a closely examined and deeply felt account of the author’s own growth and maturing, both as a practitioner of field sports and as a human being.
Lea is a poet, novelist, teacher, and founder and editor of New England Review. He brings a poet’s sensibilities – and a deep respect for the craft of writing – to this book, which, in addition to the prose passages, includes seven of the author’s poems. The book is grounded in keen observations into hunting, fishing, and “the primary, tactile experience” of life and the land. Here’s a description of the scents in a bird cover: “frost-slackened apple, cinnamon whiff of dead fern, pungency of the slain grouse itself, pointer’s breath in my face as I congratulated her on the find.” The book deals unflinchingly with human nature. The author is willing and able to judge himself: “I’m pigheaded and spoiled, my purism ruinous, manic.”
Part of that purism centers on hunting behind hard-charging pointers. He writes, “I can’t bear a timid worker,” and “All I ask is that the dog check in every so often. Respectful friendship between us is the key, and such a relationship requires plenty of time to establish.” Time is at the heart of many of Lea’s writings: time that is running out for old dogs, old hunting partners, and certain parts of the region where Lea has put down roots. He scorns those who would despoil the land for profit: “In my corner of the globe, it is not only the ladyslipper, the woodcock, the indigenous trout, the black duck, the painted trillium and countless other wild marvels that give way to the ski condo, the mall, the office park; it is also a certain honorable way of viewing the world.”
Lea writes, “I speak only to and for the passionate hunter, the one who regards this business as more than mere sport.” I believe I’d disagree: Lea speaks to all thoughtful people who have a passion toward nature and the outdoors. His writing is rich and complex, only occasionally linear in time or process of thought. Lea has given us a book to savor, to read chapter by chapter, at quiet times when the mind is alert enough to appreciate the author’s telling insights and complex but clear and precise prose.
When Hunting the Whole Way Home was first published in 1994 by the University Press of New England, it received little notice. This new edition from the Lyons Press resurrects an important work about the outdoors. It includes a new introduction by the author, dealing with such matters as conserving woods and waters as well as a sustainable, working landscape. Lea concludes: “Let no one ever begin his or her tale by saying, ‘There was once a wild New England.’”