What do Shock G, Alfred Tennyson, William Faulkner, Emily Dickinson, James McNeill Whistler, Dante Alighieri, J.M.W. Turner, Marilynne Robinson, Philip Larkin, Charlie Parker, the Inuit, Arthur Schopenhauer, Barry Lopez, Beethoven, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Bill Frisell, Swampy Cree, James Joyce, bagpiping, Wallace Stevens, and Sylvia Plath have to do with chukar hunting? McMichael connects these and more disparate sources to his time in the field to weave a dense fabric of meaning that reveals a fluid portrait of what many consider the epitome of upland bird hunting.

Selected writing from more than seventeen years of published and unpublished reflections and essays on chukar hunting, Chukar Culture: Memory, Dogs, Paradox offers McMichael’s ideas on how best to pursue this game bird with dogs, as well as his attempts to describe the complex emotions involved in the pursuit of killing game for sport. Bringing his knowledge of music and education into the mix, the pieces in this collection form a nuanced testament to chukar hunting that promises to enrich any chukar hunter’s appreciation of the hobby and edify those who—like McMichael himself—are ambivalent about it.

Praise for Chukar Culture: Memory, Dogs, Paradox:

“Richly paints the exhilarations, the disappointments, and the exhaustions of the chase, and the joys, frustrations, and heartbreaks of the human/canine partnership (dog’s lives are entirely too short). Especially well explored are a love of wildlife and nature, juxtaposed with the taking of life as part of the chase, which sometimes brings pangs of remorse or guilt. This is not a book that you will burn through quickly. Sometimes amusing, sometimes saddening, always engaging, the book will push you down paths of your own experience, some that are well-traveled and familiar, others that are old and overgrown, others where you might not yet, have trod.” — Mike Stamm, author of Strategies & Tactics for Chukars & Huns and Strategies & Tactics for Pheasants.

“McMichael is the real deal, relating the gritty part of chukar hunting, scraped knees and burning lungs … as well as the wonder and awe of working with dogs in beautiful places. Read this book at your peril – you too may yearn for scabby slopes and thin air, tough shots and tired dogs.” — Scott Linden, author of Training & Hunting Bird Dogs, and host of Wingshooting USA and Upland Nation.

essays on hunting

Chukar Culture: Memory, Dogs, Paradox