LOOKING AT DEER

Deer are the largest wild animal that many people commonly encounter, bringing an aspect of wildness even to our suburbs and cities. But even though we have lived in intimate proximity to them for centuries, deer are hard to pin down. They appear in many guises—as roadkill; as pests that mow down our gardens; as disease-bearing vectors; and as treasured wildlife to quietly observe.

In the vein of World of Wonders and A Shepherd's Life, Erika Howsare probes the paradoxes of our human connection to deer, using them as a lens through which to observe our perpetually uneasy fit with the natural world. Howsare brings her deeply curious reporter’s spirit and poet’s lyrical sensibility to her research and her own encounters with deer. Readers are invited along as she traces deer through history and investigates the places where humans and deer meet now – an army depot where visitors gather to watch a famous herd of white deer grazing; town meetings about urban culling programs; roadkill carcass pick-ups; Native American hide tanning demonstrations; bow-and-arrow hunts with family members.

Deer possess a remarkable adaptability – much like their human counterparts, they are changing with the times, and even finding new ways to thrive as development and changing climate patterns affect their environment. While we’ve been busy supplying them with new feeding grounds, we’ve also largely driven out their other natural predators, leaving the control of their population squarely in our own hands.

Our relationship to nature is at a critical juncture, as a growing recognition (amplified by the pandemic) dawns that we have irrevocably altered the planet and our own future upon it. Crisis engenders a need for new understandings, and readers are increasingly turning toward the natural world. Looking at Deer brings a new approach to this well-established category by showing that these animals do not live in a mythical world apart, but rather forcing us to consider ourselves as neighbors whose fates are bound together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Erika Howsare knows deer intimately, making her home in rural Virginia. She holds an MFA from Brown and works as a local journalist covering environmental issues among an eclectic range of other topics. Her essays and reviews have appeared at Longreads, The L.A. Review of Books, Entropy, and The Millions. One of her essays was named a Notable Mention in both Best American Food Writing of 2020 and Best American Science and Nature Writing of 2020. She's also a well published poet with two small-press poetry books.