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Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America

de Richard Nelson

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512500,659 (4.3)16
"When it comes to deer, wildness is the greatest truth. And tameness is a tender, innocent lie."nbsp;nbsp;So writes Richard Nelson, award-winning author of The Island Within, in this far-ranging and deeply personal look at our complex relationship with this most beautiful, but amazingly elusive, creature.Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in Americanbsp;nbsp;begins with the author tracking a deer on a remote island off the Alaskan coast. From there he takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey, visiting such disparate territories of the deer as a hunting ranch in Texas; a state park in California; a Wisconsin forest on opening day of the hunting season; Fire Island, New York; and the suburbs of Denver--where the deer have become so numerous that they pose hazards to landscape, motorist, and pedestrian alike. Nelson examines the physiology of the deer, explaining how its unique digestive system and grazing habits have enabled it to thrive in the varied environments of the United States, whether wild, suburban, or urban. He investigates the different methods of controlling the deer's skyrocketing numbers, from the more "humanenbsp;nbsp;methods of relocation and sterilization, to hunting--in all its forms. Nelson also explores the role of the deer in traditional Native American life, takes us with him on a hunt, and awes us as he witnesses the birth of a fawn--an event rarely seen by humans. By the end of this journey we understand the deep reverence in which the author holds this magnificent animal. For to know the deer is to glimpse the hidden heart of wildness itself. In Heart and Blood, Richard Nelson has produced a book of outstanding insight and intelligence that brings us closer to our natural world and, in the process, closer to our own true nature… (mais)
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Marvelous book. It looks at all sides of the relationships deer and people have in this country. The author is a hunter himself but holds great respect for the animals and their environment, which you can palpably feel in his personal descriptions. The opening and closing chapters detail time he spent in the woods with his border collie dog- whom he depends on for alerting him to the proximity of wildlife with her keen senses. He follows deer but also has a close encounter with a marten (riveting scene) and is tailed by a brown bear, and in the final pages tells of witnessing a doe actually giving birth. It’s incredible. All the other chapters tell about deer, both from his research and personal experiences as he crosses the country witnessing how people live alongside or utilize the cervids. There is a chapter that tells of the evolutionary history of deer (more in brief than Whitetail Tracks) another that explains the difference between North America’s three deer species, their physiology and way of life. Most of the book is about deer / human interactions, with far greater depth and understanding than I once gleaned from Nature Wars.

Nelson visits many areas in turn: first an island in Alaska where deer are being studied, and discusses the impacts of various types of studies in general- including whether or not their means are considered humane. (Some studies have deliberately allowed deer to starve, others subject wild deer to a lot of stress). He visits an island off the California coast, and another near New York, where deer populations have far outgrown the space, looking at the various methods used to attempt controlling population numbers and why they don’t work. He goes to an area of Texas that has a very healthy deer population, where the wildlife live alongside cattle on ranches (they eat different plant types) and then are thinned each year by hunters who pay for access- and it’s very specifically managed.. He accompanies several Wisconsin hunters on public lands, where the control is slightly different, and contrariwise, also goes along with a group of animal rights activists in a different part of Wisconsin, whose aim is to interrupt the hunters (very civilly done, I might add). The varied hunts include stalking deer through the forest on foot, sitting in tree platforms near open areas where deer might visit, and walking with a group of men on a drive across fields and hillsides. Finally, he visits farmland in southern Wisconsin, where deer are also hunted- in this case mostly to protect the crops. Which is a very serious thing- it sounds like not a single crop grown could be brought to reasonable harvest if deer are not fenced out (which is often impractical) or shot.

Overall I felt like this was a really well-rounded look at the deer situation, one approached with admiration for the animal, honest friendliness towards various types of people the author visited and interviewed, willingness to try and understand other points of view, interpretation of the science for laypeople like myself, and finally, a love for the beauty of the land and wildlife. I was struck by how time and time again, occasions were reported where deer that were troublesome in suburban areas were relocated in attempts to control their numbers- and what a failure that is. Some die of shock during handling, and most or all of the rest die within the first year of being moved. And it’s expensive. Birth control for deer doesn’t work, which is explained. Natural predators are for the most part missing, so it leaves human hunters to keep the population in check. Otherwise the deer destroy habitat leaving it unfit for other animals as well. Oh, and there’s a chapter about forest growth, and how monocultures of trees replanted after logging usually don’t support deer or other wildlife and why. The author himself personally witnessed the state of deer starving in winter in an overpopulated area; it sounds like the misery and suffering of the emaciated animals deeply affected him. He not-so-subtly hints that he disagrees with the animal rights people who assert that starvation is nature’s way of handling the problem, opining that a hunter’s precise mark which ends their lives quickly and gives them purpose as someone’s dinner (for a family, it can supply a year’s worth of protein) is a far more humane option.

This is one of those books I lingered over, then read through the pages of references in the back, to add more to my never-ending, always-growing TBR. Including now several other titles by the author which look just as good.

from the Dogear Diary ( )
  jeane | Mar 25, 2021 |
I've been living with Nelson and the people and deer he observed for almost a month now - and a good and informative month it was. Nelson loves deer, and I don't mean that lightly, this is the animal that fills his spirit. Nelson, an anthropologist lived with the Kokuyu tribe during his formative post-grad years and this changed his entire outlook about how non-agrarian cultures regard the animals they depend on for their lives. It is as it has been for thousands of years relationship of interdependence - deer supplied the substantial native american population with around 80 % of their food, clothing, and many other things (say, needles made out of bone, bow strings of gut, and on and on and on) They need us now more than ever, strangely enough, because they would breed themselves out of all bounds without steady predation and that includes human predation, since there are few mountain lions and wolves - the deer's most efficient predator besides us - left to do the job. Nelson's interest is in the myriad ways human lives intersect with deer, in the past and present. He writes lyrically and sensitively about his own relationship with deer too. Living with the Kokuyu he learned to hunt and in so doing, learned something, he believes, about important truths at the core of every living being, that while you live you are part of a chain, and in order to live you must kill other animals, directly or indirectly. Hunting, done mindfully and respectfully, can bring a deeper appreciation and understanding of this fact. Nelson is interested and open to talking to anyone who loves animals and especially deer. He spends a few weeks with an anti-hunting group in Wisconsin, for example, and finds he has much in common with them - he is anything but your macho-man hunter. But he also makes it clear that the majority of deer hunters in his experience do it for much the same reasons he does. Curiously too, studies of the people who are for or against hunting indicate the most against people are urban, don't have pets, don't camp out, don't spend that much time hanging about outdoors. Very peculiar, that. Hunters tend to have close relationships with other animals than themselves, are more aware that they are, in fact, animals.... and so on. I've never had a problem with hunting as I've been aware that deer are a big problem for farmers if not kept in check. He devotes a chapter to the relationship of the Native Americans to the deer, their land management practices and other aspects of how they approached hunting. Other groups Nelson spend time with range from researchers in remote places in Alaska to farmers in a couple of different states, to a farm in Texas where the deer are 'managed' and you can buy time to hunt on the 10,000 acre spread during the season. This was, for many reasons, my favorite chapter. The people who run the farm are so appealing, so sensible about what they are doing - and they seem to attract great people to their spread, year after year after year. The last chapter and the epilogue are also stunning, Nelson's own experience hunting (and being hunted!) and witnessing the birth of a fawn. ****1/2 ( )
  sibylline | Jun 18, 2014 |
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"When it comes to deer, wildness is the greatest truth. And tameness is a tender, innocent lie."nbsp;nbsp;So writes Richard Nelson, award-winning author of The Island Within, in this far-ranging and deeply personal look at our complex relationship with this most beautiful, but amazingly elusive, creature.Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in Americanbsp;nbsp;begins with the author tracking a deer on a remote island off the Alaskan coast. From there he takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey, visiting such disparate territories of the deer as a hunting ranch in Texas; a state park in California; a Wisconsin forest on opening day of the hunting season; Fire Island, New York; and the suburbs of Denver--where the deer have become so numerous that they pose hazards to landscape, motorist, and pedestrian alike. Nelson examines the physiology of the deer, explaining how its unique digestive system and grazing habits have enabled it to thrive in the varied environments of the United States, whether wild, suburban, or urban. He investigates the different methods of controlling the deer's skyrocketing numbers, from the more "humanenbsp;nbsp;methods of relocation and sterilization, to hunting--in all its forms. Nelson also explores the role of the deer in traditional Native American life, takes us with him on a hunt, and awes us as he witnesses the birth of a fawn--an event rarely seen by humans. By the end of this journey we understand the deep reverence in which the author holds this magnificent animal. For to know the deer is to glimpse the hidden heart of wildness itself. In Heart and Blood, Richard Nelson has produced a book of outstanding insight and intelligence that brings us closer to our natural world and, in the process, closer to our own true nature

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