If You See a Deer is a mini-series companion podcast to Erika Howsare’s book, The Age of Deer (out from Catapult Books in January 2024). Along with Tyler J. Carter, a writer and academic, Erika explores questions about where nature and culture collide—mysteries of ecology and history that spring from our relationship with deer, a very familiar, yet wild, animal. Over four episodes, they talk to scientists, hunters, artists, taxidermists, and people who just like to watch deer in their yards, and ponder what it means for humans in our time to attempt to connect with wild animals.

Tyler and Erika begin to explore the relationship between people and deer by hearing from a backyard deer enthusiast, then dive into an ecological debate about whether deer are bad for forests. A farmer weighs in on how deer damage his crops, and a playwright mines the aftermath of a deer-vehicle collision. Along the way: deer stories, poetry, and more. Show Notes: The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors is available through books.catapult.co/books/the-age-of-deer/. The poet Cassandra de Alba may be found at cassandradealba.com. Ecologist Jay Kelly’s research is at researchgate.net/profile/Jay-Kelly-2. Historical ecologist Brice Hanberry’s research is at fs.usda.gov/research/about/people/bhanberry#research-tab. Farmer Michael Carter, Jr. is at thecarterfarms.com/. Aaron Mark’s play Deer is at aaronmarkwastaken.com/deer. The Virginia Audio Collective is at virginiaaudio.org.

Tyler and Erika look at how deer show up in American mythologies, and the older cultures that form its roots. We talk to a historian about why Americans keep changing our mind about hunters, spy on Daniel Boone’s love life, and ponder stories of shapeshifting deer from medieval England to Indigenous America. Plus, Erika visits a very strange tourist attraction where white deer once hung out with nuclear weapons. Along the way: poetry, Bambi, and more. Show Notes: The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors is available through books.catapult.co/books/the-age-of-deer/. The poet Sarah Gridley is at poetryfoundation.org/poets/sarah-gridley. The poem by Sir Walter Scott, “Hunter’s Song,” is at allpoetry.com/Hunter's-Song. Daniel Justin Herman’s book, Hunting and the American Imagination, is at openlibrary.org/works/OL8869658W/HUNTING_AMERICAN_IMAGINATION#overview. The Daniel Boone story was published in The Biographical Memoir of Daniel Boone by Timothy Flint. The Nlaka’pamux story was published in Tales of North American Indians, selected and annotated by Stith Thompson, and the King Arthur story came from John Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights. Deer Haven Park is at deerhavenpark.org/. More info about the Seneca Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice is at http://findingaids.library.umass.edu/ead/mums839. The Virginia Audio Collective is at virginiaaudio.org.

Tyler and Erika take a field trip to a taxidermist’s shop, then talk with an ancestral skills expert who collects roadkilled deer for meat, hides, and bones. We’re pondering what it is that gets memorialized or honored by these practices, what it means to be a hunter or a scavenger, and the long history of humans finding ways to use the bodies of deer. Along the way: deer stories, poetry, songs, and more. Show Notes: The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors is available through books.catapult.co/books/the-age-of-deer/. A brief history of taxidermy, and news on how it’s changing, are at smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-taxidermy-being-revived-21st-century-180955644/. Josh Barnwell is at bewelloutdoors.com/, and the gathering where we met is fireflygathering.org/. The Bulletin of Primitive Technology is at primitive.org. The poet Meesha Goldberg is at meeshagoldberg.com. The story of Wesucechak was published in Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature, edited by Brian Swann and Arnold Krupat. The Virginia Audio Collective is at virginiaaudio.org.

Tyler and Erika hear from an artist who uses composted deer bodies in her work, plus a hunter-artist making deep connections between herself, her audience, and the animals she kills. And then we find a connection of our own by scraping the flesh from a deer hide in Erika’s backyard. Along the way: deer stories, poetry, and more. Show Notes: The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors is available through books.catapult.co/books/the- age-of-deer/. The poet Mike Sikkema is at grcc.edu/faculty-staff/directory/michael-sikkema. The artist Madison Creech is at madisoncreech.com. More info about Madison’s collaboration with Erika is at wayback.archive-it.org/org- 2034/20230517015736/https://uncw.edu/cabartgallery/exhibitions/madisoncree ch__pressrelease.pdf. Lots more recordings of the poet George Oppen are at writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Oppen.php. The artist, writer, and hunter Christie Green is at christiegreen.net. The book Erika used to learn how to tan deer hides is Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Brains, Soap or Eggs, by Matt Richards. The Virginia Audio Collective is at virginiaaudio.org.