Erika Howsare explores connections between humans and deer at Flyleaf talk

At a talk on Tuesday in Flyleaf Books, Virginia-based author Erika Howsare untangled the centuries-old tale of humans and deer. 

In her new book "The Age of Deer," released on Jan. 2, Howsare synthesizes the relationships between humans and deer, and the questions they raise about the blurred boundaries of the natural world. 

In her talk, Howsare explained that deer have represented many things throughout American history. In colonial North America they were seen as icons of wilderness. Today, they are suburban pests. 

Howsare has a background in local journalism, and does not describe herself as a deer specialist. While she did not know much about deer when she began writing her book, Howsare said she was swept up by a heart-based connection with the animal.  

“It was all kind of starting from square one,” she said. “In a way, that's what made it fun.”

The chapters of the book are the consolidation of research Howsare completed over the past five years. For the project, she spoke with many individuals who work with deer, from Indigenous groups to a man who cleans roadkill.

The book details the mythology, colonial history, conservation science, art, literature and ecology behind the animals.

“We do have such a long, deep connection to [deer] through history,” she said. “In our contemporary world, our relationship is very fraught, it's very tangled, it's full of contradictions.”

Originally from rural Pennsylvania, Howsare’s first exposure to the animal was through hunting culture.

LéChan Christian, who was included in Chapter 8 of the book, met Howsare at a deer hunting workshop. Interested in each other's work, Howsare introduced the premise of her book to Christian, who lives in Raleigh.

As a Black and queer woman, Christian wanted to give her perspective. She said there are many barriers of accessibility for people of color and queer people to experience the outdoors and hunting in rural areas.

Christian, a New York City native, has long been fascinated by animals. Now in North Carolina, hunting and trapping are a way for her to slow down and notice the animals around her.

“I see the reciprocity between the animal and myself,” Christian said. “It’s my job as a human to be a steward. Without the paternalism of a Teddy Roosevelt, I will do my part to ensure that the animal is taken care of and harvested in a respectful way.”

In recent decades, deer populations have been increasing in urban and suburban areas, changing ecologies, annoying humans and threatening native environments. Reactions by humans to deer vary widely.

After the talk, Howsare asked anyone to share their deer stories. One listener told her they feed a deer in their backyard, an action that they labeled controversial. 

“The correlation between people who hunt and activists for deer, and the balance between loving an animal and hunting it, was a whole concept that I didn't know anything about,” Alex Reinhart, an events coordinator at Flyleaf Books, said.

Reinhart said she likes to attend nonfiction events because she is introduced to unfamiliar topics. Flyleaf frequently hosts authors of both fiction and nonfiction. They carefully selected “The Age of Deer,” to be featured because of cultural and ecological relevance to North Carolina.

Howsare said she hopes those who read her book will be encouraged to think critically about the conventional wisdom they hold regarding wildlife.

Currently, she doesn’t plan on writing more about deer, but is interested in researching plants and animals in cities that seem out of place.

“I just had a hunch that they would be a really good topic for digging into those places where the human world and the natural world overlap and influence each other,” Howsare said.

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