Heart and Blood : Living with Deer in America

Rating:
Summary: Great review and perspective of deer in America.
Review: As a National Park Service Ranger and animal lover I've personally and professionally struggled with the issues surrounding deer management -- Bullets or starvation, which is more humane? Deer abundance or ecosystem biodiversity? Etc. etc. I've also read a great deal of literature spanning the entire HEART and BLOOD spectrum. This is the most accurate, fair, and comprehensive treatment on deer management I've ever seen.

Richard Nelson is the epitome of the professional anthropologist. He walks with as much confidence in the scientific and statistical world of biology/wildlife mgmt. as he does in the socio-political world of mass media, voters, and taxpayers.

The veteran scientist will regard the imagery in a few of his more vivid passages as "filler". These readers should be reminded that if the management of deer wasn't an emotional issue there would be far fewer researchers employed in such capacity. Hopefully they also realize that when Nelson describes tracking a food stressed doe in winter with "...at last I found her at the end of her tracks like a pencil resting in mid sentence," he didn't choose those words to impress an English teacher but to describe to the layperson exactly what it is like to pursue a starving animal.

On the other extreme the animal rights activist may try to skip over all of Nelson's nuances regarding deer behavior, physiology, and biochemistry. However, Nelson goes to great lengths to interject such information at a gentle rate and in very accessible terms.

With sincere unbiased reporting he describes opposing positions on classic bipolar debates. Then with his own arguments Nelson blurs the dividing line so thoroughly that animal rights activist will find themselves whispering "I can see how a hunter could be an animal lover too." and wildlife managers will end up muttering "I suppose individual animal welfare is worth the millions being spent on finding viable management alternatives to the bullet."

To say that this book has something for everybody would not only be cliche, it would be inaccurate. This book has everything for everybody. If you don't believe me, get a degree in Wildlife Management. Spend hundreds of hours tracking deer, thousands of hours pouring over scores of boring scientific research papers, EISs, lawsuits, and "blood-thirsty" calls-to-arms by animal rights organizations.

Or save yourself a few thousand dollars tuition and buy and enjoy reading this book. Allow Nelson who has already done the "BLOOD" work to take you directly to the "HEART" of the dilemma in a mere 400 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for ALL hunters
Review: Heart and Blood is about human relationships with nature and specifically about the ways these are expressed in how we live with deer in the United States. Nelson offers some necessary biological facts about the differences in Whitetails and Mule deer and deer life cycles. Then he moves on to various discussions of human-deer relationships. We first learn about the attachments of some biologists who struggle with deer as captive subjects but also as individuals worthy of the respect that human's can give to fellow living creatures. We are also offered examples of different management strategies to deal with over-populations of deer in sanctuaries on the East and West coasts. The successes and failures of sterilization, hunting, and relocation are each reviewed. Nelson describes the political and social perils of either letting nature takes its course or implementing management interventions to manage deer over-population, a common problem in many areas of the United States. We are also taken along on hunts in the deer rich agricultural lands of Texas where there are lessons to be learned about the benefits of highly managing deer populations. We also accompany Nelson and animal rights activists as he tries to understand their disruption of the annual Wisconsin deer hunt. Nelson, a Wisconsin native, contrasts the animal rights activists concerns with individual deer and the arguments of hunters and some wildlife biologists about the need for hunting to control deer populations. Do we let nature takes it's course and let over-populations of deer die of starvation? Or, do we respond to over-population with hunting or other effective human-derived management approaches? These are essential questions about deer, old growth forests, and many other natural resource issues in the United States. In the final chapter the heart of the hunter, Richard Nelson, reveals himself. Schooled in the details of hunting by the Canadian and Alaskan Natives with whom he has lived, Nelson takes us along on his own deer hunt in Alaska, his home. Through his eyes we learn of the respect for deer that hunters can and should have. In this perhaps more than any other chapter we see an example of how human respect for deer and nature in general is a topic about which we need much more discussion.

Rating:
Summary: Great review and perspective of deer in America.
Review: Nelson explores deer history, management, and views in a thorough and unbiased review. He takes a personal perspective on values of hunting which will make the hunter and nonhunter alike ponder the marvels of the hunt.

Rating:
Summary: Heart of the hunter
Review: Seriously, and I've met few non-fiction books that I can say that about. I'm not a hunter but I found this book quite engaging. Hunting is only one focus of the book. There is great appeal for readers interested in wilderness and conservation issues in the U.S. Remarkably detailed, intelligent, and colorful examination of deer across the U.S.; Alaska, Texas, Wisconsin, California, New York, etc. Very well-written; not a word is wasted and the whole is beautifully composed.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Seriously, and I've met few non-fiction books that I can say that about. I'm not a hunter but I found this book quite engaging. Hunting is only one focus of the book. There is great appeal for readers interested in wilderness and conservation issues in the U.S. Remarkably detailed, intelligent, and colorful examination of deer across the U.S.; Alaska, Texas, Wisconsin, California, New York, etc. Very well-written; not a word is wasted and the whole is beautifully composed.

Rating:
Summary: Heart of the hunter
Review: This book is the most thorough, most comprehensive, most graceful study of deer I have ever encountered. It deals with everything from the natural history of deer to the animal rights movement to different approaches to hunting and management. There's even a section that deals with the ways in which the film "Bambi" inextricably has altered Americans' views about deer. Nelson is honest about his own biases and convictions; he tells us that he is a hunter and that he believes in a strict ethical code with regard to his own hunting, a belief he learned while working as a cultural anthropologist with the Koyukon Indians in northern Alaska. Despite his strong beliefs, he is remarkably even-handed when dealing with the many controversial issues surrounding wildlife management in America today. I understand much better now why animal rights activists and wilderness preservationists do not always make comfortable allies. I trust this author; he has integrity. I loved "The Island Within" for capturing the mist-ridden world of an island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, and I loved this book every bit as much. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in deer, hunting, and the animal rights and environmental movements. It is balanced, fair, and majestic.