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.

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.

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.

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.