Dusk.
Martin Edwards watches shadows in the woods from a high seat.
He waits. He sits still, watching with his thermal camera.
He takes aim.
The bang of his rifle pierces the stillness.
He’s killed a buck, one of many wild deer roaming this patch of forest in Hampshire, southern England.
The deer population in Hampshire is out of control. No natural predators hunt them. Some human hunters there have stopped seeing deer hunting as a sport. They see it as a necessity.
There are now more deer in England than at any other time in the last 1,000 years. An estimated two million of the animals roam the woodlands. And that means trouble. They forage in forests, killing young trees and destroying birds’ homes. They gobble crops. This means trouble for deer too. There isn’t enough food for all of them, and some starve.
“They will produce more young every year,” says Mr. Edwards. He points to some young hazel shrubs with half-eaten buds. “If there’s too many deer, you will see that they’ve literally eaten all the vegetation up to a certain height.”
Much of the venison in England is sold in restaurants. A few years ago, countries around the world limited activities due to a spreading global sickness called a pandemic. People didn’t eat out. Restaurants didn’t buy deer meat. More deer survived to frolic, munch, and reproduce more, and more, and more of their kind.
Some suggest building deer fences. But many say only hunting will really help.
Venison is a nutritious, low-fat meat. The solution to the “oh deers”? Sell deer meat to grocery stores and restaurants again.
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. — Genesis 9:3
Why? History is the story of the world. God works through all of history—and that includes what happens during or after a pandemic and even how we develop language to describe events.
Recommended Reading: The Pevensie children make their way back to England from Narnia while hunting the magical, elusive, white stag. To learn more, see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
