Rereading: THE PHANTOM DEER by Joseph Wharton Lippincott

Published in 1954, Lippincott was ahead of his time in advocating for the preservation of the tiny subspecies of White-Tailed Deer that live in the Florida Keys. This book is about that.

Old Man Hickey lives alone in a cabin he built on Big Pine Key, one of the larger Florida Keys. He gets along by fishing in his skiff and selling what he doesn’t eat. Hickey is close to nature, and loves his world, especially the dwindling population of Key Deer, now less than 100 individuals. There’s a hunting season for them, but the deer’s biggest threat is poaching parties of hunters led by Fat Finney and his dogs in the off-season. Hickey opposes him when he can. One day the old man finds a fawn orphaned when its mother was hit by a car, and decides to try raising the young buck in his cabin. To his surprise, he’s able to get the fawn to drink milk, and soon it’s thriving and following him everywhere.

Hickey’s nephew Jack comes for a summer visit, and at first he seems out of place in the natural world, but the fawn wins him over, and the two youngsters become friends. Jack sends for his dog, Towser, who also fits in well, and the three do a lot to thwart the poachers. When Jack goes back to Miami to school, Towser stays with Hickey.

As the fawn grows, he finally joins his own kind, running free on the Keys, and in time becomes a handsome buck that’s the prime target of Finney and his gunners. Much of the story revolves around their attempts to shoot this Phantom Deer that seems to have wisdom beyond its years, but still the herd continues to dwindle. And Hickey’s getting older, how long can he stave off the guns of Finney?

I love this story, and have since my childhood. In fact, the first time I reviewed it was in 1962 at age 11. I’m happy to say that the Key Deer have long been protected, and current numbers for the herd puts it at over 700, though they are still endangered by habitat loss. I’d like to think Lippincott’s book made at least some difference in their survival.

Highly recommended.

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