The Buck Moon anticipates the buck deer’s antlers, which by now are nearly as full as they will grow for the year.

Three kinds of deer might have lived in biblical Israel, among them the Persian fallow deer. The whitetail deer in Kentucky are slightly larger but the species’ respective lives follow the same seasonal rhythm. Observing wildlife in their yearly progression enjoins us to Jesus’ contemporaries, and to people living much, much before— both in the Middle East and the Americas.