"Doe Season" is a short story by David Michael Kaplan, first published in 1978. The story revolves around a young girl named Andy, who spends her summer vacation with her uncle, a hunter, in the woods. The narrative explores themes of identity, family, and the complexities of human relationships.
Kaplan writes with spare, precise prose. The winter woods are “cold as a metal spoon,” the doe’s eye “large and dark and wet.” He doesn’t over-explain Andy’s emotions; instead, he renders them through physical sensation—the ache of cold feet, the smell of gun oil, the sudden, shocking warmth of blood on bare hands. Doe Season By David Michael Kaplan Full Text
Mac is not a villain. He is loving but limited. He believes the woods are a place of clarity and tradition. He cannot see that his daughter is not a son. His gentleness (he calls her “honey,” he carries her when she is lost) makes the story more tragic, not less. "Doe Season" is a short story by David
David Michael Kaplan's "Doe Season" is an evocative short story detailing a nine-year-old girl named Andy who experiences a traumatic loss of innocence during a hunting trip in the Pennsylvania woods. The narrative centers on her transition from a tomboy striving for male approval to a young girl confronted with the violent, gendered realities of adulthood. Kaplan writes with spare, precise prose
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