Books

My first book was A Life for Deer which is a highly readable account of how Nichola and I struggled to establish our deer enterprise in Auchtermuchty. It also contains a great deal about the biology of deer. It was subsequently reprinted as Fletcher’s Game – a Vet’s Life with Scotland’s Deer which included a new chapter on my experiences as a vet in the Foot and Mouth epidemic of 2001. My next book was Gardens of Earthly Delight – the history of deer parks.  I have spent much of my working life in deer parks. They are beautiful unique places and this book was an effort to understand why for hundreds of years people have created these islands of peace. Perhaps this is the book which I am most proud of and it is still in print. 

I contributed a book called Deer in the animal series published by Reaktion which discusses the biology and classification of different deer species and their place in human culture and history.

In 2022 a major book edited by me entitled ‘The Management of Enclosed and Domesticated Deer – International Husbandry Systems and Disease’ was published by Springer.

You can read reviews of all these books on this website. 

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Gardens of Earthly Delight: The History of Deer Parks

Always fascinated by the deer parks in which he worked, Fletcher wrote Gardens of Earthly Delight: The History of Deer Parks. It was published by Windgather Press in 2011 (ISBN 978 1 905119 36 3) and received excellent reviews in the national press including favourable attention from gardening historians.

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A Life for Deer

John Fletcher had his first book, A Life for Deer, published by Victor Gollancz in 2000. It is a campaigning autobiography describing the struggle to have deer farming established as a farming enterprise despite being denied the agricultural support that sustains sheep and cattle farming. In addition it describes much of the biology of deer and it combines a gripping story with thought-provoking views on history and its effects on modern life. The book had a series of enthusiastic features and reviews in The Scotsman, Herald, Times, Guardian, Independent, Scots Magazine, Country Life and many others as well as good radio and television coverage.

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Fletcher’s Game

Life for Deer was revised with the addition of a chapter on the author's experiences in the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and was re-published in paperback by Mercat as Fletcher's Game. (Mercat Press, Edinburgh, ISBN 184183 0585)

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Deer

In 2014 Reaktion Books published John Fletcher’s Deer in their animal series.

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The Management of Enclosed and Domesticated Deer: International Husbandry Systems and Diseases

This substantial book has been brought together by John Fletcher as the editor. It draws on his extensive experience gained from decades of working in (red) deer farming and advising people on how to run a deer farm for venison and on breeding red deer.

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