The speaker is a human being standing outside at night, and a cough is enough to make a deer snort in alarm. That small moment sets off a strange act of self-recognition. The speaker imagines being seen as a predator: "hungry & dangerous," with bones stuck in the throat. Yet there's also a softer, "feline" side, fond of comfort, which has dulled the old instincts.
The speaker wants to speak to the deer and point out an odd fact: humans got rid of the big predators that once hunted it. That makes people both enemy and protector, a bit like a herder with his animals. The tone is wry and thoughtful rather than boastful, as the speaker wonders whether either side should resent the other.
The ending shifts the mood. The woods are tamed, but the night still hums with rasping, ticking, flashing creatures, and the "dark milk of stars" above. The poem closes in quiet wonder, with a sense that wildness hasn't completely gone.