Had a deer on the property yesterday that just wasn't acting right. Wife seen him first. A little 6 point. He was laying at the edge of a pond. The pond is down about 3 ft right now so there's roughly 5 extra ft of shore. At first he appeared to just be bedded down. He would hold his head up for a moment then slowly drop it down then raise back up an drop again. Over and over for about 20 mins. Then he tried to get up and was extremely wobbly, staggering, kinda like he was drunk. He fell back down and continued the same mannerisms. We watched him for a good 2 hrs and he just couldn't get up, couldn't keep his legs under him. For a bit I thought maybe he had a broken right front leg but I ruled that out. He had no outward signs of injury. I finally had the thought of EHD and decided that was what we were witnessing. I called Ga DNR and spoke with a gal who took my name and # and said she would have a tech call me. Sure nuff about 4 hrs later a fella called and the minute I said acting funny, drunk, near a pond, he said that was probably the case. I was surprised he didn't want to come take a look. He expired over nite right there in the same spot. The more I read about it, I find its a lot more common than I thought. And lord knows the conditions are prime for it right now. Extremely dry, hot, end of summer, etc. Anyone else seeing this ?
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EHD ?
- Thread starter Tarpenter
- Start date
Deerhead
Senior Member
Hate to hear that. What county?
deerbuster
Senior Member
Its extremely prevalent in Iowa and midwestern states right.
High road
Member
One year we found close to 20 deer dead in Lumpkin co it took our herd several years to recover. Just look around any water source most are near the edge or just in.We find a few every year or see evidence on harvested deer just look at the poor body condition and the messed up hooves. They will have a deep cut ring all the way around detaching the hoof and sometimes the hoof will be completely missing. This will be on all 4. The animal will look very poor almost zombie like in appearance. Google EHD and hooves pics and you can see what I'm talking about. A swollen tounge with ulcers in the roof of the mouth is another sign. Excess saliva and a wide open mouth with disorientation is another. I think some that make thru the initial attack perish later in the winter when times are hard right before the spring green up.
1980z28camaro
Member
Walked up on a dying doe today wondering what the problem is what county is this?
1980z28camaro
Member
What county is this? mine was in Jasper County
goshenmountainman
Senior Member
We have found three bucks in the last week dead, all were around water and two were twenty yards apart. My neighbor had a doe acting the same way at her pond yesterday, just a matter of time before she smells it to. These were all in Habersham.
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
Please shoot me a PM with more details about the location and who you talked to. While we can't always get our hands on every deer due to other work obligations, I'd like for our folks to try their best to get tissue samples to the lab for virus isolation.
uturn
Senior Member
Just tap on his Avatar and it should show Start Conversation...
treadwell
Senior Member
Correct me if I'm wrong, (like that wouldn't happen anyway on this forum, LOL), cows can catch EHD but rarely die from it. Is any wildlife biologist in the country looking at how to prevent this? I can't help but believe if cows where falling over left and right the country would invest millions in stopping it. Millions of dollars are spent in the hunting industry and a big outbreak has got to cost each state a ton of revenue.
Four of us have been waiting for 5 yrs to go to Iowa and Lord behold, right smack dab in the middle of south central Iowa where the deer are falling like fly's sprayed with Raid. Can't control nature, but now two of the guys want to cut their losses and bail. Can't say I blame them too much since we will add to the cost with lodging, gas and food. My thoughts are, go.....enjoy being in the midwest, possibly reduce my expectations of a 200" deer, (yeah..right) and not make it all about killing a Booner.
I hunted Illinois a few years back during the big die off and wound up killing a 160" 10 pt the last evening. Either way, it is what it is. Ya'll have fun this year and be safe.
Four of us have been waiting for 5 yrs to go to Iowa and Lord behold, right smack dab in the middle of south central Iowa where the deer are falling like fly's sprayed with Raid. Can't control nature, but now two of the guys want to cut their losses and bail. Can't say I blame them too much since we will add to the cost with lodging, gas and food. My thoughts are, go.....enjoy being in the midwest, possibly reduce my expectations of a 200" deer, (yeah..right) and not make it all about killing a Booner.
I hunted Illinois a few years back during the big die off and wound up killing a 160" 10 pt the last evening. Either way, it is what it is. Ya'll have fun this year and be safe.
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
Imagine trying to give every free-ranging deer a flu vaccine shot each year and there's your answer.
Sorta like the anti’s wanting to sterilize them in overpopulated areas instead of hunting...
Hunter922
Senior Member
Agree 100%
Big7
The Oracle
What is it? I've heard about CWD. Never heard of this.
mpwarrak
Senior Member
It only happens in farmland country where round up and other chemicals are sprayed. Weakens the deer's immune system, then they get the virus.
