blue tongue?
Contributors to this thread:West Virginia
From: babysaph
16-Sep-17
I hear those rumors every year. I hope not
From: sundaynwv
18-Sep-17
What is the wvdnr saying about it? What counties have confirmed cases?
From: sundaynwv
18-Sep-17
Is that 458 in one county? What county in WV is that adjacent to?
From: gobbler
18-Sep-17
Pike is adjacent to Mingo.
From: sundaynwv
19-Sep-17
Mingo only had 386 deer taken last year. Could be a issue for bow only counties.
From: Rutbuster
19-Sep-17
Maybe nobody uses the electronic checking system.
From: Rutbuster
19-Sep-17
I'm sure that is no one thing. A combination of numerous things contribute to the low numbers.
From: sundaynwv
19-Sep-17
If deer numbers are low in Mingo County, then an outbreak of EHD can decimate the herd they have.
From: Rutbuster
19-Sep-17
I would agree.
From: hookman
19-Sep-17
I would say rutbuster is pretty close about electronic system not being used. Also coyotes has got to be hard on deer.
From: WV Mountaineer
26-Sep-17
How bad is it?
From: pawpaw
27-Sep-17
I haven't saw any dead deer but a friend of mine in Lincoln county says there are several you can see from the road around where he lives.
From: wv_bowhunter
27-Sep-17
What part of Lincoln County, Pawpaw?
I am in North Central, near Hamlin and luckily we haven't noticed any here close to home as of yet.
From: gobbler
27-Sep-17
This outbreak is EHD which is strain 2. Blue tongue which affected the eastern panhandle last year is strain 3. All the tests coming back this year are strain 2. Everyone needs to remember that before you pick up a buck skull you need to contact a NRPO and get a pickup tag to make it legal. If someone is caught with a pickup skull with rack without a tag you can get in trouble. If it's a big rack the enhanced penalties might be attached and someone could be looking at a couple thousand dollar fine for possessing a rack without getting a tag first. Just FYI
From: gobbler
27-Sep-17
No problem, I understand. I was just taking it as a chance to make a public service announcement. LOL
I hate that ya'll are loosing that many deer. You don't have a surplus to lose.
Good luck and hope for a killing frost soon!
From: gobbler
27-Sep-17
A good frost will kill the midges that transmit the disease. It won't help any deer that has already been infected. It just helps assure that no more deer will get infected. You are right that they say it can't be transmitted to humans but at the same time it is recommended than any deer that appears to be sick not be consumed. EHD doesn't kill every deer it affects. A deer that was infected but survived may have residual hoof deformities. One year my brother shot a buck in Maryland while we were hunting and it had obvious hoof deformities. We were pretty sure he survived the infection and was in good health. It was early in the rut and he was fat and healthy chasing a doe when he killed it.
From: Babysaph
27-Sep-17
I think the DNR dumped off those midges when they dropped the rattlesnakes and coyotes. LOL. Jus kidding but I hate to see deer killed this way.
From: gobbler
07-Oct-17
Elk can be bitten and get the virus but it's rare for it to have any significant effect on them like it does to deer. Our elk are doing ok. My wife took this picture yesterday morning.
From: babysaph
07-Oct-17
I have blue tongue after climbing those Pendleton county mountains in the heat all weekend
From: Jim Casto Jr
07-Oct-17
Oh my... that's a tremendous bull! Looks like a clean 7 x 7.
From: gobbler
07-Oct-17
It's an 8x7
From: gobbler
07-Oct-17
From: gobbler
07-Oct-17
I'm originally from a little place called Matoaka in Mercer county. It's close to WY county border.
From: gobbler
07-Oct-17
I grew up there in 60s and early 70s. It was a thriving little town then , now it's a run down ghost town. Sad!
From: Babysaph
08-Oct-17
Nice pics of elk, it's nice to have them here.
From: WV Mountaineer
03-Nov-17
My brother n laws is a boss on a strip. They found this deer. DNR said EHD. 191 and change. Jim said it’s bad. Lots of dead deer
From: gobbler
03-Nov-17
That’s officer Rockel from Mingo county. Was it in Mingo?
That’s a shame
From: gobbler
03-Nov-17
I talked to officer Rockel. This was a poached Buck from last year, not an EHD death.
From: WV Mountaineer
03-Nov-17
Well. it looks like I'll have to give my brother in law a hard time for lying to me. That makes me now wander if he sent that to deter me from hunting down there or, if they were truly finding dead deer. HMMM?
From: gobbler
03-Nov-17
Officer Rockel said they had found quite a few dead bucks but nothing like that one. This one was poached with a rifle on Mingo/Wayne county border in early Nov. last year.
From: WV Mountaineer
04-Nov-17
I hate to hear that the deer was poached and, I hate to hear about the EHD. I have had a couple loggers tell me they have found dead deer in the Gilbert and, Gary area of Logan and McDowell Counties. They said blue tongue but, I assumed they meant EHD. When Jim sent me that pic with the story it was found dead, killed by "blue tongue", I just assumed that was further confirmation. Both are terrible losses in my opinion. However, I'd love for the poaching offense for a deer like that be a felony that restricted firearms ownership and hunting privileges forever. It won't stop all of it but, it would maybe deter some of it. What a shame for a deer like that to be killed illegally. God Bless men
