Coue's hunt. WTH??
Whitetail Deer
Friday Dec 14th Coue's Solo pack hunt
Friday Dec 14th Coue's Solo pack hunt
Coues Camp Dec 2018
Coues Camp Dec 2018
Nasal cavity
Nasal cavity
Blowfly Larva?
Blowfly Larva?
Please bear with me, im not much of a story teller but I thought this would be something to share and hear if anyone else had a similar experience. I will try to keep it short.
I went on a solo last minute backpack hunt for Coue's deer for opening day here last Friday. Long story short, I got the go ahead from work to have Friday vacation day and Saturday mandatory OT off. So on Wednesday night I threw my gear together and Thursday directly off of work I drove up into the mountains. By the time I hiked just over a mile in and gained 800 feet elevation to my camp spot it was well after dark. I got my camp set up and done with a mountain house for dinner it was just after 9pm. Temps the next morning were around 27 degrees. I was highly optimistic even though the sign was much less than I had seen in the past. By 7am I was in my tree stand, at 9am I saw movement down hill headed up in my direction about 80 yards out. I got my bow ready, and had the area previously ranged. He came through a 12 inch hole at 20 yards and I touched it off for a double lung pass-through. He jumped and went about 10 feet and stopped to look around, in the meantime blood was pumping out both sides like a faucet. He manage to walk with his head down another 25 yards and dropped dead. I had such an adrenalin rush I was afraid to exit the tree until I calmed down. One hour later I was on the ground. The point to this story isn't the hunt itself. Although this is by far my best Coues and a dream for me come true. However once I got the deer back to camp I decided against mounting it and going with a Euro so I removed the cape, as much meat as I could and the lower jaw bone. Some of my decision not to mount this guy was the cape was heavy and I knew I had at least 100 plus pounds to pack out. Thank god for trekking poles and being all down hill. Another reason, (most important) im planning a hunt in Alaska for Black tail in 2021 with my brother and need to save up for that hunt so im making a compromise to help keep the wife happy, (insert smiley face here) LOL. Anyway, when I removed the lower jaw bone I saw something up inside the nasal cavity move. On closer inspection I see these yellow worms up inside attached to the bone. I've seen these before, blow fly larva, or at least they look like them but never on or in a deer. I cant imagine what this poor buck must of been feeling nor imagine a blow fly going up his nose and laying eggs. Has anyone ever seen this before? I rarely make new posts and i have never shared more than one picture in a post. I will post/edit 4 pictures and hopefully be successful in getting them all here.
Congratulations on the nice buck... not the worms. Good work.
Congratulations on a great animal. My knowledge is zero on the larva thing.
Heck of a buck, Eric....congrats!
That is just crazy with the maggots!
Great buck Eric!
Congratulations!
I have seen those in Coues in AZ and MX, as well as in SW Texas. They are a bot fly larvae and can be pretty gross looking but don’t appear to hurt the deer.
Thanks Treeline, I had hoped i wasn't the only one to see that before. Bot fly larvae. cant imagine how it had to feel going up his nose! Thanks for the kind words guy's! My story probably doesn't express how really happy i am with this buck. Im still pinching myself, LOL
Yes, those are nasal bots. They're very common in deer in the midwest also. They're just incidental other than they can be quite annoying to deer as you might imagine.
Nice buck!
Awesome buck Eric. The larvae are not as awesome.
Having those things crawling around in your nose has to be pretty crazy! I can not imagine how they put up with it!
Great buck and story thanks for sharing and congrats!
Every buck I've killed has had them. Great buck, congratulations Eric.
Yea, my wife always comments that I am not allowed to bring Coues deer heads into the house until I’ve gotten all the worms out! Lol! Brought one into the garage once and set it on the floor and those grubs were crawling out all over. She kind of freaked out a little:-)
Congrats on a great buck, Eric. Good luck on your blacktail trip as well!
Thanks Bob, This is the first i've ever heard of them in deer but it good to know it's more common than I thought. I worked a couple dairy farms as a kid in Michigan. We had them in cattle nearly every time we butchered one. We had folks back there that ate the jaw/face meat in tamales and cow tongue. I hadn't seen this is 30 plus years and thought it was a back east thing.
I'll bet they make good bait for ice fishing!
Congrats on the buck! That is a beautiful deer.
Nasal bots - you are correct on them being botfly larvae. I see them often - can you imagine how miserable that would be??!!
Great buck!
Lee
Very common in deer in Texas, especially further south in the state.
Congrats on the great Coues!!!
We had bot flys on the dairy cows on Wisconsin when I was growing up. We'd sprinkle a commercial powder (rotenone from Watkins?) on their backs periodically that would kill the larva. Left untreated the cows would have big bumps o/in their backs at each larva. Nasty!
I've seen deer in AZ, both mule deer and Coues that had their ears loaded with ticks....doubt they could hear anything! My NV Desert sheep too.
Have seen these in south Texas whitetails as well. Great buck, congrats.
Great buck...Gross naval cavity.
Beautiful buck! Congrats to you. I cannot say I have much experience, but on the two AZ course deer kills I have been a part of, one my own, one my buddy’s, they both had bot fly larva deep within their sinus passages. Must be pretty common. Very gross!
Great buck!
And bonus panfish bait!!
Just gross. Congrats on a great buck!
Is anyone else's eyes watering and trying to clear your sinuses?
I had a small whitetail buck in October that I could hear before seeing normally. He would stop and blow and scratch his nose with a hoof about every 2 minutes. Wonder if that was the cause of his irritation.
Coues Buck Camp
Coues Buck Camp
orionsbrother, ha ha ha that's funny, a touch gross but funny.
I liked this shot but I didn't realize the darn Gatorade fell out of my pack. Anyone know how to photo shop it out?
Hey Eric , that is a dandy Coues Buck. I will be heading down your way for the Jan. deer bow hunt on Dec.27th. Interesting concerning the larva. Of the 4 AZ coues bucks I have killed, I did not see any evidence of those but I will surely examine the next buck I kill.
Great story. my best, Paul
Thanks Paul,
Good luck on your hunt down here. I'll be trying once again in January to stick a Muley. Cant seem to seal the spot and stalk deal on them yet but im getting closer. Lots of doe eyeballs they are running around with that time of year. Looking forward to hearing your story. If you run across one of those bails again, i think they are legal in Colorado, LOL
What bails??????????????????? OH that!
Great story about a killer buck, very well written. One of the things that stood out was the comment about both sides pumping blood like a faucet. Given the way things went with my buck this year I can understand the relief/joy of knowing you administered a clean kill. It's a strange dichotomy between us and the anti's. They see us enjoy those moments when we know we've done our job with near surgical precision, and label us bloodthirsty. What a shame. Glad you had such a great trip.
what kind of Teepee tent you got? Looks pretty roomy..
Heck yea! Nice coues.
I’ve never seen those in deer. Had a bot fly under the skin of my dog once thou
Congratulations... great buck. I clean skulls, seen it many times in mule deer and coues whitetail. Hard to believe they can breathe... Ed F
Are those the new Block targets, Paul?!
Here's a few videos you can enjoy while having dinner...
I've seen them many times in a deer's nasal cavities.
I can honestly say I don’t usually explore the navel cavity!
I watched a TV show, Monsters Inside, where Bot Fly's will lay their eggs in people while they are sleeping. Usually in warmer climates. Interesting show..... NICE BUCK!!!
If you go to S. America you stand a good chance of getting them. You have to smother them with either duck tape or Vaseline until they poke their head out of the hole....then you can grab them. They put up quite a fight before coming out.
I have seen Bots in deer sinuses but not a herd like your deer....usually just one.
Empty Freezer, That is a Lux XP 1 person tent with 1 person screened in and bath floor. I have enough room to store most if not all of my gear inside out of the weather but not in my sleeping area. Love this tent. it's light, fights the wind off very well. I found in high winds it actually seals the outside shell to the ground on the side the wind is blowing against. It does not come with a center pole which makes it even lighter. I use one of my trekking poles as the center pitch. For solo back packing it's a great tent.
Yep, Here in AZ that is very normal. Kind of freaks you out the first time or two. We had one buck that had a larvae the size of a large baby carrot in it's nose. That was interesting!
Beautiful Buck BTW, Congratulations!
Great looking buck, congrats!
I’m ready to get back down after those Coues in a few weeks.
Great buck, congrats!
Bot fly larvae as stated. Found them in nearly every deer brought in when I had the taxi shop in Southern IL. They are very common.
Nice Coues buck G B A ! I'd just have to try and forget about the nasal bots.....
