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EHD in 2021 again

DEC just confirmed EHD in Ulster county and investigating more cases in westchester, putnam, dutchess, etc. here we go again! 2 years in a row.

Saw that on another website. Not good #m got hit hard with it last year.

Been getting reports of it on both side of the hudson river

Absolutely a big problem again in some areas. I had a very big crop of peaches and pears on my property. I don't own the woods behind me and (unfortunately) do not have permission to hunt there but in years past the deer would be hammering the fruit in my yard. Several hundred acres of undeveloped woods including Fishkill Creek behind my property. I've only seen one lone doe in the past 3 weeks. Nothing is touching the fruit. Deer have always been regular visitors across my property even when there is no fruit, not last year, and not this year.

Confirmed in Columbia County also. A lot of dead deer around the Blue Hill area just outside of Hudson on CR 31. Deer season is shot, in my opinion.

So far, almost 24 dead deer recovered from neighboring farms around CR31 and Woodchuck Rd./Livingston Rd.

Greene County is also being hit with EHD again, 20 deer dead at Sleepy Hollow Lake in Athens , last year they had 30 dead. Ed

The current count now stands at 31 dead deer. My cousin found 3 this morning, not 15 yards from his house. He lives right across the road from me. This encompasses the Blue Hill area of 4 separate farms and 10 private residences. Not headed in the right direction. The first frost, which supposedly kills off the midges is still weeks away.

Please send any information, observations, dead deer locations, etc... to the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab. They are collecting the data about it

11 more found between 2 farms yesterday. 8 in the AM and 3 in the afternoon. One fawn still with spots was walking alone and not looking too good either. And yet the DEC pushed forward with this early antlerless hunt, which started Saturday in selected WMU's, extended hunting hours, the holiday hunt, and continues to sell DMP's. They knew about this 6 weeks ago, and yet just want to sell licenses. We are doomed if this continues on.

Below was announced today. So 1,500 last year and 700 so far this year. Likely means it's double or triple those numbers.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Thursday confirmed Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Nassau, Oswego, Suffolk, and Ulster counties. DEC is tracking suspected cases in Albany, Jefferson, Oneida, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester counties and new reports of dead deer to track the spread and estimate the number of deer succumbing to this disease. To date, DEC has received reports of approximately 700 dead deer."

So a friend contacted the DEC to report a dead doe that he had been observing for a day, as she appeared sickly, not being shy, and staying close to the road. 2 biologists came out to check her out and to retrieve organ samples. During their conversation, he asked how bad it really is. One of them said that Region 3 is being hit VERY HARD with it. Over 5,000 dead deer from EHD in Region 3!!!! Yet, while suppressing this knowledge from the public, the DEC continued on with their issuance of DMP's! Other than to sell as many licenses as possible, I do not know what their agenda is, while completing ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

If that's true, and I have no reason not to believe it - all the heads of the DEC need to be fired immediately along with their complicit biologists. I've never seen a more inept, pathetic deer management program in my life.

Agreed. but it isn't going to change. Been hunting NY for over 40 years, has only got worse.

I know they found a ton of dead deer in and around the tamarack preserve near albany.

The information on EHD reports can easily be found on the link below. As of October 22, 2021, it indicates that there have been 1939 deer reported as possible EHD killed deer. I am confident there is no way to determine the true number, though 5000 in R3 would seem to be an overestimate.

I spoke to a DEC biologist about EHD last week. They do have a map available internally which shows them locations of EHD reports and location of positive cases. When a test comes back as positive, they draw a 10 mile circle around it. No additional testing is done within the circle as they assume it to be related, but they do "pin" the location of additional reports. Deer must be very freshly dead to get a good testable sample. It has been so warm lately that they degrade quickly. EHD is quick acting and due to the fever it causes many deer are found dead near or in water. I found one the other day in Oswego County. Most areas should see a killing frost soon and this will kill most or all of the remaining midges causing the issue. By the way, southern deer have built up a level of immunity to EHD and are less affected.

I am not sure what all of the armchair biologists think could be done this hunting season but instead of simply blaming DEC maybe you should let them or us know. In some places, EHD wipes out many deer in a small area, in others it is more spotty. Antlerless deer tags are issued for large areas and it makes no sense to completely shut down any WMU when only a small portion if affected. If they did some sort of emergency regulation, how could it be worded to only focus on problem areas.

I think that the DEC has little choice but to wait until winter to evaluate where EHD did true damage and adjust deer take in those areas in future seasons. I am not sure why DEC has not published their map for the public on locations of confirmed/suspected cases so that locals can be aware and maybe voluntarily pass on taking deer from those areas for now.

As an armchair biologist, I do blame the DEC on several fronts. First and foremost is transparency. Their lack of outreach to let not just the public know, but legislators and their own employees as well. This has been going on since June, and no information was shared anywhere, with anyone. Members of the Senate and Assembly EnCon Committees had no idea, as I personally spoke with over 20 of them. Six calls to six different DEC telephone numbers all yielded the same "I have not heard of it" responses. Next, since it did start one month earlier this year, again, which the DEC knew about, why didn't they immediately release a statement asking hunters to report any unusual deer behavior or dead deer? Why didn't the DEC go back to those areas in Region 3 where last year's outbreak started and look for mudflats where the midges breed and hatch from? As it appears to be traveling up the Hudson River, on both East and West shorelines, why not investigate there? Possibly spraying an insecticide to kill the midges. The explosion of mosquitos this year seems to correlate with the midges AND the amount of rain that we had. With the DMP's, while EHD has not affected EVERY county, those that were hit hard last year and early on this year in June and July, should've had their antlerless tags reduced. Licenses do not go on sale until August, they had plenty of time from when they started getting reports of dead deer from EHD to amend the amount of DMP's that would be available. So yeah, as an armchair biologist who pays for a license, which is part of a $45 million dollar revenue, I do blame the DEC 110% for this. Which, BTW, is just another piece of their total mismanagement of NYS.

Agree Al. They, the DEC halted left over DMP sales in effected areas however they made no adjustments to the quotas after last years out breaks. One farm that run dogs on, the farmer has pulled over two dozen deer from his tank and creek this year alone. Yet we have hunters in the area trying to fill their DMP tags. Sleepy hollow lake has had more dead deer pulled then from it this year then the DEC reported for the entire Greene County? What exactly are they counting then?

They had last winter to evaluate last years out break. 3m was hit really hard last year, yet they increased DMPs in 3m this year. NY DEC at work. Oh wait its not their fault. Pathetic.

The DEC is advertising that there are left over DMP’s in 3m, 3r,& 3s.

Yes, the DEC does appear to have fallen short on public notifications. Best as I can tell, other states with EHD "monitor" it but none that I know of are actively taking steps to eradicate it. I have no idea how one would begin looking for these "mudflats" or other likely locations (farm ponds, streams, creeks, drainages, etc.), most of which occur on private property that would need permission to access. Just getting access would be a problem. If there are effective sprays, I cannot imagine it can be applied over large areas without gaining permission, permits and finding funding to do so. A DEC biologist told me that many of these midges can get to NY by being blown from the south during large tropical storm type events, many of which occur in early fall. She said this is part of the reason NY EHD cases develop when they do. In any event, I keep seeing reference to DMPs - if the problem is really so bad, why isn't anyone suggesting shutting down ALL deer hunting in affected areas - or are bucks somehow immune?

Dmps the DEC they had direct control over issuing them. They could have cut back and not issued as many, nor sold any left overs. I wouldnt have any problem with cut backs for any deer season in areas that been hit by EHD. I swear there are hunters in NY that would shot the last freaking deer in the forest if they had a tag for it. NY has the most ass backward hunting culture you can get.

The real concern lies where the midges wintered over here. Typically, they do come up from the South, and die after the first hard frost, but this year, since the EHD outbreak started a month earlier, the midges stayed over. and their eggs were not affected by the first frost or the Winter. This is coming from THE only person who I trust within the NYS-DEC, I have had a relationship with this person for over a decade. EHD is not even part of this person's day to day, but this person took their time to answer my questions and concerns.

Regarding ending all hunting in affected areas, that will never fly for the sole reason that the Syllabus was printed, licenses went on sale, and licenses were sold. If it is in the Syllabus, it is gospel!!!! There would be no way to enforce, poaching is still rampant throughout the state, and DEC says that only 50% of deer killed are called into the harvest report. That is why, the one item that the DEC could've amended, was the amount of DMP's in affected areas.

I agree Al. But Nov 1 I'd bet you can go get more DMPs for 3m. Which was hit hard.

I know, it's insanity. They go against the very definition of their agency's name.

Conservation: the WISE use of natural resources.

I bet 30p or less of the kill is reported. Actually i know this from eco friends. If i were a biologist in ny i would feel that my education was a wasted effort. Sad but true...

On second thought, half of the fun at college is/was the party. So not a total waste but its gotta be frustrating to be unable to manage the actual wildlife.

It devastated the population in Dutchess, 5 sits and 2 bucks seen , no does , little sign

I have seen the same here in southern Dutchess county, East Fishkill and Pawling where previously good deer populations have been decimated to almost zero deer left. Yet to see a deer on stand in this area and have been out several times since Nov. 1st. Landowner told me that this is the first year in 23 years that they have not seen a deer in the lawn areas, generally 7-10 every night in the summer. I think if you had to guess, the mortality rate is closer to 95-98 percent of the deer in this area. Will hunt different county this weekend to see if hunting is any better. DMP's issued will not make much of a difference as there is nothing to shoot in southern Dutchess in the areas that I hunt.

On the drive up Friday afternoon, only saw 4 deer total on the sides on Livingston Road, and 2 coming home today. None at all anywhere else. My cousin, who lives across the road from me, has only had turkeys behind his house for months now, where they would see a few dozen deer throughout the day like clockwork. And here is the best, my cousin received a second DMP in the mail yesterday. The DEC is just clueless.

Ya worse than anyone thinks, I fear. DEC isn't clueless, they don't care. IMO.

Less deer the better in the eyes of dec…and please continue buying licenses. Thank you!

Just an example of how it can be done, even after licenses are sold and the season has started: Manitoba has closed the western part of the province to ALL cervid hunting due to an outbreak of CWD. No deer, elk, or moose. This is how a game agency should respond to a threat, instead of total incompetence.

I haven’t even bothered hunting my NY land this year. I’ve been focusing on my Ohio farm and killed this nice 5 year old 8 point that I passed last year. Hunted 8 days, saw 3 mature bucks, 18 immature bucks, and probably a hundred does. Watched three buck fights and even witnessed a buck roar.

I’m now heading to NY where the rifle season has been on for three weeks and none of my neighbors have killed anything. I’m not sure why I’m even bothering to bowhunt there, it’s that bad.

But maybe I’ll get lucky.

Pat, yes it has been slow here in northern NY. I have 6” of snow this morning, Boonville area may have snow as well. I saw 2 yearling bucks this morning, but the mature bucks are either in the tending phase or still nocturnal. I think you are coming to your NY property at the right time. The last 3 weeks of rifle season is when the big bucks will be taken.

Oh and great OH buck congratulations.

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