EHD in eastern CO
Colorado
The rancher where I deer hunt on the plains told me yesterday that they've had a serious EHD outbreak out there. He found six mature whitetail bucks dead in the same drainage, the rest of the whitetails have disappeared (a herd of @50) and they now are finding dead muley bucks. The CPW biologist confirmed it. Last year I only saw two whitetail bucks and three mature muley bucks in about 20 days of hunting. I was hoping it was an anomaly and they maybe moved to better food sources. Guess not. Sad deal, likely the product of the severe drought that shrinks waterholes into stagnant pools and promotes the tiny midges that are vectors.
That’s terrible to hear. Hopefully the whole herd isn’t too terribly affected and they can bounce back.
Dang. The whitetails seem to bounce back decently but muleys seem to take quite a awhile.
That north of I-70 or south, Lou? I’ve got another EP tag and have been pretty excited to get down there. The area we hunt looked like it received by far the most rainfall in the 7 years we’ve been playing around out there. Not that that’s saying a whole lot, but more than none at least! Looked pretty green before the KS line on my drive east following a sheep hunt in August.
South of I 70. This particular area has been hit hard by drought the past couple years. This year they only had 5 inches of moisture since the first of the year, but had a couple good 1/4" rains right after winter wheat was planted, and it germinated well. Hopefully it was just a localized outbreak and more deer will move into the area because of the wheat. They can supposedly smell green wheat from a couple miles away. Have seen it before.
Interesting. Weird disease. Our spots are south of 70 as well and typically desert dry. Never seen or heard any signs of EHD out there. Pretty sure they got 10-15” across most of it during this growing season though.
Last year was the first year in the 35 years I've hunted out there that it was known to affect our area. It is a weird disease. We rounded up cattle every January across 45,000 acres and never found dead bucks besides a random one maybe dead of natural causes or a bad rifle shot, etc.. The past two years has been way different, and numbers of adult bucks are way, way down. Hopefully this is a transient thing.
Nebraska Game and Fish, sent out a notice that their state is prime for EHD, this year.
Nebraska wildlife officials say conditions throughout much of the state are suitable for the spread of deadly viral diseases among big game populations. They are asking the public to report unexplained death or illnesses of deer, pronghorn, elk and bighorn sheep.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, often causes high fever, internal bleeding, swelling, lesions, lethargy, increased heart rate, dehydration, salivation, incoordination and loss of fear of humans. The symptoms and spread are similar to bluetongue disease, another disorder that can kill certain wildlife and domestic livestock.
Both are labeled hemorrhagic diseases and are indistinguishable without laboratory analysis. While the diseases do not affect humans, they can be destructive to big game populations.
The diseases are most prevalent in late summer until the first frost. For both EHD and bluetongue, certain tiny midges or gnats bite a host and move the virus to nearby animals. When animals congregate at water during drought, the insects have potential to spread the virus to more animals. Additionally, infected animals often seek water for relief and die in or near it.
The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor dated Sept. 29 shows conditions throughout the entire state range from abnormally dry to exceptional drought. Drought conditions are most severe in the state’s southwestern and northeastern regions.
Observations of unhealthy big game animals or unexplained deaths should be reported to the nearest Nebraska Game and Parks Commission office. Locations include Alliance, Bassett, Kearney, Gretna, North Platte, Lincoln, Omaha and Norfolk. Contact information may be found at OutdoorNebraska.gov/Locations.
I stopped by a friend's relatives near Harrison, NE back in the 90's when they had EHD or Blue tongue go through. He had been picking up whitetail heads and tossing them up in a tree behind his barn. It was quite a sight to see a couple dozen really nice racks and a bunch of smaller ones caught up in the branches. Looked like something from a horror movie. Very sad.
Yeah, some of these bucks they've found were serious specimens. I understand it hits 3-5 year old bucks hardest but they aren't sure why. Nature, I guess.
Between that and these late first rifle dates the last few years, deer have taken a hit for sure.
Maybe more than you want to know, the following.::
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is one of the most important diseases of deer in North America. The epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses (EHDV) are widespread in white-tailed deer and periodically cause serious epidemics in wild populations. Some of these viruses can also cause disease in cattle. In the U.S., EHD in cattle is uncommon, rarely fatal, and usually associated with an epidemic in deer. However, an EHDV serogroup virus called the Ibaraki virus causes serious epidemics in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan that may affect as many as 39,000 cattle. The disease caused by the Ibaraki virus is known as Ibaraki disease; some authorities consider it to be a synonym for epizootic hemorrhagic disease in cattle. Etiology The epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses belong to the genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae. Ten serotypes of EHDV are known worldwide. The Ibaraki virus is closely related to EHDV. According to some authors, it is a distinct virus belonging to the EHDV serogroup. According to others, the Ibaraki virus and the Australian (but not the American) EHDV serotype 2 are nearly identical topotypes. There is more than one strain of the Ibaraki virus. Species affected The epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses can infect most wild and domestic ruminants. Clinical signs are seen mainly in white tailed deer, with mule deer and pronghorn antelope affected to a lesser extent. Other wild animals found to be seropositive include black-tailed deer, red deer, wapiti, fallow deer, and roe deer. Rare outbreaks of EHD have been reported in cattle. Sheep can be infected experimentally but rarely develop clinical signs, and goats do not seem to be susceptible to infection. Ibaraki disease is seen in cattle. Geographic distribution Epizootic hemorrhagic disease occurs in North America, Australia, Asia and Africa. Seropositive animals have been found in South America. Of the ten serotypes known worldwide, the only two serotypes currently endemic in North America are EHDV-1 and EHDV-2. Ibaraki disease has been reported from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Seropositive animals have also been found in Australia and Indonesia. Transmission The viruses of the EHDV serogroup are transmitted by biological vectors, usually biting midges in the genus Culicoides. In North America, C. variipennis is the major vector. Some species of gnats and mosquitoes can also transmit EHDV. Infected deer can be viremic for up to 2 months. Incubation period The incubation period for epizootic hemorrhagic disease in deer is 5 to 10 days. Clinical signs Deer Three syndromes may be seen in deer. Peracute disease is characterized by high fever, anorexia, weakness, respiratory distress, and severe and rapid edema of the head and neck. Swelling of the tongue and conjunctivae is common. Deer with the peracute form usually die rapidly, typically within 8-36 hours; some animals may be found dead with few clinical signs. In the acute form (classical EHD), these symptoms may be accompanied by extensive hemorrhages in many tissues including the skin, heart, and gastrointestinal tract. There is often excessive salivation and nasal discharge, which may both be blood-tinged. Animals with the acute form can also develop ulcers or erosions of the tongue, dental pad, palate, rumen, and omasum. High mortality rates are common in both the peracute and acute forms. In the chronic form, deer are ill for several weeks but gradually recover. After recovery, these deer sometimes develop breaks or rings in the hooves caused by growth interEHD_A0306 page 1 of 4Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease ruptions, and may become lame. In severe cases, animals slough the hoof wall or toe; some of these deer may be found crawling on their knees or chest. Deer with the chronic form may also develop ulcers, scars, or erosions in the rumen; extensive damage to the lining of the rumen can cause emaciation even when there is
So true, Chad. My WCO friend for our unit believes they are giving out too many rifle buck tags out there, but his input falls on deaf ears. Too much money involved for the outfitters and for the state from all those NR tags. The place I used to hunt can qualify for 19 deer vouchers (including does), and buck vouchers are selling for $6K. In that open country with long range rifles...well, you know.mm Sad deal what they are doing to the deer in our state.
We have hunted some private land in the northeast for quite a few years now and the mature bucks have tapered off significantly. We run quite a few camera's, and have always had a target deer or two that were pretty nice but the past 6-8 years, population and quality has really taken a turn for the worse. Have found 2 reasonably mature deer dead the past 2 years in velvet, but those are the only deer we take out of there anymore. Talking with others that have hunted this unit, it doesn't sound like our land is isolated in the lack of quality bucks so i'm wondering if these diseases are around a lot more than we notice.
Where I hunted deer last week in Eastern Colorado, the CWD prevalence is 24%. That is 1 out of 4 deer inspected.
I hunted plains deer north of I70 near Yuma last week. Lots of deer but most were very young. We ran into deer every day but only 3 deer were shooters. Buddy took this one- Green Scored in 180's
I think the plains muley units will be much less affected than the whitetail (EHD is more prevalent in the whitetails). CWD has come back positive in 2 of our 4 deer that we've taken the past 10 years (one doe and one buck) but unsure if that could be contributing to our overall herd reduction. It is amazing reading our journal of some of the hunts we had in the late 2000's vs. the hunts we get out there today. I'd guess our numbers are down over half, and between us and the neighbors, we hardly shoot anything anymore. I have questioned even continuing to try and draw our unit, or try something else.
db, I'm right there with you. I've been hunting this same area since 1988, and keeping journals. Unbelievable how the overall deer population and size of bucks has deteriorated. But that was before almost everything was leased and CPW gave out up to 19 vouchers to outfitters. I would estimate the deer numbers in my area are roughly 20% of what they were 20 years ago. Driving around glassing tonight, I would have expected to see at least 70-80 deer and 15 or so bucks in the immediate area. Instead I saw 26, with three little muley bucks. No whitetails.
