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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 2, 2022 15:23:49 GMT -6
Last fall this 6 or 7 year old buck was our No 1 Target. He had escaped hunters for several years. In 2020 he had a drop tine and was a giant. This past year he was impressive and was on camera many times. I would be guessing as to how many pics we had of him, plus we found his shed twice!
October rolls around and we had a pic or two of him that made us concerned. The neighbor Brad sent me a pic of him by his pond (drooling). EHD was in the area and we feared the worst. Sure enough he disappeared from our cameras and he was never seen during the hunting season.
Brad found his rack and body this week, right by our fence lines, close to where he was bedding (which I think was on my property). A grand old warrior that gave us hunters the slip, but ultimately died from EHD. This buck ironically only had one good eye for many years and that is how we could easily identify him from year to year. RIP Drop Tine!
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 2, 2022 15:25:38 GMT -6
Pics of him in October before he died .   |
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 2, 2022 15:29:15 GMT -6
A couple past pics … 2020 with his drop tine    |
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Post by Reagan on Mar 2, 2022 15:29:59 GMT -6
In my experience EHD kills deer in august and early September. Frost kills the midges and I would think if he was alive in October EHD is not the cause.
Back when EHD was very bad in the early 2000s, the bucks often had velvet on their racks.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 2, 2022 15:34:55 GMT -6
Reagan.. it’s possible. I know a lot of bucks died late in October in Iowa. Seemed to be an odd year. Very bad to the north about 8 miles. But, who knows. He could have died from an infection? Just not sure.
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Post by Catscratch on Mar 2, 2022 18:06:08 GMT -6
That's a huge bummer! Too bad he didn't fall to one of you guys.
I had a rash of buck die to brain abscess. If you can clean up his skull look for holes that an infection could have bored through the bone and into the brain. Bucks can spread it to each other through fighting. The symptoms look a lot like EHD but they tend to die later in the year.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 2, 2022 19:29:46 GMT -6
That's a huge bummer! Too bad he didn't fall to one of you guys. I had a rash of buck die to brain abscess. If you can clean up his skull look for holes that an infection could have bored through the bone and into the brain. Bucks can spread it to each other through fighting. The symptoms look a lot like EHD but they tend to die later in the year. I’ll have my neighbor Brad check into that . Here’s a short story about this bucks last couple days. Brad had him by the pond several times, even during daylight. Not a good sign. He hunted down there in the morning and here comes this one eyed buck toward him. He was acting odd, bumping into corn 🌽 stalks. He gets within 75 yards I think and then cuts east and he never saw him again. Well that’s where he died. Would have been cool for him to get that buck. |
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Post by Catscratch on Mar 2, 2022 20:01:42 GMT -6
That's a huge bummer! Too bad he didn't fall to one of you guys. I had a rash of buck die to brain abscess. If you can clean up his skull look for holes that an infection could have bored through the bone and into the brain. Bucks can spread it to each other through fighting. The symptoms look a lot like EHD but they tend to die later in the year. I’ll have my neighbor Brad check into that . Here’s a short story about this bucks last couple days. Brad had him by the pond several times, even during daylight. Not a good sign. He hunted down there in the morning and here comes this one eyed buck toward him. He was acting odd, bumping into corn 🌽 stalks. He gets within 75 yards I think and then cuts east and he never saw him again. Well that’s where he died. Would have been cool for him to get that buck. Dang! Sounds like it was close for him. |
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Post by nhmountains on Mar 3, 2022 3:50:23 GMT -6
Reagan.. it’s possible. I know a lot of bucks died late in October in Iowa. Seemed to be an odd year. Very bad to the north about 8 miles. But, who knows. He could have died from an infection? Just not sure. Don’t the midges that do most of the EHD transmission die after the first or second hard frost? I know it hit Vermont for the first time last fall and there were reports into mid October here so late October there sounds possible too. |
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 3, 2022 8:25:45 GMT -6
Yes, warm fall and the first frost was late October. Joe Loomis a guy I know in the area, he’s actually a guide. He’s very sharp and he thought from the trail cam pic. (Drooling & swollen jaw) that he had EHD.
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Post by MN Slick on Mar 3, 2022 11:52:04 GMT -6
That is a bummer! My guess is EHD
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Post by benmnwi on Mar 3, 2022 12:37:02 GMT -6
That's too bad. He sure looked healthy in your September picture, but not in that October picture.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 3, 2022 13:16:59 GMT -6
That's too bad. He sure looked healthy in your September picture, but not in that October picture. It went downhill pretty fast. He was one impressive deer when he had a droptine. I nearly fell over when I saw the trail cam pic of him in 2020!  |
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