Been finding them since late August in Southeast Dickson county and very few in Williamson County. I had very strong suspicious my main target deer in dickson county got it, he vanished in August and i started finding deer around that time.Today I confirmed that suspicion. Boy I hate this disease, I've lost so many big deer I've watched over the years from it. I suspect we lost another 2 to 4 good bucks from it in Dickson.
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EHD strikes again
- Thread starter Dumbluck
- Start date
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I hate it for you man. I'm sure we lost a couple. It was WICKED dry west of Nashville this year up until the hurricane
ZachMarkus
Well-Known Member
He probably figured out who was hunting him and committed suicide.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Thats frustrating...I hate EHD.
I'm in Northern ish TN but I've seen it too. I smelled a lot of dead deer in creeks this summer. Barely any on trail cams. My buck I shot last week (see profile banner) is the biggest I've seen all year which is unusual.
It's a shame. I hate EHD.
It's a shame. I hate EHD.
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No sign in norther Dickson
I think we are going to find several more when we shed hunt late this winter. So far I've found 4 bucks and 4 does on this place. Definitely takes its toll this farm which is fairly new to me had lots of potential coming up but like you we aren't getting squat on camera. I did pass up a big 3 year old on Monday but also found where someone poached a deer in that area yesterday as well. I tracked them as far as I could but unfortunately it was done before the rain and it washed a lot the evidence away.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Problem is, it's a very complicated disease in the way it strikes one area but not another close by. Because it's not contagious, it follows very weird infection patterns. But in the MidSouth, assume it will hit about every 4-7 years. Basically, that's how long it takes for all the local deer who have survived it and have immunity to die of old age and be replaced by younger generations without immunity.
The biggest question I haven't seen fully answered is immunity/resistance to the disease. How heritable is that? In essence, is any part of genetic resistance heritable to the offspring of those with resistance? How much of resistance is purely genetic and how much from antibodies created during infection? Can these antibodies by transferred to offspring?
Thanks for chiming in your responses are always invaluable on the science side of things. One reason I'd love to learn more about it is kind of what you touched on and my thoughts have always been is this curable, is there something I could supply to the deer herd that would increase their chance of survival.
I hate feeding, despise it, and wish it was completely illegal, but if there was some way to increase survival of EHD in drought conditions; I would invest in that during those times.
Another thing that sticks out to me is my massive lack of knowledge on this disease. When I first walked this property with the landowner over a year ago. I thought man this place is perfect to grow old, big deer, and one of my thoughts was there will be a lack of EHD. This thought simply came from the fact that this farm is covered up with spring fed creeks that never go dry. The deer always have a fresh running water supply. There are only two ponds but both of them are spring fed as well and one has a constant overflow.
Beats me.
I do know one thing. I don't care if other hunters shoot deer I pass up and watch; just doesn't worry or bother me at all. BUT I hate this disease with a passion, I'd say I lose more of the old deer I've watched over the years due to this than anything else. And with you saying it typically hits 4-7 years, that makes sense because I won't shoot a deer if I know he's not at least 4 or older.
