What is a bad EHD outbreak?

[mheichelbech]

We tend to have I think, a pretty good population of deer here where I live. You could take up to 8 in previous seasons although this has been reduced to 4 I think (Indiana deer regs are a lawyer’s dream). With the EHD outbreak this year I have heard of close to 30 deer found dead from apparent EHD causes throughout the eastern half of the country.

Not sure how bad this is in relation to outbreaks that have occurred elsewhere. There hasn’t been a lot of media coverage about it or the actual number of deer found by DNR which I’d have to think represents a small percentage of the total.

What has anyone seen with outbreaks in their area?

[IndyDawg]

We tend to have I think, a pretty good population of deer here where I live. You could take up to 8 in previous seasons although this has been reduced to 4 I think (Indiana deer regs are a lawyer’s dream). With the EHD outbreak this year I have heard of close to 30 deer found dead from apparent EHD causes throughout the eastern half of the country.

Not sure how bad this is in relation to outbreaks that have occurred elsewhere. There hasn’t been a lot of media coverage about it or the actual number of deer found by DNR which I’d have to think represents a small percentage of the total.

What has anyone seen with outbreaks in their area?

I'm also in Indiana. I have heard numerous reports of dead deer found near water that were presumed to be EHD deaths, but only a few confirmed cases. I know that there was some discussion that the Indiana DNR is investigating, but once a county has confirmed cases they are no longer testing new samples but continuing to take suspected reports for tracking purposes. Most of the Midwest has also had increased reports that coincide with the weather this year where we saw a wet spring and a very dry summer that allowed exposure of the dormant biting midges to the air along stream banks.

I did listen to a podcast about a month ago where the Pro-Talk outdoors guys were talking with Indiana DNR Deer Biologist Joe Caudell. Lots of good information on the topic if you have about an hour to listen.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0c ... 1665227627

[mheichelbech]

We tend to have I think, a pretty good population of deer here where I live. You could take up to 8 in previous seasons although this has been reduced to 4 I think (Indiana deer regs are a lawyer’s dream). With the EHD outbreak this year I have heard of close to 30 deer found dead from apparent EHD causes throughout the eastern half of the country.

Not sure how bad this is in relation to outbreaks that have occurred elsewhere. There hasn’t been a lot of media coverage about it or the actual number of deer found by DNR which I’d have to think represents a small percentage of the total.

What has anyone seen with outbreaks in their area?

I'm also in Indiana. I have heard numerous reports of dead deer found near water that were presumed to be EHD deaths, but only a few confirmed cases. I know that there was some discussion that the Indiana DNR is investigating, but once a county has confirmed cases they are no longer testing new samples but continuing to take suspected reports for tracking purposes. Most of the Midwest has also had increased reports that coincide with the weather this year where we saw a wet spring and a very dry summer that allowed exposure of the dormant biting midges to the air along stream banks.

I did listen to a podcast about a month ago where the Pro-Talk outdoors guys were talking with Indiana DNR Deer Biologist Joe Caudell. Lots of good information on the topic if you have about an hour to listen.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0c ... 1665227627

Thanks. I think it probably has passed for now. At least I’m not smelling dead deer all around anymore, just not sure what the overal damage has been. When you hear other guys talk about it, it sounds pretty dramatic but I also know hunters are prone to be dramatic sometimes.

[IndyDawg]

Yeah. Most in Indiana will tell you that the herd is on life support and if you shoot anything other than a booner you are killing any chances of it recovering. The population seems to be fine, and EHD seems to act like any other population limiting mechanism. It will have a small impact this year, but the population will recover pretty quickly with increased availability of browse due to less competition. The surviving herd should be healthier overall IMO.

[iowa whitetail]

Takes years to recover we got hammered several years ago and was just starting to see big deer again and this year got it again. If next year is dry it will be devastating to the heard. It seems to kill big bucks way more for some reason.