I’m getting positive reports that our Hoosier deer herd is on the upswing. A disease called EHD has killed many deer over the past twenty years. It is caused by a mite bite that gives deer a high fever. The mite hatches out of mud as waterlines recede due to the lack of rain in the summer. It is a long process, but a few deer survive and pass on immunity. Unfortunately, there is something new to worry about for Hoosier nimrods.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was first discovered in a Colorado mule deer in 1967. At first, it was confined to pen-raised deer, but it has spread to the wild. All species of deer, moose, and elk have contracted CWD.
CWD is very similar to Mad Cow Disease and is always fatal.
It took a while, but CWD made it to the Midwest in 2012, first detected in Wisconsin and then in Illinois. An Indiana DNR wildlife biologist predicted it would someday invade the Hoosier state.
CWD arrived in Ohio in the winter of 2014 and Michigan the following year. Our first deer tested positive last April in LaGrange County.
If you see a deer that appears sick, keep your distance and report it.
Our DNR is taking precautions regarding orphaned or injured deer; one area in Indiana is now deemed a CWD-Positive Area. Although the positive deer was found in LaGrange county, Steuben, Noble, and DeKalb counties have been included. These additional counties have been added because of their proximity to where the CWD-positive deer was found.
With the stipulation of this area, a person who finds an orphaned, sick, or injured deer within the CWD Area can only surrender the animal to a rehabilitator located within the boundaries of this designated area. Fawns can carry this neurological disease without appearing to be sick.
Fawns often seem abandoned when they are not. The fawn gives off little scent; thus, it is safer for the doe to bed some distance from her offspring. Unless you have evidence the doe has not cared for the fawn in three days or know the mother has been killed on the road, it is better to leave the fawn alone. Remember, deer are most active at night, likely when the fawn is nurtured.
It is still being determined how quickly the CWD will spread. Out DNR can lean on the experiences of agencies in other states.
Hunters will have a new challenge from now on. It will be prudent to field-dress deer while wearing rubber gloves. There will be DNR locations where your deer’s head can be screened for CWD.
If a deer presents too easy of a shot, it may be disoriented from disease. It will be interesting to see if any other CWD deer appear in the fall harvest. I’m hoping against it, but I suspect there will be more.
One thing learned in Wisconsin is feeding deer helps spread the disease. One deer’s saliva on corn or beets could be another’s death warrant. Happy hunting.
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