Worst deer season in 25 years.

[1Shot]

I went to Halifax Co. NC on my yearly 3 week deer hunting trip. Usually I kill all the deer I need and for the needs of others. This year I only saw 3 deer. Between me and my hunting buddy we only saw 7 deer in three weeks. Usually you see that many a day. The EHD "Blue Tongue" has about wiped out the deer there. I knew something was up when I was driving the 300 miles over from TN. I saw NO deer that had been run over and usually see lots of deer run over during this time of rut. I only saw two deer that had been run over on my way back home. Looks like my hunting trips to NC have come to an end for a long time. In this area you can hear a gun shot 5 miles of more and I went days without hearing a single gun shot and other days it was only 2 or 3 shots. It will take years to repopulate the deer. People are not seeing lots of deer here in East TN in places that usually have quite a good number. I killed two out of the three deer I saw. One was a 6pt buck that had no brow tines. I thought it was at least an 8 pt when I shot it. I had to shoot quickly as it crossed a path between two cut overs. I also killed a doe. My buddy killed three small doe that he gave me and another fellow gave me a great big buck he killed just across the VA/NC line. I ground him into hamburger. I ended up with just a little over half the deer meat that I need.

 

[truck driver]

What is EHD Blue Tongue? I've heard of Wasting disease but don't know what EHD is.

 

[Bruce Mc]

Bluetongue disease is a non-contagious, insect-borne, viral disease of ruminants, mainly sheep and less frequently cattle,[1] goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries and antelope. It is caused by the Bluetongue virus (BTV). The virus is transmitted by the midge Culicoides imicola, Culicoides variipennis and other culicoids. According to Wiki

 

[JD338]

We were hit with EHD a couple years ago and it hit our deer heard hard.
The fatal bite comes from a bore that lives in the mud. Drought years make it worse.

JD338

 

[1Shot]

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD)
Blue Tongue Disease
These are hard to tell apart because the effects are so alike. Bottom line they both can be and are usually fatal especially with white tail deer. They get it by an infected mite gnat bite and is not transmitted from one deer to another. Humans can not get it. It usually shows up in the late summer and will kill a deer in a very short time when infected.

 

[HTDUCK]

We've endured 2 years of it on our lease in Mo as well.
Last year and the year before, both severe drought years.
It was painfully obvious this past week during rifle season.
One area of the lease is a 640 acre CRP field.
3 years ago my buddy and I counted 75 deer in the grass between 6:30 and 9:00 AM.
This year, no deer were seen on that part of the lease during 9 days of hunting.

 

[Charlie-NY]

This year I hunted right near you in Scotland Neck. We had the best year ever with deer sightings every day and many bucks killed. Not sure how wide spread the problem is that you mentioned but it didn't have a negative impact on the deer population where my group hunted.
Typically, Halifax and Hampton counties are the mecca for whitetails in NC. Maybe a different farm would be more productive.

 

[truck driver]

This year I hunted right near you in Scotland Neck. We had the best year ever with deer sightings every day and many bucks killed. Not sure how wide spread the problem is that you mentioned but it didn't have a negative impact on the deer population where my group hunted.
Typically, Halifax and Hampton counties are the mecca for whitetails in NC. Maybe a different farm would be more productive.

I have hauled a lot of cotton seed out of those counties and saw very few deer but a lot of wild Turkeys.

 

[rodell]

EHD can wipe out a herd while leaving another 3 miles away untouched. It is strange. I've seen the effects on my trips to Montana and some areas were really wiped out and others with more deer than ever.

Blue tongue doesn't seem as widespread as EHD. The higher elevation deer are less affected, too. When you see a deer with EHD it isn't a pretty sight. It usually runs and runs until it finds water and then will immerse itself to cool down. It's tongue is hanging out and the eyes are glassy.

 

[1Shot]

I used to hunt in Scotland Neck until my hunting buddy took a fellow to our lease there a few times because he had just moved into the area and had no place to hunt. The next year this fellow went to the owner of the land and offered them a little more money than we had been paying and the owner did not let us know so we could maybe work something out and he got the land out from under us. Nice of him wasn't it? As for going to another farm that ain't easy. There are really no farms to go to without getting into some club that cost thousands of dollars to join if they will let you join and then put up with all the crap and politics. I have been hunting this same property for 23 years. Yes it seems to have killed deer in some areas and left others untouched. Up in Northampton Co. near the VA line it seems that the deer were not bothered but just north west of Gaston lake in VA they found lots of dead deer. Here in east TN where I live there are spots that the deer have been affected also.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I hunted with an outfitter and didn't realize that the vast amount of farmland in the area was all locked up. I just assumed that the local hunters always had places to hunt. Its a shame how things have gone in this country for sport hunting.