Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game DEAD DEER in ne MT

Has any one here of this i just did BLUE TOUNG . What eles could happen first snow,flood and now this.

I haven't heard any news, where exactly is the die off?

There are alot less deer on the bottom this summer than last. More died from winterkill than I thought.

You have already nailed it. Both blue tongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease are enzootic in deer populations throughout the middle of North America--that is, the causal agent is present in most of the deer in a population. Healthy deer on a good diet do not get sick or succumb, but deer under stress do.

If there is an outbreak in your area, you can bet that the deer are nutritionally and/or physically stressed. The disease is just the agent that administers the coup de gras. You may regard it as adding insult to injury, but in the absence of a healthy population of deer predators, blue tongue or EHD will be the culprit identified in post-mortem examinations.

The conditions that you identified are the primary contributing factors, but BT or EHD just happen to be first in line there when it comes to opportunistic killers.

2 years ago we watched a 5 pt. bull that was acting odd. He was shifting from foot to foot and slobbering, a string of saliva that would reach the ground. He looked rough, we could count his ribs in the early fall. Rancher friend told me it sounded like Blue Tongue.

blue tongue goes through every so often......havent heard of it a outbreak up here yet but as Sam said, have noticed alot fewer deer around aswell even factoring in the bad winter......given most went in with a good layer of fat i was hoping more would have made it....

That hit the antelope pretty hard here a few years ago. Watched a doe antelope walk out into the middle of a stock pond till the water was over her head and drown. Bad stuff.

Glasgow / Hinsdale and Saco so i have herd.

i know gnats are bad over there when i was fishing on Nelson a few weeks ago....

Bluetongue virus is carried by gnats and in wet years after long wet winters, the gnats get thick, which then bite the willy out of the deer. Evidence of the virus are high fever, excessive salivation, swelling of the face and tongue and cyanosis of the tongue. Swelling of the lips and tongue gives the tongue its typical blue appearance, though this sign is confined to a minority of the animals. Nasal symptoms may be prominent, with nasal discharge and stertorous respiration. This is why a lot of animals are found in or near water. They are over heated and thirsty.

Some animals also develop foot lesions, beginning with coronitis, with consequent lameness. This is why you see deer and the elk talked about above, shifting and moving around a lot. In sheep, this can lead to knee-walking. In cattle, constant changing of position of the feet gives bluetongue the nickname The Dancing Disease as explained in Wickapedia.

Not all animals develop symptoms, but all those that do lose condition rapidly, and the sickest die within a week. For affected animals which do not die, recovery is very slow, lasting several months.. Dying animals can often be found very close to water sources...even drowning in them, due to lack of strength to get out of the water.

My buddy is a biologist up in NE Montana. It was really bad about 5 years ago around Miles City. He sent me tons of pictures of dying or dead deer everywhere. He said it was the worst they had seen. This year doesn't sound much better (long wet winter and lots of bugs). Flinch

No sign of it here in the NE most corner. Deer are actually looking pretty good.

Where blood work has been done, a very high percentage of fawns at heel in the winter test positive for antibodies to BT and EHD, meaning that they have survived initial exposure. The ones that did not are not around to test. Infection via vectors such as mosquitoes in adults seems to be rare, as most animals in a population will test positive for exposure to BT and/or EHD. Certainly, young of the year in the summer will likely contract the disease(s) from mosquitoes. Deaths in adults and subadults this time of year almost always involve stress as a major contributing factor.

10-4 thanks, I'll be seeing a few guys from that country in a few days and will ask 'em how things are.

Saw a few deer today down on the bottom and they looked fine. Need to do an evening cruise one of these days and get a better idea. It's a jungle down there, kinda to tough to spot deer unless they're out in the hayfield.

About 10 years back blue tongue epidemic hit central and north central nebraska in a BAD way. Lost 50% of the whitetail herd in a huge area in one year. But whitetails being what they are, the population recovered within 3-4 years. It seemed like you would find dead animals usually near the water.

I'm expecting it to hit again, considering the population is so much larger than before.

Gotta get folks to buy several seasons choice tags and actually make an effort to fill them.

JEff

I talked to few guys the other day and they hadn't heard anything. We did see one sickly looking whitetail doe driving home yesterday.
Humped up with her head down, patchy lookin' hide, didn't look healthy at all, but who knows.

What was she drivin'?

Heaven know we have a strappin healthy population of gnats.