I shot a doe about a month ago. When I was gutting her it was getting real dark even though I had a light on, only saw one scabby area with a bump. Didn't think much of it until I got her hung up with lights on it. She was covered with these bumps and scabs that were oosing puss. It freaked me out so I ditched the dear. The next day I started a thread and everyone on here told me about bot fly larvae. So I researched it. It happens to cattle, goats, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and even humans. It doesn't hurt the meat, it's just funky.
Here's their life cycle.
March to April - Bot Fly hatches
June to July - Bot Fly lays eggs on the the hair of the host animal.
A week later - Larvae hatches and crawls down the hair and borrows under the skin (or in the nose) of the host.
During the Summer and into the Fall - The larvae lives under the skin and grows and slowly migrates it's way under the skin towards the back of the host.
Late Fall or early Winter - after some hard frosts and freezing temperatures, the larvae crawls out of the skin and falls on the ground and goes into the dirt until it hatches in the Spring.
When you put it in the walk in cooler, they thought it was time to come out.
Last edited by StoneCutter; 11/15/17.
