Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer in walk in cooler had a dozen big maggots/larvae fall out of it overnight????

I field dressed a deer in a field that sat there about an hour in cool (low 50's) weather. Then in a few hours, I hung it in a walk in cooler. I put a 5 gallon bucket underneath its ass to catch what ever little blood or water that would slowly drain overnight. At about 10 pm I noticed a big maggot of some type on a blood spot underneath the deer and thought, that's weird? It was about 1/2 inch long and half as big around as a pencil. Then the next morning I look at the hanging deer and there's another larvae of some type on the hindquarters where I split it to clean out the rectal area etc. Then I moved the bucket that was underneath it and there were a dozen or so of these nasty lookin "grubworms/larvae" IN THE BUCKET?????? This was all in a walk in cooler, after being in there all night. Anybody ever see such a thing? Could these be fly larve from the day before, from flys that were on it while it sat, field dressed on the ground for about an hour? Would they hatch that fast and would they be that big? They were 10xs the size of a plain, old maggot. I am just shocked they showed up so fast. What say you??

Sounds like botfly larva. It would have taken some some time to get that size.

Thats about the size of them. How fast can the grow? 12-14 hours?

don't worry. they didn't eat much.....grin

Botfly lay larva in them when alive. Ain't you ever hunted squirrels or rabbits and seen them with 'wolves'?

Yup, definitely botflys.

I remember when I saw my first one in an Arizona cous deer. That poor old buck was filled with 'em.

About put me off of hunting...

Todd

Protien is protien!

This. Absolutely. They are big and ugly but they are not in the meat, usually under the skin or in the nose. Hard life being a critter, I've seen them in squirrels and rabbits as Steelhead says. Like a horror movie....

I shot a 7pt Saturday temp was in the teens and he had a maggot on his neck nothing wrong with the meat I killed a 6pt few yrs ago that had a swollen foot and green stuff coming out his eyes after gutting him I sawed the horns off and throwed the rest over a bank he was full of infection

I think you are right. I called a meat processor friend and he said he sees it all the time. He said the live in the deer's nose and sinuses. My guess is that as they tried to vacate the sinuses they fell down the throat, through the body cavity and into the bucket below. Thanks for all the feedback. Was kinda grossed out at first.

That'll learn ya to chop their head off, huh?

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.

As gross as they look, they don't hurt the meat. The main damage is to the hide as they leave holes in it. They ruin a lot of good leather.

NFW I'm eating a deer with botfly maggots in it. NFW.

Hold the phone.... I just heard about this same thing from our game warden and biologist. It's a worm that lives in the nasal cavity of deer. ALMOST EVERY DEER...
I bet the deer is fine.

Nasal bots aren't the same thing. I don't have enough info to know which you had for sure but if you found one on the hind quarters, it had to be from a bot fly. Those are the ones that bore through the hide and are also called warbles.

Almost every deer I've killed over the last thirty five years here in Louisiana have had what looked to be overgrown maggots in the back of their throat within the first hour after death. They REALLY grossed me out back when I first took notice of them. I was about to haul the deer off for coyote bait when a hunting mentor told me they were in " 'bout all the dead deer I ever saw. " I still think they're nasty but have just resolved myself to the fact that it's just the way it is. I have wondered many times whether they were just common in the South or if they were that way in cooler climates as well.

I have never seen worms in deer in Georgia or South Carolina thus far. There is a tale in my family about my granddad getting a hold of some venison with worms in it. I always assumed someone gave him some that the blow flies had gotten on but it may have been the bots, who knows. None of my aunts will eat venison because of the experience to this day.