Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game It's gonna be a nasty warble year in Virginia

The ones affected that I've seen around my property seems to be healing up. Looks like they may be dropping out early. Last year they had them well into October.

I've shot 36 squirrels so far this season, starting beginning of Sept. and not one had a grub in it.

Warbles, Wolves, Cattle Worms, or whatever. They do not harm the host animal or it's meat. You can find them on any farm animal like cattle, horses, goats, and sheep as well as squirrels, rabbits and deer. They can cause big problems if they get in a horses mouth and digestive tract. I've even heard of them on dogs and coyotes. It's just really f^@king gross when you skin them.

I killed a deer in early season a few years ago and it was the first time I had ever seen them on a deer. She was covered with them and it freaked me out. We usually wait until after the first killing frost to hunt rabbits and squirrels for this reason. Here's their life span as I know it and these time frames may differ depending on where you live but it'll give you the gist of it.

March to April - Bot fly emerges from the ground and starts doing bot fly things.

May to June - Bot fly lays it's eggs on the host animal usually on the hair inside of the legs and other places.

A week or so later the eggs hatch and the small larva crawl down the hair and borrow under the skin.

July to the first killing frost - The larva grows under the skin and slowly migrates it's way up towards the top of the host animal.

After the killing frost - The larva emerges from the skin and drops on the ground and borrows under the ground where it grows into a fly during the Winter until it emerges as a new bot fly.

I heard a story on the Campfire one time. A member on here killed a deer early season and they put it in a cold box. They came back a few days later to cut it up, when they opened the door to the cold box, the floor under the deer was covered with larva.

Sure those weren't falling out of the nose? Deer get those nasty ass nose bots. They don't hurt the deer, but they are gross as hell.

Not sure, that was just a story that I read on here a couple of years ago when this subject came up. They probably do get in their noses, not sure. I do know that the larva come out through the skin when it gets cold.