whitetail_obsession
Active Member
My family and I were hunting in South-Central IA this past weekend and found 3 dead bucks and 1 fawn. The one buck was found in a creek and was fairly decomposed so it was hard to determine if it had been shot but no velvet on its antlers (looks like it may have been there a couple months maybe?). Another buck was found in a small puddle with no visible bullet holes and nowhere near a road. A nearby tree in the puddle appeared to have been rubbed as if the deer had been there for a while but no decomposition had occurred yet. The final buck was found near water with no visible wounds other than the coyotes had feasted on the hind quarters and this deer appeared to have been there a few weeks at most. The final deer (a fawn) was spotted near a creek and appeared to be injured. Upon approaching the deer it tried to stand and fell. After putting the deer out of its misery and starting to field dress it pus came out of the intestines and smelled terrible. Again this deer had no visible wound or broken extremities. I always thought EHD would be less in wet years but then read somewhere else a cold winter and hard frost was needed to kill the midges. With the warm fall we've had is EHD a problem this late in the year? Do any of these cases sound like EHD and has anyone else witnessed anything similar this year? I don't know what to think with any of these deer.