Two deer found dead in Esopus of EHD

[greensider]

Someone should copy and send this thread to them

[Tippin'Scales]

Ron, I can't stand being outside my house this year without heavily dousing with deep woods off! I've spent so much time in Montauk when I come home it's unbearable 🤬🤬🤬


I did a walk near my house and found 1 spike dead and could smell at least one more. I basically used my nose into wind and brought my dog. I'd say with how quickly these carcasses are consumed by maggots any dead more than couple weeks will be hard to find unless near water. 

[SHForestry]

I have never seen such a infestation of gnats this late as we are now. In all my years the gnat swarms occurred in the spring of the year followed by deer flys in the summer months.

It’s only been in recent years where these swarms are occurring. Occasionally you might see a breakout in the late summer/fall but nothing compares to this current situation.

So far I have not seen death around my hunting area (Samsonville) but we have a ways to go before any first Frost. Here is a picture of one close by in the Shokan area. Such a shame

[ole bleu]

Brian I totally agree seems very strange as this virus hits in back to back yrs witch is supposed to only really happen in drought yrs

[greensider]

Out here we had crazy rain all summer but normal as far as bug cycles as stated they came as usual and went

[walkabout]

According to this article its the same gnat that we deal with outside in the field so that kinda makes sense what the deer are dealing with in the woods..  I just started seeing these gnats around my house this past week so im sure its going to effect the heard here in wawarsing soon. https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/deer/strategies-for-dealing-with-ehd

[deanhuntsny]

In the areas I hunt in Orange County that got affected, I kept trail cams out to see what was still around. Some areas had and obviously still have very low numbers. I will continue not to hunt until numbers start to go up which will take at least a few years. Some areas got hit, but not as bad as others. I hunted one area and didn’t see nearly as many deer as normal, but there were a few big bucks still around according to my cams. I’m guessing some of the living bucks have to travel more to find does too. I also started hunting harder in newer areas that weren’t affected, just had to drive more. I won’t kill a doe in areas I know have been hit and I’m looking into hunting new areas and other states nearby.
Bottom line is this sucks for any of us who’s hunting areas get affected and we need to use our best judgment to use tags in highly affected areas. I’ve talked to a lot of people about EHD and unless they have seen it first hand, it seems like people just don’t truly understand how bad it really is in certain areas, including the DEC. Let’s just hope it recovers in the upcoming years and possibly have a healthier herd.

[DXT]

According to this article its the same gnat that we deal with outside in the field so that kinda makes sense what the deer are dealing with in the woods..  I just started seeing these gnats around my house this past week so im sure its going to effect the heard here in wawarsing soon. https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/deer/strategies-for-dealing-with-ehd

I agree, damm gnats are unbearable. And now I’m starting to find dead deer in my area. This sucks, one strip of road stinks of rotting carcass, and another strip of road 3.5 miles long had 4 dead deer laying in the ditches that had water in them. Terrible situation!

[LouieM]

Has anybody seen anything in their lower Sullivan county spots? I ask because I heard of a dead deer the DEC recovered in from a lake in Wurtsboro but never heard confirmation on if EHD. 

[DK]

I’m in lower Sullivan and have not found any sign of EHD yet, but I have noticed the Gnats should up in the last week.

[Yotehntr]

Haven’t seen any sign in Sullivan, or west of the Shawangunks

[Yotehntr]

In the areas I hunt in Orange County that got affected, I kept trail cams out to see what was still around. Some areas had and obviously still have very low numbers. I will continue not to hunt until numbers start to go up which will take at least a few years. Some areas got hit, but not as bad as others. I hunted one area and didn’t see nearly as many deer as normal, but there were a few big bucks still around according to my cams. I’m guessing some of the living bucks have to travel more to find does too. I also started hunting harder in newer areas that weren’t affected, just had to drive more. I won’t kill a doe in areas I know have been hit and I’m looking into hunting new areas and other states nearby.
Bottom line is this sucks for any of us who’s hunting areas get affected and we need to use our best judgment to use tags in highly affected areas. I’ve talked to a lot of people about EHD and unless they have seen it first hand, it seems like people just don’t truly understand how bad it really is in certain areas, including the DEC. Let’s just hope it recovers in the upcoming years and possibly have a healthier herd.

This what I don’t understand.. reports like this from all over 3m, from dedicated outdoorsmen, and the DEC comes out with numbers that show 3M was bearly affected.  I know for a fact the heavy deer populated areas of 3m suffered mega death, last year. Their numbers are PHONY and I’m calling them out on it..

[greensider]

If the area was over populated to begin with it probably would not have a big impact on deer take numbers

[MUSKRAT]

Sider ,my area in 3J was not overpopulated with deer ..
My local deer herd has been decimated with this disease...
I have very few deer left ..

The numbers that the dec are projecting aren't even close ..

I felt for you guys in 3m last year, but until you live in an area that has
So much devastation , you can't realize how bad it is ..

[MUSKRAT]

Someone should copy and send this thread to them

Actually sider that's a great idea ..
I've invited a writer from one of the local papers to view this thread..
Get a feeling for the real number of deer dead or dying ...then compare it with
Recent dec reports ... just make the public aware of this ....