Post by featherduster on Oct 9, 2010 18:50:20 GMT -5
By Mike McKee
Outdoors
Published: Friday, October 8, 2010 5:15 PM CDT
A tiny midge insect appears to be knocking off a considerable number of deer in north central La Porte County.
“I’ve heard of a couple dozen,” said Linda Byer, Indiana’s District 2 wildlife biologist.
“The deer are victims of EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease), not (the more serious) CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) or Bluetongue.”
EHD is set in motion by a Culincoides biting fly, which is smaller than the average mosquito. Within a week of infection, deer develop fever-like symptoms and hemorrhaging that is often fatal.
Some sportsmen believe the problem may be worse than the DNR believes.
“My estimation, by the number of people that come through here and have seen them (dead deer), is about 150,” Dale Elkins of Elkins Taxidermy in New Carlisle, said.
“One guy found 12 dead on his property and another had five bucks die together — including some big ones,” Elkins said.
Elkins says the large majority of dead deer have been north of Rolling Prairie and north of the Toll Road.
The virus does not affect humans, nor any other animal that may eat a dead, infected deer. Certainly, however, hunters should not consume deer that appear sickly.
“EHD is not spread from deer to deer — only by the biting insects,” Byer explains. “And, otherwise healthy deer can succumb to it.’
She believes a “perfect storm” of environmental conditions led to the outbreak, which occurs periodically throughout the Midwest and has cropped up this summer and fall in several southwest Michigan counties as well as in forest preserves outside Chicago.
“The current drought after the wet, early summer left extensive mud flats where these midges thrive, and the drought, on some properties, has concentrated the deer in such areas,” Byers said.
Thus, the impact on one farm may be significant, while a neighboring property might be unaffected.
EHD literature, available at www.in.gov/fishwild (type ‘Wildlife Diseases’ in the search area) indicates the disease halts after a hard frost, which I believe occurred earlier this week in most parts of La Porte County.
Although the deceased deer are a tragic waste, the impact on the overall herd around here is likely negligible. Typically, 2,500 deer are killed by La Porte County hunters each year, which puts the estimated herd over 10,000.
If a liberal guess of 300 perished due to EHD this summer, it is a relatively insignificant number.
Unless of course, the die-off occurred where you hunt. Then, you may be in for a long and disappointing season