Deer Armageddon out here.

[Idaho45guy]

I have been out in the woods quite a bit lately and have seen exactly one deer in over 100 miles of driving the mountain roads in my UTV and SUV.

This summer was so incredibly hot and dry that it forced deer to congregate around limited water sources. Blue Tongue broke out and spread like wildfire among the deer population.

Thousands of deer have died.

My dad told me his buddy who lives up on the nearby mountain said it stinks bad when you go outside due to all of the dead deer in the woods.

Another of his friends counted 500 dead deer on his property.

Haven't seen much in the media yet, but I suspect the deer harvest numbers will be bad.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/oct/27/alan-lieres-fishing-hunting-report-for-oct-28/


Biologists at deer check stations say they aren’t seeing many whitetail bucks this year due to huge die-offs caused by blue tongue. The disease, they say, is nondiscriminatory, killing bucks, does and fawns. In areas around Colfax, the die-off has been particularly large. While there are pockets of habitat that haven’t been affected throughout Washington and Idaho, this has been the worst blue tongue outbreak many have seen.

The severity of the disease could affect deer populations and hunting seasons for several years. Mule deer seem to be somewhat immune to blue tongue, though biologists say it can affect their hormones, causing them to retain their velvet well into winter and lose their desire to breed.

[badguybuster]

CWD has been hitting a lot of state deer populations really hard

[Shawlerbrook]

EHD which is spread by biting midges has decimated our deer heard in certain areas. Luckily not around here.

[MrWolf]

Haven't noticed a decrease on my property yet. Watched two doe yesterday in the woods behind the house from the kitchen window and dogs were barking at a few down our driveway. Have enough meat in the freezer so no need to hunt. Neighbor down by the road (about 3/4 mile away) said he found a doe that had been shot and drove it out past my area in the woods to dispose of her.

[Handloader109]

Not huge numbers around here, but enough. I hear a bit of shooting, two shots last night at 5 minutes till dark. Had 4 does tiptoe across pasture in late afternoon heading to lower woods. Usually have 3 to 6 does regularly and at least a couple of bucks around.

[Shepherd2]

Driving up our lane after dark last night we saw a group of 9 bucks and does. The rut is in full swing around here.

[dverna]

Not seeing as many deer this year in my area. Far fewer shots being heard as well.

I border a CWD area but that is not the problem.

[Hogtamer]

My son hunted in ND several weeks ago (ducks, pheasant, grouse) and came back with the same report. Found many dead deer and the landowner told him the same thing Idaho 45 reported. Severe drought forced the deer to livestock tanks and spread the disease (blue tongue) quickly.

[megasupermagnum]

My son hunted in ND several weeks ago (ducks, pheasant, grouse) and came back with the same report. Found many dead deer and the landowner told him the same thing Idaho 45 reported. Severe drought forced the deer to livestock tanks and spread the disease (blue tongue) quickly.

BS. There are not a bunch of deer dead around here. There is no alarming spread of CWD or EHD this year. Other than the occasional deer hit by a car, there are not deer laying everywhere. There's no shortage of them either. Yes, they gather in larger groups in the Dakota's, they always have. That's the nature of having sporadic cover.

[Markopolo]

We have a wasting deer issue here to on my island.... it is spelled W.O.L.F!

[Thundarstick]

CWD has been spreading here in West Tennessee two more counties have been put on the hot list since the season started. Hope to heaven the population can be cut by 3/4 soon and put an end to the needless destruction they cause! I'm hoping one day you can hunt small game on farms again, instead of most land being closed except because of deer leases keeping everyone out.

[Hogtamer]

Dear megasupermagnum, You seem to delight in crying BS to every other thread to which you reply. My son and I have killed more deer than you have ever seen and he knows a dead one when he sees it. FYI, he was in North Dakota as stated, most of which was under extreme drought for an extended time, all the potholes where deer normally water went dry. I am thrilled your deer herd has not been diminished in South Dakota. Additionally you are the first person I will have placed on my ignore list in my 7 years here. Cordially, Hal Rowland

[megasupermagnum]

Dear megasupermagnum, You seem to delight in crying BS to every other thread to which you reply. My son and I have killed more deer than you have ever seen and he knows a dead one when he sees it. FYI, he was in North Dakota as stated, most of which was under extreme drought for an extended time, all the potholes where deer normally water went dry. I am thrilled your deer herd has not been diminished in South Dakota. Additionally you are the first person I will have placed on my ignore list in my 7 years here. Cordially, Hal Rowland

You are really that mad that the guy who actually lives here? It was an extreme drought in early summer. Since late August though, we have gotten more than a healthy amount of rain. Maybe you are talking about far western ND, but since you mention ducks and pheasants, I'm guessing eastern. I went through eastern ND plenty, it's not that bad.

No, he did not see a pile of deer dead from EHD or CWD. I'm not saying he didn't find a couple dead deer. You will not be on my ignore list, as I enjoy your posts. I did not mean to personally insult you. The fact of the matter is what you wrote is untrue. I called you out on that. Like it or not, your son did not witness a deer Armageddon.

[Idaho45guy]

My brother just got back from hunting the Powder River Valley in Montana for 2 weeks. He went 2 years ago and counted hundreds of deer and 86 bucks on the first day. That was 2 years ago. This time, he saw one 2-point buck and a few does in 2 weeks of hard hunting.

He talked to the locals and they said they hadn't seen anything like it. No deer.

[Hogtamer]

I know most of you are interested in facts. Here you go…
https://www.kfyrtv.com/video/2021/10/19/large-numbers-white-tailed-deer-die-north-dakota-due-ehd/

https://gf.nd.gov/news/5010

[Bigslug]

Murphy pretty much hates me.

My friends have been taking monster bucks in the high desert for the last few years. . .and I finally draw a tag just in time to see the results of a massive die-off. Looks pretty much drought-related in this case. Sage and bitterbrush mostly all dead; the only green in abundance being cactus, joshua trees, and yucca plants.

It was a pretty creepy season. Only saw three does total, along with plenty of evidence of what it HAD been; old, bleached antler sheds from large deer and livestock pen quantities of dried out poop from most of a year ago, but almost nothing fresh on the trails. It was kind of like showing up to Earth in your flying saucer eager to hunt dinosaurs, only to arrive a month after the meteor hit.

Was shown a game camera pic of a buck in velvet in the area that was taken back in July. Poor thing looked like a refugee from a famine zone - the antler growth probably just sapping the life out of him faster. Gotta figure if my 50-year-old mind says "I could run that deer down", the mountain lion population had a field day with them.

Now I'm kinda wondering what the mountain lions will do when THEY get desperate. I don't see the zone recovering in time for me to be hunting it again. After what we DIDN'T see, the proper thing do do would be for DFW to shut it down for a couple years.

[rbuck351]

I guess we are lucky here. The deer population is very high. If I drive from Kalispell to Eureka in the evening, I usually count from 50 to 150 deer.

[Idaho45guy]

Murphy pretty much hates me.

My friends have been taking monster bucks in the high desert for the last few years. . .and I finally draw a tag just in time to see the results of a massive die-off. Looks pretty much drought-related in this case. Sage and bitterbrush mostly all dead; the only green in abundance being cactus, joshua trees, and yucca plants.

It was a pretty creepy season. Only saw three does total, along with plenty of evidence of what it HAD been; old, bleached antler sheds from large deer and livestock pen quantities of dried out poop from most of a year ago, but almost nothing fresh on the trails. It was kind of like showing up to Earth in your flying saucer eager to hunt dinosaurs, only to arrive a month after the meteor hit.

Was shown a game camera pic of a buck in velvet in the area that was taken back in July. Poor thing looked like a refugee from a famine zone - the antler growth probably just sapping the life out of him faster. Gotta figure if my 50-year-old mind says "I could run that deer down", the mountain lion population had a field day with them.

Now I'm kinda wondering what the mountain lions will do when THEY get desperate. I don't see the zone recovering in time for me to be hunting it again. After what we DIDN'T see, the proper thing do do would be for DFW to shut it down for a couple years.
Good point. Probably going to see a huge increase of predation of livestock and domestic animals. Good time to make sure you are competent with your woods gun.