The deer I took today had scours

mountaineer magic · 10-13-2008, 06:54 PM

I bagged a deer today but when i got to it I noticed it had scours. When I dressed it out it was really bad. I examined it and there was no solid matter anywhere. It was in its normal habitat so I don't think it is grass scours. I'm a little leery of eating this one. I think it will go to my Wolfhounds. What do you think. There isn't a place close to have it tested so I think i will pass. Has anybody here eaten a deer with scours??

cayugad · 10-13-2008, 07:20 PM

I am guessing the sign of the scours was around the rear tail area and on the hind legs. I never saw a deer with this. Perhaps the deer was suddenly eating something that it was not accustom to and this just caused it. As scours is really a sign often times of a far more serious nutritional problem.

Are you claiming that when you dressed it out and it was really bad that the smell was worse then normal? Personally I would call your wildlife personal and discuss this finding as they might be very concerned with this and wish to examine the deer. I do not think I would eat it.

saxman1 · 10-13-2008, 07:33 PM

When in doubt,throw it out

My first deer of the season had issues as well.
I turned him over to the DNR

kodiakhuntmaster · 10-13-2008, 07:55 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: saxman1

When in doubt,throw it out

My first deer of the season had issues as well.
I turned him over to the DNR

+1
I got sick from eating bad deer meat once, and I'll never do it again. You don't want to go through that. If it smells bad, or looks bad, don't eat it.

Buck Hunter 1 · 10-14-2008, 07:17 AM

scours - diarrhea in livestock
animal disease - a disease that typically does not affect human beings[/align]

Gotbuck · 10-14-2008, 11:41 AM

What part of the country are you in? There are known breakouts of various deer : (some are graphic)

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/4824.htm They have a download pdf of Epizootic hemmorages and show what they look like. Was you deer healthly looking? If not they describe what to look for when hunting.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/deerdisease.asp various photos and diseases in Maryland deer

http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186--26647--,00.html Michigan deer

http://www.buckmasters.com/bm/Community/Forums/tabid/60/view/topics/forumid/14/Default.aspx a good forum about what other hunters are seeing in their deer.

Wehunt asmall watering hole and we always watch the deer before we take it as Epizootic is started by flies hanging out in the mud near these small holes, typically in hot days when water gets scare and the deer gather, the flies attach to the deer and this leads to various hemmoragic states. We have not seen this in the area we hunt but we still watch for this. I would hold off on any consumption of this deer and call wildlife or if there's a vet nearby tell them what you have and they sometimes can test the deer for free.

mountaineer magic · 10-14-2008, 12:11 PM

I live in the plains of South Dakota. The deer looked healthy other than the diarrhea. I examined the liver . It looked normal. There was no bad smell. I thought maybe it was from winter wheat but I've never had a deer yet with diarrhea from winter wheat. I cut the intestinal tract open thinking there would be pellets somewhere or a little fecal matter that was somewhat hard but it was soupy liquid all the way so I decided not to eat it. No need to take a chance . Especially since I have 8 tags and a National Wildlife Refuge hunt tomorrow. Second year in a row I drew a Refuge tag
I'll check out the links
Thanks guys
chet