RE: Just Plain Nasty!
This is from the Virginia dep. of game and inland fisheries:
I killed a deer last year that had something that looked like small grubs in its head. Is this normal?
Yes. What you found are called nasal bots. They are normal parasites of white-tailed deer that are actually larva (i.e., maggots) from flies in the genus Cephenemyia that live in the retropharyngeal pouches of deer (i.e., pouches in the back of the throat). Adult female flies lay a packet of eggs around the mouth or nose of the deer. When the deer licks the eggs the larvae within the eggs are released and migrate to the nasal passages. In the deer, the larvae molt and mature until they are fully developed, at which time they exit the deer and fall to the ground to pupate. When adult flies emerge, the life cycle is completed. Nasal bots do not occur in domestic animals and pose no threat to humans.
Pretty gross!