Bluetongue question.
 

Just wondering what you all know about it.I saw a buckmasters program a while back where jackie Bushwacker and someone else walked up on some deer near a river bank bedded,where the deer acted really strange,and some where dead.I was wondering if any of you have ever had this in your state or encountered it?Also has any ever been found here in Illinois in the past?Here is an interesting link that I found on it too.http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...n&ie=UTF-8

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

i seen that same program drstalker, i never known anything about that blue tounge, intill i seen it on tv, i know there has been no case of that in ma.id be intrested on what cause that to. seems like a horibble way to die

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

It,s simalar to mad cow disease. Just like mad cow they haven,t figured out what is causing it.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

Looks like from that article that I read that I posted the link too,they link it to biting midges&some other fly's.I thought it came from contaminated water or sometrhing like that.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

Mad cow? Yikes! Guys, blue tongue is EHD. Epizooic hemorragic disease. The black fly or midge, like drstalker said, spreads it. Deer eventually have ruptured tubercles in their lungs, and bleeding from the rectum before death. They also have swollen inflamed mucus membranes, like a swollen mouth and tongue, thus the term blue tongue. They usually are found dead or dying near a water source, unable to drink. In captivity some cases have been known to be reversed, and many guys I know are actually trying to breed deer which have developed a resistance to it with northern deer that havent.

Yes, you could see an outbreak in Illinois. Ohio had some cases a couple years ago, as I recall. It isnt spread by anything you as a hunter does, or by any deer farms. Its all in those flies!

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

Bill Thank's.Could severe dought like we are having in northern Illinois,cause an outbreak of the midge or these flies?Just currious?I know that would probably be the least of our worries this hunting season,because the deer will be looking elsewhere for food.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

Bill is absolutely right - EHD is why transplanted deer from northern states don't make it here in La.- they just don't have the natural resistance. Typically, wet ormoist areas have higher cases of EHD. Some infections are worse than others, with some deer showing no symptoms at all, and others dying a horrible death. Even so, we have hadsevereoutbreaks of EHD here, and have even identified a new strain on one of our southernmost WMA's.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

There was a pretty good outbreak of that in some of the areas I hunt about 15yrs ago. Dead deer everywhere. Not much fun.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

Bill is absolutely correct.Sections of Idaho got hit hard with it a couple of years ago.I don't remember if it cycles or if it had to do with certain environmental factors.

RE: Bluetongue question.
 

a couple of years ago an EHD outbreak following drought in NC killed an estimated 250k deer. Natures way of reducing the herd. EHD also causes the hooves to grow very quick in some of the deer. I saw one in Maryland last summer that had feet that looked like he was wearing jester shoes. Those suckers just curling up. Mostly affects bucks.