Terrible news regarding ehd in central illinois especially clark co.
 

Just spoke with a friend of mine and in the last 5 days they have found 19 dead deer, one being a 170" and a 19 point non-typical... As soon as I get photos, I will post them. Due to the large number of deer found in a relatively small area, they contacted the DNR and a biologist did confirm the deaths due to EHD.
Spoke to Pete Switzer of "Hunters Choice Taxidermy" in Lerna, IL. and he is saying his numbers are at an all time low! Pete said a game farm in Cumberland Co. had lost 24 (raised) whitetail deer due to EHD.
I was thinking that this year wouldn't be as bad as last and my worst fears are coming to true. The biologist said due to the lack of rain in July, August and Sept. creeks as well as pond mud flats were large, and those are where the midges live and that's all it takes.., even thou we had a wet spring.

Wow truly a sad deal. It's crazy how nature kind of takes care of itself sometimes.

It's nothing new and will always be here. The deer will bouce back within 5 yrs. Nothing to worry about accept hunting might suck for a little bit.

Don't underestimate the devestation EHD can cause!
 

A friend of mine lives in Cassopolis, Michigan and they received their first extreme case of EHD 6 years ago.. It was a daily routine at my friends house to see deer come to his feeder and roam his property, in the past 2 years he hasn't seen a single deer, and if his neighbors see a deer its a big occurrence, where it used to be an annoyance! It has literally wiped out the deer herd!

So I am not taking EHD lightly as no one should, it's serious!

Oh it is serious. I do understand this. I would blame your buddies deer issues on the fish and wildlife then. Deer won't rebound in an area after a disease if they still allow hunting. Should have at least stopped antlerless deer harvests.

If theres only 4 deer per sq mile and theres hunting still allowed in the area. Well your gonna have 50 guys hunting 4 deer. Guess who loses that battle. Never gives the critters time to rebound if you blast the few left every year.

This is liken to the wolf arguement in northern WI. My uncle's area for instance. The wolves killed almost every deer in his hunting grounds. To walk 5 miles in fresh snow and never see a track. It's pretty depressing. So that left like 3 deer per sq mile by him. The WI DNR still allowed anterless tags and of course the wolves were still out there. So when do the deer have time to rebound. They don't. Finally the WI DNR figured well we better take away antlerless tags and kill some wolves. Now finally he's starting to see deer in his yard again.

When something like this happens the states fish and wildlife have to give that area a break to rebound.

It's a shame when people must point the finger at the DNR for not being able to control their own trigger finger. No deer? Time to take a year off or go someplace where there are too many deer, or hunt some other species, or fish, etc. .
EHD sounds pretty bad. I'm in the middle of CWD country, some of ours have tested positive, and now there is no money for testing. What's a person to do? We hunt and the years when things look slim, we don't pull the trigger as often.

Really handles. The DNR is too blame. It's their job. Thats what they get payed to do.

While I do agree hunters should play a part in it. The problem with vilas county is you have a lot of out of towners who come up to hunt there that really don't know the severity of the deer crisis in the area, and shoot the first antlers they see.
Yeah it is a shame we must point fingers, but in the end the finger's pointed at them.

Well said!! That's what they are getting paid for, to determine whether or not the herd could withstand a season "as normal", because it is certainly hasn't been "normal" in the past 2 years!

Hunters should show restraint, but there are a great deal of hunters especially "gun only" hunters, who are unaware of EHD, because they don't see the dead deer.. because gun season is usually later in the year.