EHD would you hunt
12-03-2014, 04:54 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: GA
Posts: 357
EHD would you hunt
2 Hypothetical questions..
lets say your state was hit very hard with an EHD outbreak and you lost much of your herd...
Would you still hunt that year or at least give them a year or so to recover.. Remember you will have less mature bucks running around and less deer in general breeding..
Do you think the state should step in the cancel season for one year at least or take it county by county?..
Remember a few years ago the Milk river region on MT lost close to 90% of it's deer herd a few years ago..
My opinion and it's worth what you are paying for it.. If I owned or managed a large tract I would not hunt that year and maybe the next with a good herd census first. I would do everything I could to improve the habitat and herd health.
lets say your state was hit very hard with an EHD outbreak and you lost much of your herd...
Would you still hunt that year or at least give them a year or so to recover.. Remember you will have less mature bucks running around and less deer in general breeding..
Do you think the state should step in the cancel season for one year at least or take it county by county?..
Remember a few years ago the Milk river region on MT lost close to 90% of it's deer herd a few years ago..
My opinion and it's worth what you are paying for it.. If I owned or managed a large tract I would not hunt that year and maybe the next with a good herd census first. I would do everything I could to improve the habitat and herd health.
Last edited by ojibwa; 12-03-2014 at 12:01 PM.
12-03-2014, 06:49 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
2 Hypothetical questions..
lets say your state was hit very hit with an EHD outbreak and you lost much of your herd...
Would you still hunt that year or at least give them a year or so to recover.. Remember you will have less mature bucks running around and less deer in general breeding..
Do you think the state should step in the cancel season for one year at least or take it county by county?..
Remember a few years ago the Milk river region on MT lost close to 90% of it's deer herd a few years ago..
My opinion and it's worth what you are paying for it.. If I owned or managed a large tract I would not hunt that year and maybe the next with a good herd census first. I would do everything I could to improve the habitat and herd health.
lets say your state was hit very hit with an EHD outbreak and you lost much of your herd...
Would you still hunt that year or at least give them a year or so to recover.. Remember you will have less mature bucks running around and less deer in general breeding..
Do you think the state should step in the cancel season for one year at least or take it county by county?..
Remember a few years ago the Milk river region on MT lost close to 90% of it's deer herd a few years ago..
My opinion and it's worth what you are paying for it.. If I owned or managed a large tract I would not hunt that year and maybe the next with a good herd census first. I would do everything I could to improve the habitat and herd health.
Ive only taken 2 deer last year and 2 deer this year VS the 5 or 6 I usually take.
This year I have only taken 1 mature buck. I might take another if it falls in my lap but I'm not really pursuing another one. Partly because the buck I went after this year was smarter than me and it took me 2 months to get a shot.
Our herd bounces right back numbers wise but the average age is down and the big boys are harder to come by.
We do still have more deer even dealing with EHD than most places do when the herd is healthy though.
12-03-2014, 07:38 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
Drought concentrates deer into around stagnant water where these little gnats thrive...It can happen to any size herd. Of course the more deer you have the more it will kill but other than that its about the population of these gnats not the population of deer.
Last edited by rockport; 12-03-2014 at 07:45 AM.
12-03-2014, 08:14 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Idaho
Posts: 1,081
The big cause of EHD is drought. Its a virus is spread by little gnats(called a midge) in stagnant water holes and is killed off every year by the freeze assuming you live in a climate that freezes.....I don't know what happens if you don't get cold weather.
Drought concentrates deer into around stagnant water where these little gnats thrive...It can happen to any size herd. Of course the more deer you have the more it will kill but other than that its about the population of these gnats not the population of deer.
Drought concentrates deer into around stagnant water where these little gnats thrive...It can happen to any size herd. Of course the more deer you have the more it will kill but other than that its about the population of these gnats not the population of deer.
12-03-2014, 08:25 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
Interesting. I lived in Florida for a good majority of my life and I never heard of this. We did have a big die off up here about 10 years ago from cronic wasting disease, I believe that is what they called it, deer died off so bad that they sent out trucks every morning to pick up dead deer in peoples yards, the whole town stunk of dead deer. It was caused from over population. The F&G never closed or shorted the hunting season and the deer have came back strong, we have better bucks now, or so it seems. Nature has a way of cleansing and controlling the heard.
I don't know what keeps florida from getting it. Lots of rain maybe.
From my understanding its really not a matter of having EHD as much as having the conditions for it to become a problem.
12-03-2014, 12:06 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: GA
Posts: 357
Your thinking of CWD which can be spread in over populated heard and is caused by prions in the soil.
as already stated sorry....
12-04-2014, 04:40 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
I have the luck of Michigan being so large a state I could just stay home to hunt if EHD hit the UP or vice versa if it hit the lower.
East side of the lower above the thumb had a out break of CWD on all that club land. Friends who had property there now hunt ONT Canada and in Manitoba.
Al
East side of the lower above the thumb had a out break of CWD on all that club land. Friends who had property there now hunt ONT Canada and in Manitoba.
Al
12-04-2014, 04:57 AM
#10
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 406
Here in South Central Michigan, we have unlimited doe permits for private land. I still never shoot more then my family needs. A buck only falls if he is wonded (hunter or car) or fully mature. Just to many does to be shooting young bucks.
I would defintely still hunt if there was a large die off. However, I would be more selective in the deer I go after. Many times I have raised my gun, cocked the hammer and said "your dead" under my breath. Then simply let the deer walk away. After you pull the trigger teh work starts. Plus it allows me to practice my moves to get in shooting position. I simply like being in the woods even if I do not pull the trigger and hunting at least gives me an excuse to get outside.
I would defintely still hunt if there was a large die off. However, I would be more selective in the deer I go after. Many times I have raised my gun, cocked the hammer and said "your dead" under my breath. Then simply let the deer walk away. After you pull the trigger teh work starts. Plus it allows me to practice my moves to get in shooting position. I simply like being in the woods even if I do not pull the trigger and hunting at least gives me an excuse to get outside.