PriceRacing35 Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Well. It rained. Hard. Since about 7:30 this morning. I recently purchased a Kahles scope for my Ruger. And it wasn't so cheap. So I headed for the truck. I took a rarely used shortcut. I was walking and saw a white belly. Looked through the binos and never saw any movement and it was on its side. So I walked up to the deer and it was dead. A fully swollen, rutted up 3year old(guess) buck dead. No bullet holes or arrow holes. Checked both aides. The buck was stiff. But by the looks, had not been there more than 24 hours. So my question is..are there any obvious signs to look for as to a cause of death. I was guessing either CWD, EHD, or a rut fueled fight with a larger buck. Here in this part of Missouri CWD has not been present, eHD has been reported in the county. But we have not found or heard of any found around the immediate area. The buck had blood in his mouth, and half a bowel movement, well, sticking out. Any ideas on what could've happened??? Anything helps. Thank you, Shawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 If it were me, I would get my warden to pick it up or either that or take it myself to our biologist for them to determine. Seems kinda late really for a deer to be dieing from ehd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriceRacing35 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 help? advice? answers? Our warden for the county has not been all that helpful in the past. With poaching/trespassing problems and we are kinda hesitant to turn to him. I can try to get ahold of the biologist. But I will be unable to make it back up there till Friday due to work. I know I have heard EHD does not spread after a hard frost. And this morning was the first real hard frost we have had. But I would think if there was one there would be more and we have not found any. The bucks antlers were palmated and slightly non-typical if that would mean anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Does your state have a line to call your local office? The biologist there may come and get it, worth a call for sure, especially if cwd was a potential question. Pretty fortunate here in that we have good game warden, he has told me our biologist is great and encouraged me to call him with some questions on densities I had but I have yet to call him. Ehd is spread by biting flies called midges, figured in MO your weather would be cool enough it should not be a problem at this point. That said we have had a couple good frosts here already, but we still have plenty of bugs around. Don't think antler growth or deformations would have anything to do with ehd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetailfreak55 Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Was it found by water. Maybe blue tongue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriceRacing35 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 help? advice? answers? I will call the county conservation office tomorrow and see if they can do anything or have any info on EHD around the area. And as far as the weather, we have had a couple frosts. But then again, it would warm right back up into the 70s. We had plenty of water around, thus tons of bugs. And as far as the antler growth. We have noticed several non-typicals this years. But this deer was just really different than most. And the buck was not found by water. He was in a 15 acre timber patch surrounded by open prairie. He was in the thickest part of it. It is usually a spot that bucks lock down with does. Just due to the thickness of the undergrowth. That's kinda why I also had fighting in the back of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 help? advice? answers? Probably got killed from fighting. At this point blue tongue can't be tested for. He's been dead too long. I'd cape him and look for fight wounds and check his skull for a possible fracture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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