Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum EHD question for those who know

If a deer gets EHD and survives , does he or she build up an immunity to it ? Or easier to get it in the future ? Or no change at all?

Not in the know, but I’d take a wild arse guess it would have more immunity than before. I’m probably wrong though. You kill one with it?

They probably survived because they already have immunity. There are so many different strains the rate of mortality is more based off of what strain is prevalent that year. Any time a strain rolls through their bodies haven’t built immunity to the mortality rates are higher

No, four of us were discussing EHD yesterday at Shorty's during lunch and someone asked the question.

Got ya, had no idea there are different strains. Barring any immunities, I assume some are "stronger" than others and have a higher mortality rate, which could contribute to higher die off some years and not others ?

Matt, is there any way to tell if one has had it?

What Matt said is what I've been told by some biologists in other states. Different strains, some die and some survive (building immunity) and when different strains hit then deer have different reactions.

I hate to compare animals and humans, but it's sort of like the different strains of flu. Some of us don't get sick, some get a little sick, some get really sick, and some die. Next year, it may be ABC Flu instead of QRS Flu, and it happens again. Similar with deer and EHD.

Not Matt, but cracked and sloughed off hooves are a sure sign of it.

Utility Dude killed one off our place a couple of years ago that was an EHD survivor. He was scrawny body wise but had about a 115" rack that made him look bigger than what he was. I will bet that buck didn't dress 85 lbs. All 4 hooves were cracked and sloughed off in places.

Sounds a lot like the flu.

We found a dead sickly looking buck a while back. Had already shed hia left antler. Fellow went back to saw off the other antler, when he picked it up to cut it thing just popped off in his hand.

Not a picture poster upper but if somebody will give me a phone number I have pics of survivor hooves I will text you to post.

Just PM me the number

Sounds like maybe an abcessed skull. Did the antler break off cleanly at the pedicle or have some kind of runny-funky yellow pus type gunk?

a survivor builds up an immunity to that particular strain of EHD but not to any other strains. A deer can get sick from one strain, get over it, and get another strain a month later and die. There are four strains present in Al that I know of, and rumored that the hurricanes brought another from south Fl this season.

Survivors will sometimes, not always, grow elongated hooves. Others will have permanent damage to their rumen and the ability to take in nutrients from the food they eat. It may take five months for them to die, losing weight all along.

Signs seen in july/aug/sept usually are swollen mouth, drooling, swollen face, tender feet making them walk gingerly, "I don't feel good" look in their eyes, to no signs and dead deer in a matter of hours. A lot of deer will move to any water available because of a high temperature. Death also occurs in some from pneumonia in latter, lingering stages of the disease.

I hate fkn midges even more than coyotes.

Me too! It is not a fun experience. Last 5 years of mgmt gone. Up a hogs ass

Speaking of those midges. Is there anything you could put in a pond to kill them? For example there are 3 ponds in the area i hunt. 2 of which have cattle using them, which i have read makes for a better breeding environment for the midges. Is there anything you can treat the ponds with in times when the midges would be most prevalent? Not fish ponds, just cows and horses using them. Also am i off in assuming deer watering solely at running water or fresher water are less likely to get ehd?

the midges breed in the WET mud around a water source. You can spray permetherin on the mud to kill midges but the lil basterds can fly to yer place from a good bit aways. There is speculation that EHD overwinters in cattle. Cattle are affected some by EHD but not as badly as deer. If they were the cattle associations would of demanded a vaccine that worked against EHD many years ago.

I forgot the name of the biologist that came out to our place to take samples of the EHD buck I killed, but I remember him saying our area had been hit by a new strain of EHD....possibly from the hurricanes as BhamFred suggests?

It was definitely influinced by the hurrycanes.

BSK who used to post on here often and worked with Dr. Grant Woods for several years answered that question for me several years ago. He said water moving, tumbling over rocks was much better than standing water and EHD was much less around the moving water. I've never seen any evidence on my place , I have mountain springs and water flowing down creeks in hollows. But in the valley below around the farm ponds there have been some EHD deer found.