The QDMA reports that hemorrhagic disease, including EHD and bluetongue virus, will have minimal impacts on whitetail herds this year. Small, scattered cases of EHD have been reported in Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and New Jersey, but with frosts and colder weather coming on, no major outbreaks will occur in 2014.
This is what the deer herds across America needed, especially after the record 2012 EHD outbreak. That, followed by a couple of brutal winters, killed thousands of deer in many states.
Ironically, while the hard winter of 2013 was tough on deer in the North, it likely helped herds nationwide by reducing the populations of midges that bite deer and transmit the EHD virus.
Minimal EHD is fantastic, but I hear predictions that the winter of 2014-15 might actually be colder and snowier than last winter’s brutality. I hope not, but if so that will make it tough on hunters and deer alike.
I hope it isn’t as bad as last winter, If it is….better get er done early….starting tomorrow morning. Good Luck to all!
Hey Mike……..It’s not looking good here on the Milk this year what deer we have left are getting hit again this year with ehd……finding a deer a day, pray for a very hard frost…….Good luck this season!
I can’t speak for all parts of the continent, but I do know that if the weather pattern here (jet stream bringing in cold, Canadian air further south-and for longer periods of time) then my gut tells me this winter is going to be as bad, and maybe worse than in ’13-14. The good news for whitetails (and other critters that eat on them) is that our hard mast crop here in N. Indiana looks to be pretty darn good. I did a quick scout and recon set up (w/cameras) last Fri. morning and things are looking pretty darn good out there. We had ample rains for the corn in June; hence a good corn crop. And the later soybeans will most likely have benefitted from the August rains we received. All-in-all I think we’re in good shape here.