Last season was one of my toughest ever. I was in the woods for some 70 days across the country, and nothing came easy. I saw fewer deer—and fewer mature bucks—than in years past. In some places we saw way fewer deer. The camera guys and I hunted hard as hell and we shot some good bucks. But we had to scratch and claw for every one we got.   It was tough hunting for many of you too, especially if you live in the Midwest. Some preliminary figures show the deer kill was down 7 percent in Wisconsin and Minnesota; down a whopping 25 percent in Illinois; down 10-20 percent in Michigan (depending on region, from south to north); [...]

Greg saw this post on Twitter and tweeted me about another Indiana giant that likely succumbed to EHD this summer. Dave saw it too and tweeted: “Here is another west central Indiana giant that was taken by EHD. This one was found in 2012.” #shame Two more world-class bucks that this dreadful disease killed. I hope scientists can figure out some way to battle this buck killer, but to date there is nothing we can do.

Dean W. reports that this beautiful buck, 170-class, was found in west-central Indiana by a friend of a friend and suspected to be an EHD fatality. As compared to last year, EHD has been light across North America in 2013, although there have been spotty outbreaks that have killed some bucks, like this Indiana giant. It is that way every year from Montana to the East Coast, EHD always gets some deer. Damn shame this tall-tined buck was killed by that dreaded disease.