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I sure as hell hope......

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
.....this hot dry summer doesn't cause another EHD outbreak again! I don't think Ohio would/could recover but the insurance companies would be happy I bet! If we don't get rain soon I'm very concerned EHD will rear it ugly head again!
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
Got my fingers crossed it won't happen again. Looks like we are gonna get a bit of relief next week. Maybe we will get some rain also!
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
I know this is a concern across the whole midwest, im trying to stay positive myself but its def concerning when deer hunting is such a BIG part of my life
 

mrex

*Supporting member*
439
79
.....this hot dry summer doesn't cause another EHD outbreak again! I don't think Ohio would/could recover but the insurance companies would be happy I bet! If we don't get rain soon I'm very concerned EHD will rear it ugly head again!

It's not the heat as much as the drought. That damn disease picks on bucks. Bachelor groups congregate at watering holes and so do the insects, (midges), that spread the disease.

We had 57 straight days of no rain here in the summer of 2005. I remember thinking, "2.5 years of my life trying to get in bow range of 1 particular buck and a f'n midge might get to him first."
 
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brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
I'm not worried. Heck, we still have 700k of the dang things, and they breed like rats. We are over-ran with deer, we could really use a kill off from Mother Nature. Lord knows, hunters don't put forth the effort they once did to kill them!
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,171
201
NW Ohio Tundra
I could see it happening this year even up in the NW part of the state. All of our creeks are either completely dry or very low and stagnant. The main creek that flows through my hunting area is having a major die off of fish right now....we are talking big carp and catfish too....fish that can almost live through anything. The water quality really went to shit last week after the big storm...

With all of the leaves that came down into the water, the acid from the leaves changed the water a blackish color. I believe the PH level of the water changed dramatically overnight and the oxygen level was dropped also, causing the fish to start a massive die off. This will no doubt make the quality of drinking water for the available wildlife very poor and will it spawn disease? I bet it will.
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,708
191
Mahoning Co.
I believe it's more of a problem in late summer, but if we don't get out of this weather pattern soon it could be a real problem.
 

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,640
191
Springboro
Well, I read this thread over the weekend and did some reading on EHD and would like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH for giving me just one more damned thing to worry about and be grumpy about. ARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Man I hope it rains soon.
 

mrex

*Supporting member*
439
79
There's an informative article in the August issue of NAW about EHD and Blue Tongue.

According to James Kroll, "One answer to reducing the impacts of these diseases is proper herd management." "That means hunters need to harvest more does, an activity still not popular with hunters." Dr. Deer concludes with, "The best approach is to manage our deer in balance with their habitat, paying careful attention to population density on our hunting lands."
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
There's an informative article in the August issue of NAW about EHD and Blue Tongue.

According to James Kroll, "One answer to reducing the impacts of these diseases is proper herd management." "That means hunters need to harvest more does, an activity still not popular with hunters." Dr. Deer concludes with, "The best approach is to manage our deer in balance with their habitat, paying careful attention to population density on our hunting lands."

Good thing the NHTSA does run its programs for reducing car accidents like our biologists run programs for reducing deer problems..

Starting in the fall the NHTSA will put in place a program to inject sugar gas into the national gas supply to blow up engines and reduce the number of cars on the road, less cars equals less accidents. It's perfect! Now thats management! lmao
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
Even without any EHD outbreaks this year I would say the dry spring/summer is going to hurt the deer. I would suspect the antlers will be down a bit this year. Not sure about the fawns and yearlings, but the lack of water can't help their growth and development much.