EHD officially confirmed

[Shovelbuck]

While myself and others that deer hunt the same general area have susspected it, our Game and Parks Commission has confirmed. As many as 49% of the herd was lost last fall in certain areas due to EHD and drought. No wonder I was hard pressed to see deer from Oct. on. The area I hunt, Loup East, which has been 100% either sex tags has now gone to a 70% buck only tag area with the total number available less also. They are predicting recovery within 3 or 4 years.
I guess I shold consider myself lucky that I've found any sheds at all. It could be a few lean years to come.

 

[Shredder]

Suprising enough, Your herd will bounce back quickly. The deer that survived should have been exposed at least and survived meaning they may have a good immunity to it. This is just mother natures way of controlling the herd size and reducing the other disease incidence and parasite load as well. Sooner or later it will hit in Iowa and Illinois in an area with high deer density thus reducing the population there as well.

 

[Buckhunter]

Sorry to here about that Shovel but I would think they will come back pretty fast.Also would'nt you be able to find alot of dead buck's laying around?I would think you should be able to find some big boy's that succombed to the desease.

 

[Shovelbuck]

I'm up to 6 dead dear in my little area of about 3/4 square mile. 4 were does, 1 unknown and 1 buck. The herd in this area is generally around 25 to 30 deer. With our poor buck to doe ratio here there's probably another 6 dead does out there.

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Shovel:

Here in the southeast part of the state (Nebraska) EHD and drought have affected the deer populations as well. I've been out a couple of times looking for sheds on the piece of ground where I hunt deer. Have only found two small sheds so far, but at least there's a few bucks around. So far I also haven't found any dead deer on the property, which encourages me somewhat given then recent news about EHD and its toll on Nebraska's deer. I think things will turn around eventually (from a drought and disease standpoint), but I don't think we're out of the woods just yet. It may take another year or two.

 

[HUSKERBUCK]

We have found four dead bucks this year. Three of which seem to have died earlier this fall. We also saw fewer deer this year than in past. Overall I dont think it affected out herd as much as it did in the Loup area from what I have read. However, another year of drought like we have had and it could be another story.