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My Knowledge & Solution quest for Info to combat EHD & TICKS....

My thought on the topic goes like this...

EHD is a viral disease with at least 7 known strains. Viral diseases currently don't have any sort of cure for one strain, let alone 7.

Immunity from the current strain of EHD most deer contract in the midwest will take upwards of 100 years to happen, which sucks because none of us will be around to see that! So, with no cure to actually help once the EHD virus has entered a deer ...

The only thing plausible I see at this point is preventing the midge from actually biting the deer - whether that be through an ingredient in the feed that gives a deers coat some kind of insect repellent type odor or feature that repelled insects/midges, or through the roller system that Sligh1 discussed. I would think surely there has got to be some sort of formula safe for deer to intake that would prevent insects from biting them... I don't know. I'm not well versed in that department.
 
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Better hurry up Skip, I saw a video in facebook today showing a nice velvet buck in Kentucky walking slow circles in the middle of a highway. EHD or Blue Tongue gunna have him laying in the ditch by days end.
 
nwhawk said:
Likely a marketing gimmick like all other products of this type in the outdoor world, but has anyone looked into Real World Wildlife Products? Another company advertising their claim to fame being an EHD preventer and what not. Curious on various thoughts.
https://www.realworldwildlifeproducts.com/
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So their mix is similar to what I've put out for years. What I added this year was garlic. Garlic is the main missing ingredient, imo, that has a shot at additional benefit.

But yes, I've given them the other major benefits already for many years: selenium, thiamine, b12/cobalt, sulfur, etc, etc. read my label I posted of mineral I've put out forever. Compare the 2.
The other obvious things are: general health with plots, year round food sources, stress reduction (long story, every thing from population to bedding areas), etc, etc. The minerals also help with growing antlers (say phosphorous and calcium that are lacking in many cases) along with whole list of things. Fertility, hooves, immune system, etc.

so- I think it helps but the granulated garlic is gonna be the best thing to add to "help". IMO.
 
If you're like me (please, I hope not too many are, the world can't handle any more), here's some fun reads!!! Literally could skim through some research in 20 minutes. And it's VERY good. Some different angles on Garlic, etc.....

http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajbs.2012.328.340

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09712119.2011.607764

http://www.producer.com/2012/08/rancher-uses-garlic-to-keep-flies-at-bay
/

http://www.pvamu.edu/PDFFiles/agric...blication - Daley-Garlic - Final - 8-2012.pdf

http://www.cowsmo.com/articles/331548/
 
I will ALMOST go this far in a claim.... let's boil it Down to this example. U do this, I "ALMOST GUARANTEE" u will have less ehd (less biting midges wanting to bite, better health, better immune system, bigger antlers) if u did this...
Let's say 1 station per 80 acres of cover....
Let's say u put out 100 lbs mineral like I posted. 3-5 lbs granulated garlic mixed in. .5-1 lbs feed grade sulfur. 10 lbs molasses. Thiamine is only missing ingredient on mineral I mentioned/posted. But has immune boosters like b-12/cobalt, selenium, vit d/e, etc. that mineral is the bomb. Works. Better health and racks with calcium, phosphorous, zinc, magnesium, manganese, etc etc that are in the good quality mineral.
**update - as of now, the Deer I gave gotten pics of are as close to "tick free" as I've ever seen them. Very nice shiny coats (sulfur and other things also help there). Yes- I'm in drought central as well. I'll post some pics later.
 
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One hour ago . I was helping buddy assess a farm he wanted to possibly buy. 10 mins in I smelled this and took 60 secs to find him. Pics
Don't do justice, not close- mass was sick OLD buck Very likely ehd 10' from creek Far from
My farms thank goodness Cattle Country BIG TIME bummer
& fine, since everyone will ask- NW appanoose co right by lucas and Wayne A long way from my farm. I know it's gonna hit me- how bad- we shall see Bummer
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already planning on decatur getting trashed again I'm afraid it will be like 2013 and if thats the case i might as well be a waterfowl hunter for 4 years
 
IMO, it starts to really hit now. Bloody antlers and midges, from what I've read, really peak out in August and I've literally found midges into November and also had deer die into November from EHD (Not 100% sure but I'm as certain as you can be) OR causes hoof cracks and they die as long as 6 months after that even. SO - NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER. Now is the WORST TIME, PERIOD, IMO.

Dunno if rain will do anything or not. I kinda think it's gonna do what it always does..... hit pockets and miss areas. My total guess or my experience is: it kills a few deer on my farms every year. The MASSIVE nasty ravaging kills, seems like no matter the weather, comes like every 5-10 years for example. Then, it goes back to a light trickle.
EXAMPLE: One of my farms in whatever, 2012 or 2013 summer didn't get touched, maybe found 1-2 dead deer - was very light. That's when other pockets, even 15 miles away, were getting wiped out. Well, all the sudden I had lots of rain in 2015. One farm, 26 dead bucks. I'm 99% sure they were all EHD cases.

So, the unanswered question I sure don't have answer to... Why does it come in waves & why does it hit in pockets? Why does a drought year kill bad in some areas while a high water year devastate some farms like it did mine? I kinda think my situation was "big rains" which caused water FLUCTUATION throughout the summer and fall - creating mud all the time & receding banks for midges. CATTLE have a roll in this whole mess too. I'm hoping 1) I dodge a bullet and you all do too 2) I hope the garlic and sulfur I've added are doing what I think they are doing.
 
I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I just heard over the wknd from a neighboring landowner (Decatur). He said that it has been so dry that the midge have not been able to survive due to the fact that there was no mud/moisture for them. Hope there is some truth to this.
 
4DABUCKS said:
I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I just heard over the wknd from a neighboring landowner (Decatur). He said that it has been so dry that the midge have not been able to survive due to the fact that there was no mud/moisture for them. Hope there is some truth to this.
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PLEASE BE RIGHT!!!! ;)
 
4DABUCKS said:
I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I just heard over the wknd from a neighboring landowner (Decatur). He said that it has been so dry that the midge have not been able to survive due to the fact that there was no mud/moisture for them. Hope there is some truth to this.
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That seems plausible to me. ^^ It has been so dry, for so long that there has essentially been no mud for the little midges to come out of. Meanwhile, there have been EHD reports in prior years where it was wet and then dry...leaving exposed mud behind. I think the key is mud...not specifically drought. Whatever causes more mud to be exposed is the real whammo I think.
 
Daver said:
That seems plausible to me. ^^ It has been so dry, for so long that there has essentially been no mud for the little midges to come out of. Meanwhile, there have been EHD reports in prior years where it was wet and then dry...leaving exposed mud behind. I think the key is mud...not specifically drought. Whatever causes more mud to be exposed is the real whammo I think.
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Everyone has a theory and your could very well be right. I tend to agree with you. That being the case..... is it possible that a little bit of rain could actually make things worse (no flowing water, just mud). Something I've pondered.

I think the main thing about EHD is that it CONSENTRATES deer to water sources because there flat out arnt as many. That likely makes the virus spread faster if it is present (midge bites infected deer then passes it on to the next deer at the same drinking hole). I checked all ponds at home farm yesterday.... nothing dead so far.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Everyone has a theory and your could very well be right. I tend to agree with you. That being the case..... is it possible that a little bit of rain could actually make things worse (no flowing water, just mud). Something I've pondered.

I think the main thing about EHD is that it CONSENTRATES deer to water sources because there flat out arnt as many. That likely makes the virus spread faster if it is present (midge bites infected deer then passes it on to the next deer at the same drinking hole). I checked all ponds at home farm yesterday.... nothing dead so far.
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My understanding is that it is "exposed" mud that is most conducive to hatching the midges...so whatever conditions exist that lead to that would be undesirable. FWIW, I have not heard of widespread EHD issues yet this year...even though it has been bone dry in much of SC and SE Iowa all summer. I am also persuaded that cattle nearby is a huge factor...I am glad that we don't have many cattle in our area and certainly not an over-concentration of them. 4-5 years ago when EHD ravaged huge areas, we never found a dead deer on our place that we thought was due to EHD. "Neighbors", some only 2'ish miles away found scads of dead deer. Who knows?? :)
 
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