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Rough go in SW IA.

mudingbuck

mudingbuck

PMA Member
I am looking to pick your guys brain a little.

I hunt SW Iowa on about 1000 acres of prime private ground. I have shoot some nice bucks and have seen several mature deer since hunting there. This year I was in the stand for a 121 hours bowhunting and only saw 3 mature deer. Two were bucks and 1 was a doe. I shot one of the bucks.

This passed weekend I joined family and friends during Iowa's gun season. The other mature buck I saw was shot by my cousin! We didn't see any other mature deer in 4 days.

Talking with some DNR agents, they confirmed my fear. EHD had hit my area hard this year, but I never found any dead deer that would suggest EHD. So I guess I am asking you or who ever can help. Should I began looking for new hunting ground for a few year? How long do you think it will take for the herd to bounce back?

Thanks
Tom
 
With the wetter year I've noticed that the deer have changed there travel patterns. Also, I think the warmer weather has kept them from bunching up yet. It's a lot easier for a couple of deer to sneak by when pushing than a group of them.

The EHD epidemic was attributed to drought but with the amount of rain we had this year, it makes a person wonder. You say SW Ia, what county. Certain areas had a bunch more rain than others.
 
TeenageHunter said:
Time to quit blaming EHD/disease and start blaming us as hunters killing too many deer.
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Over hunting isn't always the case. Look at guys like Winke at Midwest whitetail, he manages his herd well and EHD took a lot of his mature deer.
I do agree that management comes down to the hunters individually.
Too many are in the mindset that if there are tags available then they should keep shooting. I went two years without shooting a doe because I wasn't seeing the typical numbers in my areas.

I would start scouting some new ground if your herd seems low. Options never hurt!
 
seven twenty said:
With the wetter year I've noticed that the deer have changed there travel patterns. Also, I think the warmer weather has kept them from bunching up yet. It's a lot easier for a couple of deer to sneak by when pushing than a group of them.

The EHD epidemic was attributed to drought but with the amount of rain we had this year, it makes a person wonder. You say SW Ia, what county. Certain areas had a bunch more rain than others.
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Taylor county. North of Bedford. They had so much rain that there was a lot of farmers that couldn't even plant this year. I always thought EHD was from dry weather, the way they explained it to me yesterday, was with all the rain there were more wet areas that would dry up. From Bedford to Corning there were a bunch of deer found dead from EHD this year.
 
I hunt davis county and didn't see a buck that would go 120 in 10 days of hunting! It has been getting worse and worse the last 2 or 3 years!! In 2009 a 207" was shot on the land and now your lucky to see a 120" we have noticed the doe numbers have increased ALOT in the last couple years which is a good thing but they still need to eliminate alot more doe tags in my opinion!
 
I hunt about 1000 acres. The property to the north is hunted by 5 guys from New Jersey, the property to the west is hunted by a club from Pennsylvania, and the property toe the east is hunted by 3 guys that are very big into QDM. In all there is roughly 1500 acres that is managed pretty well.
 
I'm speaking on terms of the type of property you have permission to hunt with this response. I would continue hunting that property if I had 1000 acres in a prime QDMA area. The 3 1/2 year old bucks will become mature bucks soon enough, and you may even get a few wandering bucks finding a safe haven in there late season with the mature bucks harvested. All would not be lost in an area like that for me. Now I'm dealing with similar issue's on my properties in central Iowa, but not from EHD just over hunting and poor selection by duel permission hunters. This year has really opened my eyes about population control just looking at the lack there of number of does on my properties. It's easily been the worse year for me as far as lack of sightings of deer let alone mature bucks. I can count the number of does I've had in bow range this fall on one hand from the tree, and the number of shooter bucks is about the same. I've seen a ton of young bucks which gives me hope for the future, but it's all a rebuilding process.

Good luck Buck
 
I always see more yearlings, and two yr olds, than anything 3 or older. Do the bucks get real eduacated aftyer 2 yrs? My opinion is many hunters in my area take the 2 yr olds. I should see some more of them 2 yr olds gettin older. My neighbor got a box of antlers from a local processor a couple yrs ago. Lots of small antlers in that box, so opinion in my area,,is too many guys shooting young deer.
 
mudingbuck said:
Taylor county. North of Bedford. They had so much rain that there was a lot of farmers that couldn't even plant this year. I always thought EHD was from dry weather, the way they explained it to me yesterday, was with all the rain there were more wet areas that would dry up. From Bedford to Corning there were a bunch of deer found dead from EHD this year.
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I heard a theory regarding EHD this year, perhaps from someone on this site, I don't recall now, that goes like this...you can also see EHD in overly wet years because the water levels rise, due to abnormal rainfall/flooding, and then recede...still exposing mud flats/bank lines, etc, where the ol' midge hangs out.

So...whether the mud along the water sources(creeks, ponds, rivers...) is exposed via drought or flood(when the waters recede)...you still have mud and consequently prime habitat for midges. I am not enough of a scientist to validate that theory, but it does make sense to me as a viable possibility.

I know my region was very wet through July, when it then dried up fast through August and September, and I heard several reports of dead bucks being found again this year around our area. Nothing stinks more, literally and figuratively, than letting a buck live to 5+ and then he gets taken down by a stupid fly! :(

Bottom line...late summer mud, however it comes to pass, is our enemy!

Maybe if you changed your name from "Mudingbuck" to something like..."Drylandbuck", that would help??
 
The way that I understand EHD and midges is that the midges don't come out of the water and bite a deer and the deer gets the virus, the midge must bite an animal carrying the virus first. EHD does not affect cattle but they do carry it. Cattle is the culprit as the virus lives in them for 8 to 10 months. There seems to be a lot of unknowns about the disease but I'm not too optimistic about how it's transferred.

Hooves from a survivor buck my son killed in November
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One from a different farm I'm sure wasn't as lucky
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We tagged out this year with 9 deer. Their were 2 properties that we hadn't hunted for 2 years. This year killed 2 really nice 3.5 year Olds. Out of those properties. And seen 2 other deer that ranged from 160-180. On those properties.
 
Thinkin Rut said:
The way that I understand EHD and midges is that the midges don't come out of the water and bite a deer and the deer gets the virus, the midge must bite an animal carrying the virus first. EHD does not affect cattle but they do carry it. Cattle is the culprit as the virus lives in them for 8 to 10 months. There seems to be a lot of unknowns about the disease but I'm not too optimistic about how it's transferred. Hooves from a survivor buck my son killed in November One from a different farm I'm sure wasn't as lucky
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Two of the young bucks my group shot this year hooves looked just like that! We thought they got caught in traps or something.
 
The great deer decline started a couple years before EHD hit in 2012 all the disease did was speed up what was enviably going to happen. We as hunters are to blame for the decline in numbers. Shed buck season and the senseless over killing of does. The governor and farm bureau laughed at us all the way to the bank.

The numbers are rebounding better than I thought they would this quick.
Paul Harvey always said government won't work with out self discipline so leave the ladies alone and we will get through this. EHD is probably here to stay so we a hunters have to fix this.
 
This isn't a thread about lack of deer. I saw plenty of deer. The area I hunt don't suffer from the senseless killing of does. Just lack of mature deer. Even on cameras.
 
mudingbuck said:
This isn't a thread about lack of deer. I saw plenty of deer. The area I hunt don't suffer from the senseless killing of does. Just lack of mature deer. Even on cameras.
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I had this issue with one property I hunted this fall. It was hit with EHD two summers in a row, 2013 and 2014. I thought I read somewhere that older deer are more susceptible to the virus. I think it took the top end out of the bucks. Lots of up and coming young bucks, it will just be 2-3 years for them to come of age. Until then, one will have to hope for the occasional drifter.
 
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