About 100 elk dead in New Mexico ...

[BOWHUNTER45]

I seriously have issues on how they want to explain this one ,,,,,insect bites  ...So all these elk where infected from insect bites and all of them just flopped over all at the same time 

http://www.krqe.com/news/local/elk-herd-found-dead-in-northeastern-nm

[Pilot_Hunter]

Very odd! On a side note, guided bear hunts just doubled in price!

[Smossy]

The bears a brute.

[sjoshea]

Heard of this happening in a lightning storm.

[Timberstalker]

EHD/Blue-Tongue.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I seriously have issues on how they want to explain this one ,,,,,insect bites  ...So all these elk where infected from insect bites and all of them just flopped over all at the same time 

http://www.krqe.com/news/local/elk-herd-found-dead-in-northeastern-nm

Happens every year in many locations with whitetails, which are susceptible to all 17 strains of the orbivirus that causes hemorrhagic disease.  The Culicoides gnat is the vector, this gnat breeds in warm, fecally-contaminated standing water.  It happens less commonly with mule deer, elk bighorns and pronghorn, partly because they spend less time in the bottomlands, and partly because the other ungulates are only susceptible to one or two of the strains per species.

EHD stands for Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease; Epizootic is an epidemic of animal populations; hemorrhagic is the seepage of blood from the circulatory system into other tissues.  In acute forms, the animals look completely healthy (but dead).  The slower the death, the more hemorrhaging occurs.  One of the first places you see it without cutting is in the oral mucosa and tongue, and it can be anywhere from subtle to "blue" with severe hemorrhaging, hence bluetongue. 

Die-offs can be very impressive, and inconveniently happen right before hunting season, or during hunting season.  About 21 years ago, I authorized 200 additional doe/fawn whitetail permits in a small drainage in eastern Wyoming where hundreds of whitetails were depredating alfalfa.  The game warden counted over 700 whitetails in those fields in late August.  During the October/November hunt, success was 1% - 2 whitetails killed out of 200 permits.   

[Spuddieselwwu]

Shake that bear.

[SemperFidelis97]

I wonder if how this year will be for blue tongue here with all the early rain it seems it would reduce the impact overall.