Orcas Island Deer

[Joel1999]

Does anyone now if the disease has spread down to whidbey or camano island yet?

[Tbar]

Does anyone now if the disease has spread down to whidbey or camano island yet?

Yes to whidbey. Unknown to Camano but it's in fidalgo and in Bellingham. 

[luvmystang67]

I'm from Friday Harbor.  My buddies up there all shot does up there as there were no bucks to be found.  Usually you get to take your picks of big buck, but this year they took the only does they found.  Apparently all summer the woods just stunk like dead animal as all the deer died.

I'm sure they'll pop back to rat-like populations in the next few years.  They were getting out of control.  To me its a pretty prime example of what happens without proper management of herds.  The populations run themselves out of house and home and eventually a disease knocks them back down to size and all of that meat that hunters could've used to feed their families went to the fox, ravens, eagles, rats and racoons.

[Joel1999]

Does anyone now if the disease has spread down to whidbey or camano island yet?

Yes to whidbey. Unknown to Camano but it's in fidalgo and in Bellingham.

Good to know, hopefully Camano didn’t get hit as bad. Anyone else know about camano?

[Lady Grouse hunter]

Well just ask the folks there! Its true here! Did this Done that. They say an Apple & a hammer

[Lady Grouse hunter]

YOU ALL think I'm joking, really? 
No way!

[GWP]

Had a bud that went to one of the islands to 'scout' for a 'later date' deer hunt. The season was open. He had his kids (they were used to hunting/fishing) with him. Stopped at the first public area he chose and deer walked out and stood there. He figured they were waiting to be fed. He asked his kids to pick one as he had his bow in the truck. Dropped it and was on his way home. Sounded like the other deer didn't even spook.

[jeffro]

I’m on the south end of Camano and haven’t seen a single deer in a year.
Used to see them multiple times a week on the roads and
They used to eat all the apples from the tree in my front yard,
The ground is littered with apples this year.
Don’t know if a disease
Or if the meth heads doing some poaching

[Joel1999]

I’m on the south end of Camano and haven’t seen a single deer in a year.
Used to see them multiple times a week on the roads and
They used to eat all the apples from the tree in my front yard,
The ground is littered with apples this year.
Don’t know if a disease
Or if the meth heads doing some poaching

  Thanks for the info I got some family that has just moved to the island, they haven’t seen many deer but they also aren’t looking either.

[Lady Grouse hunter]

YES, YES & YES No Deer Are gone here, just run over from the Ferry Traffic!
There IS NO Coyote's, Bears on that Island. Folks feed the Deer, The Airport has to shoot cannons just to scare them of the Tarmac!
YOU ALL got to just shut UP!
I have been there, walked, drove all over this Island all over & over again.. Shot 2 (2 point & a Doe) 2000/2002
I think I DOO know what's going on there. That's why the WDFW has 2 tags now!!!

[Lady Grouse hunter]

I’m on the south end of Camano and haven’t seen a single deer in a year.
Used to see them multiple times a week on the roads and
They used to eat all the apples from the tree in my front yard,
The ground is littered with apples this year.
Don’t know if a disease
Or if the meth heads doing some poaching

  Thanks for the info I got some family that has just moved to the island, they haven’t seen many deer but they also aren’t looking either.

GOOD TO KNOW, Were ARE THEY???

[smithkl42]

I heard from a buddy who hunts orcas every year that 90% of the herd is gone.

A buddy of mine owns 70 acres out on Orcas. He normally sees 10-20 deer on his property every evening. Last summer, he saw one, the entire summer.

I put out a trail camera in August just to see, and it turns out that there are some deer, but very few, and they'd gone entirely nocturnal.

AHD has just decimated the herd. The deer there were too crowded and too malnourished to survive the additional stress.

Assuming that the disease has burned out by now (not a given), the remaining herd should be healthier, and I anticipate a few seasons of rapid growth. But probably not worth hunting for a few more years.

[Lady Grouse hunter]

Tried to reply off to P.M.s
AHD? O.K. I get ! I have spot lighted on the way From the ferry at 2AM to the Cabin, Had to slow WAY down like driving on ice!!!

[Lady Grouse hunter]

Smithl42? I see U R in Woodinville??? P.M. me!

[NWBrute]

Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease (AHD)

A deadly viral infection known as Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease (AHD) was confirmed in late August of 2017 in a mule deer herd east of Goldendale in Klickitat County and in June 2021 in the San Juan Islands.

Report sightings of live or dead deer with signs of AHD through the reporting link on WDFW’s Wildlife Diseases webpage.