Blue Tongue and EHD outbreak in NE Washington

[Shooter4]

Thank god for the first freeze yesterday and today

[kodiak06]

We can all walk around opening day tomorrow, tripping over dead bucks .
Should be GREAT.

Take pics and post

None yet.
Will do ,if I find any.
Think there's a bunch on that Stevens county FB page .

I'm gonna go find that page

[MMCCAULEY]

It’s been rough out there in my area.  Seems like the deer were hit really hard.

[nwwanderer]

Has been said that predators/scavenger do not eat EHD victims, oh, they do, just too many to keep up.  Frost is a good thing

[hunter399]

Has been said that predators/scavenger do not eat EHD victims, oh, they do, just too many to keep up.  Frost is a good thing

Your correct.
But , coyotes will clean up all the fawns first,left behind from moma doe dieing from blue tongue.
So ya they'll eat it ,after all fawns are gone.
Blue tongue usually hits in August,which leaves a lot of young fawns to be easy meal,without old moma doe.
It doesn't just effect that current year,but also effects the next few year fawn reproductive rate/survival rate.

So like your thinking,there's just too many dead deer for coyotes to clean up.
No ,not really ,they are busy getting young fawn meat. Instead of eating some sick dead rotting deer. I've watched deer rot for months before a predator will touch it.
Coyote kill herds ,I mean herds of fawns left behind from blue tongue,killed by coyotes.
Seen it before,with my own eye.
Them coyotes are smart man,that's why people see dead deer rotting after an outbreak.
Cause those yotes are busy , cleaning up fresh meat.
Reality of blue tongue and how it effect the next season, is different then most actually see.
I also know ,that you know this already..
So just putting some Truth to it ,for the rest of the forum.

[MMCCAULEY]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar. 

[HUNTIN4SIX]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

[fishngamereaper]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

We spent 3 solid days last week on part of the 5k acres I have access to.

We found more dead deer than saw alive. Decided future numbers are more important so  we relocated to some timber co. land 30 minutes north. It's got more timber and a little higher in elevation. The deer numbers where definitely better with only a couple possible BT carcass found.
I hate waiting 3 years to hunt our spot again but that's what it's going to take...

[baldopepper]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

Not sure what they can do to address ehd or blue tongue. They are spread by midge bites and unlike cwd they are not spread by contact with other animals. CWD they can attempt to minimize contact between animals, but not much they can do to reduce contact with midges.  Fortunately the midges die with the first frost and also ehd and blue are not 100 percent fatal. CWD is 100 percent fatal and spreads and kills year around.

[HUNTIN4SIX]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

Not sure what they can do to address ehd or blue tongue. They are spread by midge bites and unlike cwd they are not spread by contact with other animals. CWD they can attempt to minimize contact between animals, but not much they can do to reduce contact with midges.  Fortunately the midges die with the first frost and also ehd and blue are not 100 percent fatal. CWD is 100 percent fatal and spreads and kills year around.

Totally agree with the physical midge aspect of controlling some of this.  Not much can be done.  I guess I’m thinking a little deeper on it?  That’s why I bring up the management aspect.  We can almost predict these droughty years in the NE where blue tongue is almost predictable.  I personally saw it come and saw it first hand on all of our property beginning in July.  So the no brainer is start managing immediately.  Example would be shut down doe seasons or go to some sort of antler restriction...take your pick?  I watched my neighbor the last six years hammering the heck out of every doe or buck that walked by taking new hunter to his property everyday.  This years lack of deer didn’t slow him.  If it walk it was dead.  With restrictions we could have preserved what was left.  Am I the only goofball that thinks like this?  We were just starting to recover from the last blue tongue epidemic.
After working with wdfw for years I saw how everything was mismanaged by reaction.
Many states deal with both of these issues and still have healthy populations, there is nothing new under the sun on these subjects.  After hunting in many other states over the years, I’m always perplexed NE Wa can’t hold better deer numbers. 

[jrebel]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

Not sure what they can do to address ehd or blue tongue. They are spread by midge bites and unlike cwd they are not spread by contact with other animals. CWD they can attempt to minimize contact between animals, but not much they can do to reduce contact with midges.  Fortunately the midges die with the first frost and also ehd and blue are not 100 percent fatal. CWD is 100 percent fatal and spreads and kills year around.

Totally agree with the physical midge aspect of controlling some of this.  Not much can be done.  I guess I’m thinking a little deeper on it?  That’s why I bring up the management aspect.  We can almost predict these droughty years in the NE where blue tongue is almost predictable.  I personally saw it come and saw it first hand on all of our property beginning in July.  So the no brainer is start managing immediately.  Example would be shut down doe seasons or go to some sort of antler restriction...take your pick?  I watched my neighbor the last six years hammering the heck out of every doe or buck that walked by taking new hunter to his property everyday.  This years lack of deer didn’t slow him.  If it walk it was dead.  With restrictions we could have preserved what was left.  Am I the only goofball that thinks like this?  We were just starting to recover from the last blue tongue epidemic.
After working with wdfw for years I saw how everything was mismanaged by reaction.
Many states deal with both of these issues and still have healthy populations, there is nothing new under the sun on these subjects.  After hunting in many other states over the years, I’m always perplexed NE Wa can’t hold better deer numbers.

The first step in managing are deer herds is managing predators.  If you have a robust deer herd and you have a disease outbreak......they will fare better and recover faster.  The fact that our state refused to manage predators should tell you everthing you need to know.....  They don't care if we have deer to hunt. 

[10thmountainarcher]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

Not sure what they can do to address ehd or blue tongue. They are spread by midge bites and unlike cwd they are not spread by contact with other animals. CWD they can attempt to minimize contact between animals, but not much they can do to reduce contact with midges.  Fortunately the midges die with the first frost and also ehd and blue are not 100 percent fatal. CWD is 100 percent fatal and spreads and kills year around.

Totally agree with the physical midge aspect of controlling some of this.  Not much can be done.  I guess I’m thinking a little deeper on it?  That’s why I bring up the management aspect.  We can almost predict these droughty years in the NE where blue tongue is almost predictable.  I personally saw it come and saw it first hand on all of our property beginning in July.  So the no brainer is start managing immediately.  Example would be shut down doe seasons or go to some sort of antler restriction...take your pick?  I watched my neighbor the last six years hammering the heck out of every doe or buck that walked by taking new hunter to his property everyday.  This years lack of deer didn’t slow him.  If it walk it was dead.  With restrictions we could have preserved what was left.  Am I the only goofball that thinks like this?  We were just starting to recover from the last blue tongue epidemic.
After working with wdfw for years I saw how everything was mismanaged by reaction.
Many states deal with both of these issues and still have healthy populations, there is nothing new under the sun on these subjects.  After hunting in many other states over the years, I’m always perplexed NE Wa can’t hold better deer numbers.

The first step in managing are deer herds is managing predators.  If you have a robust deer herd and you have a disease outbreak......they will fare better and recover faster.  The fact that our state refused to manage predators should tell you everthing you need to know.....  They don't care if we have deer to hunt.

Ballot box biology set our state in a steep downhill trend. The continued mismanagement is so bad, it’s got to be intentional.

[HillHound]

Totally agree. Why don’t we ask the people what the drinking age should be? Or speed limit? Or have people vote on what they Want building codes to be?
The people don’t always know best about topics they are not experts on!

[highcountry_hunter]

Totally agree. Why don’t we ask the people what the drinking age should be? Or speed limit? Or have people vote on what they Want building codes to be?
The people don’t always know best about topics they are not experts on!

They tried that when $30 vehicle tabs was on the ballot. Even tho the state voted Yes, King county just said “that doesn’t work for us” and poof, it was gone.

[HUNTIN4SIX]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/what-ehd-means-clearwater-region-white-tailed-deer-hunters


My property and the thousands of acres we have access to are mostly in 8.
Daily visible deer numbers are down.
We haven't started busting brush yet to see how bad it is... almost don't want to..had some good bucks running around this year.

I wish our fish and wildlife would publish something similar.

They haven’t even addressed blue tongue....kinda weird.  They are more worried about getting the gps coordinates on where you killed your buck.  Losing an entire population and partial year class of deer in the NE due to blue tongue and here we are freaking out over 6 cases of cwd.  Not minimizing cwd, I just think they could have used proactive management instead of now reactive management with the blue tongue crisis.  I don’t think they really give a rip.

And yes a 3rd grader could have seen blue tongue coming well before it started....

Not sure what they can do to address ehd or blue tongue. They are spread by midge bites and unlike cwd they are not spread by contact with other animals. CWD they can attempt to minimize contact between animals, but not much they can do to reduce contact with midges.  Fortunately the midges die with the first frost and also ehd and blue are not 100 percent fatal. CWD is 100 percent fatal and spreads and kills year around.

Totally agree with the physical midge aspect of controlling some of this.  Not much can be done.  I guess I’m thinking a little deeper on it?  That’s why I bring up the management aspect.  We can almost predict these droughty years in the NE where blue tongue is almost predictable.  I personally saw it come and saw it first hand on all of our property beginning in July.  So the no brainer is start managing immediately.  Example would be shut down doe seasons or go to some sort of antler restriction...take your pick?  I watched my neighbor the last six years hammering the heck out of every doe or buck that walked by taking new hunter to his property everyday.  This years lack of deer didn’t slow him.  If it walk it was dead.  With restrictions we could have preserved what was left.  Am I the only goofball that thinks like this?  We were just starting to recover from the last blue tongue epidemic.
After working with wdfw for years I saw how everything was mismanaged by reaction.
Many states deal with both of these issues and still have healthy populations, there is nothing new under the sun on these subjects.  After hunting in many other states over the years, I’m always perplexed NE Wa can’t hold better deer numbers.

The first step in managing are deer herds is managing predators.  If you have a robust deer herd and you have a disease outbreak......they will fare better and recover faster.  The fact that our state refused to manage predators should tell you everthing you need to know.....  They don't care if we have deer to hunt.