This is the first time I have posted on this site since I lost most of my deer. I am thinking about getting more deer, but the past still haunts me as I truly never found out what killed my deer. I was hoping that maybe someone else had had a similar incident in the last 2 years and maybe they could shed light on the subject for me. Here is my story, some of you will remember it.
I started raising deer in 2002 with the purchase of 2 does and a buck. I live in Oklahoma and bought the deer just an hour away. Things were good for a year, so I went to Missouri and bought 2 bred does and a well bred buck fawn. Both does had triplets and all is still good. It was 2005 January and I had been raising deer 3 years and not lost a single deer, I know extremely rare!
My herd was of average genes and not monitored. I decided I did not want to start the headache of monitoring and be behind on my date, so I decided to sell all my deer and start over. This would be a chance to buy back only 200 inch blood deer and buy 6 plus years CWD status and TB and Bruc accredited. I went to Minnesota. I bought 5 bred does and one doe fawn. The does were all 200 plus over 3 generations and bred to 240 plus bucks. Do to snow, we could not pick them up until March 26th. The deer were darted the day before and put in a barn. 2 of the does were from one farm the other 4 were from another 5 miles away. We loaded the deer and drove 11 hours home and unloaded them. These deer were from big pens and pretty wild, could not get within 50 yards very easily. They acted fine about a week, then I noticed one lay down and abort her fawns. Theses does varied from extremely wild to very tame. After about two weeks, mid April, I found the 2 wildest deer dead laying by the fence, I assumed they crashed the fence and killed themselves in the night. About 2 days later I found another dead, by the 3rd week in April 3 were dead with the doe fawn in perfect health and the most gentle 2 does, very poor, and overly tame, then she started standing around with her tongue hung out alot. I sprayed the pen, and began feeding Ivomec, the two does did last a few weeks and seemed to get better, but both of them died by May 1st. The doe fawn is still alive and never lost weight or got sick. I thought EHD, but is that too early? Maybe the late move? Stress? change of feed? Either way it wiped me out! To one deer. Everyone on this forum thought it was the combination of the deer being darted late, the long drive home and then mixing these deer together that were strangers. Tim C thought maybe the fawns were killed with the darting and thats why the does died. It all made sense to me, since the doe fawn survived.
Well that was May 2005, I had one doe fawn. She made it just fine, never got sick. I spoke with the guy in Minnesota and he felt bad, so he offered me a good deal on 3 does to try again, this time I picked them up February 26th, 1 full month earlier. All 3 were adult does and bred. The deer did well for over a month, I began to feel Tim was right about darting them too late, then it happened, about the first week in April another doe went down, I was out of town and when I got back the second doe was showing signs. They would stand around in a daze with their tongue out and within a few days they would die. I was home and with the second doe when she died, as was my vet. He cut her open and sent her organs to OSU. Her liver looked awful, full of lesions. OSU said she died from liver failure from a PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOID, most likely poisoning, and most likely from bad weeds in my pen. I moved the remaining doe to a pen with only bermuda grass( and the survivor fawn). They were doing fine and it was now mid may. I came home to find two dogs in my pen killing the grown doe, I shot both of them and she died a few hours later. I sold the fawn and quit deer.
I really enjoyed the deer and miss them, but still have the fear factor. The only thing I could think of it that there are weeds growing in my pens that must emerge in late March or early April, and since they are the first green things out, the deer from the north ate them and the deer from the south were smart enough not to or were resistant to them.
I never dreamed that weeds would kill deer. I left the pens with weeds and brush because I thought it would be more natural for the deer. It is not trees, all the trees are oak, elm, cedar or hackberry, no wild cherry.
If I do decide to buy more deer, I plan to kill all the weeds and under brush with spray before getting any deer. Is it possible that some deer are immuned to some weed poisons and some deer are not? or do you think that knowing which weeds to eat is a learned habit? Why did the fawn survive and all the does died? Was the fawn more resiliant or smarter? I know that EHD affects North and South deer differently, maybe there is a lot more differences in the North and South deer than people know.
I started raising deer in 2002 with the purchase of 2 does and a buck. I live in Oklahoma and bought the deer just an hour away. Things were good for a year, so I went to Missouri and bought 2 bred does and a well bred buck fawn. Both does had triplets and all is still good. It was 2005 January and I had been raising deer 3 years and not lost a single deer, I know extremely rare!
My herd was of average genes and not monitored. I decided I did not want to start the headache of monitoring and be behind on my date, so I decided to sell all my deer and start over. This would be a chance to buy back only 200 inch blood deer and buy 6 plus years CWD status and TB and Bruc accredited. I went to Minnesota. I bought 5 bred does and one doe fawn. The does were all 200 plus over 3 generations and bred to 240 plus bucks. Do to snow, we could not pick them up until March 26th. The deer were darted the day before and put in a barn. 2 of the does were from one farm the other 4 were from another 5 miles away. We loaded the deer and drove 11 hours home and unloaded them. These deer were from big pens and pretty wild, could not get within 50 yards very easily. They acted fine about a week, then I noticed one lay down and abort her fawns. Theses does varied from extremely wild to very tame. After about two weeks, mid April, I found the 2 wildest deer dead laying by the fence, I assumed they crashed the fence and killed themselves in the night. About 2 days later I found another dead, by the 3rd week in April 3 were dead with the doe fawn in perfect health and the most gentle 2 does, very poor, and overly tame, then she started standing around with her tongue hung out alot. I sprayed the pen, and began feeding Ivomec, the two does did last a few weeks and seemed to get better, but both of them died by May 1st. The doe fawn is still alive and never lost weight or got sick. I thought EHD, but is that too early? Maybe the late move? Stress? change of feed? Either way it wiped me out! To one deer. Everyone on this forum thought it was the combination of the deer being darted late, the long drive home and then mixing these deer together that were strangers. Tim C thought maybe the fawns were killed with the darting and thats why the does died. It all made sense to me, since the doe fawn survived.
Well that was May 2005, I had one doe fawn. She made it just fine, never got sick. I spoke with the guy in Minnesota and he felt bad, so he offered me a good deal on 3 does to try again, this time I picked them up February 26th, 1 full month earlier. All 3 were adult does and bred. The deer did well for over a month, I began to feel Tim was right about darting them too late, then it happened, about the first week in April another doe went down, I was out of town and when I got back the second doe was showing signs. They would stand around in a daze with their tongue out and within a few days they would die. I was home and with the second doe when she died, as was my vet. He cut her open and sent her organs to OSU. Her liver looked awful, full of lesions. OSU said she died from liver failure from a PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOID, most likely poisoning, and most likely from bad weeds in my pen. I moved the remaining doe to a pen with only bermuda grass( and the survivor fawn). They were doing fine and it was now mid may. I came home to find two dogs in my pen killing the grown doe, I shot both of them and she died a few hours later. I sold the fawn and quit deer.
I really enjoyed the deer and miss them, but still have the fear factor. The only thing I could think of it that there are weeds growing in my pens that must emerge in late March or early April, and since they are the first green things out, the deer from the north ate them and the deer from the south were smart enough not to or were resistant to them.
I never dreamed that weeds would kill deer. I left the pens with weeds and brush because I thought it would be more natural for the deer. It is not trees, all the trees are oak, elm, cedar or hackberry, no wild cherry.
If I do decide to buy more deer, I plan to kill all the weeds and under brush with spray before getting any deer. Is it possible that some deer are immuned to some weed poisons and some deer are not? or do you think that knowing which weeds to eat is a learned habit? Why did the fawn survive and all the does died? Was the fawn more resiliant or smarter? I know that EHD affects North and South deer differently, maybe there is a lot more differences in the North and South deer than people know.
i had my share bad luck it get better!! might as well if you got pens! need tame to start.BOL