A Warning To Outdoor Users About Echinococcus, From Worms

by

Tom Remington

This is a warning to outdoor users about a potentially deadly biological event that could result from one’s curiosity to poke at and kick through scat from wolves, coyotes and foxes. Of course not everyone knowingly does this but many hunters, trappers and simply the curious, want to know what these animals have been eating.

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Picture This!

With all the great stories, equipment, adventures and people out there I thought it would be great to get some pictures.  If you have any pictures from a hunt, your gear or best of all you geared up that would be great.  If you send in pictures I will post on our site as well as putting some of the best pictures on all our sites.  Things I am looking for, but not limited to.

•    Gear: Clothes, utility tools, ATV’s…
•    Favorite weapons: guns, bows, sticks, stones…
•    Best Duck Blind or Hide…
•    You, family or friends dressed for the hunt…
•    Where you hunt

All I need is a digital picture in any PC compatible format and a description of the picture.  You can make the description as long or short as you would like.  If there is a story behind the picture we would love to hear about it.

Send Pictures to:

Todd Krater
U.S. Hunting Today
Managing Editor
todd@ushuntingtoday.com

Note: If you want a picture posted and do not have a digital copy I would be willing to scan it for you.  Please contact me for details.

US Hunting Today reserves the right to refuse any picture for any reason as well as edit it where appropriate.

Florida NWTF Turkey Calling Championship

Scott Ellis, a contributing writer for U.S. Hunting Today and Skinny Moose Media, will be participating in the 2008 Florida National Wild Turkey Federation Turkey Calling Championships in Orlando, Florida next month. Scott is a 5-time winner of turkey calling events in Florida and will be joining others for this event. Read more

When Thinking Of Black Bears, Think Mississippi?

Hat tip goes to Rex Howell of Deer Camp Blog for the news tip!

David McFadden of Water Valley, Mississippi set up his trail camera just after Christmas hoping to catch a shot or two of deer in an area he hoped to hunt. After retrieving his memory stick, he was disappointed to find no pictures of deer but he did capture a photo of a black bear, which is quite unusual for Mississippi.

Get the whole story from the North Mississippi Herald.

Tom Remington

EHD A Bit “Ho-Hum” In The Deep South

We are at a point where it would be safe to say that this year’s outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) is quite widespread. Here’s a list of states that have confirmed cases of the virus that is carried to deer by biting midges or no-see-ums: Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Montana, Mississippi and Georgia. In addition, some states are waiting for test results to confirm what they already suspect – South Carolina is one such state.

To confirm the presence of the disease, blood and certain tissue has to be analyzed.

According to both the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Alabama Department of Conservation, dealing with EHD is quite routine. Charles Ruth, Deer/Turkey Project supervisor for the South Carolina DNR says flair-ups in that state seem to run in cycles of 3-5 years and there’s a reasonable explanation.

“This is probably related to the fact that once deer are exposed to the disease they are more resistant to it. Therefore, if you have disease one year the deer become exposed or inoculated to the disease and you do not see much disease activity until there is turnover in the deer population. After several years you are dealing with another cohort of deer and their systems are ‘naïve’ to the disease. The last time there was significant hemorrhagic disease activity in South Carolina was in 2002, therefore, disease activity could be relatively high this year.”

This theory is confirmed by a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“We have some cases every year,” said Keith Guyse, a whitetail specialist with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division in the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In the Coastal Plain, the virus is there frequently enough that deer have been exposed to it and have some resistance to it.

Both representatives indicate that EHD in their respective states is pretty much routine only because of the build up of a certain degree of immunity. Therefore, these southern states don’t see wide outbreaks of the disease that often. When EHD hits the more northern climes, EHD seems to grab harder. Ruth explains.

Deer likely die in South Carolina each year from hemorrhagic disease, however, there is no indication that a major outbreak has occurred in the state since the mid 1970s. The disease is part of life for deer in the Southeast and fortunately it appears that Southern deer have acquired some immunity to the disease, said Ruth. Northern deer, on the other hand, are not exposed to the disease as frequently since the insect vector is not as common in cooler climates. For this reason, significant outbreaks and mortality from hemorrhagic disease are more likely in northern deer populations.

Guyse from Alabama makes reference to the same theory.

“Typically in North Alabama and above the fall line, they’re not exposed to it as often. So over a period of time you have a population that doesn’t have much resistance. When you have (outbreaks) up there, it tends to be more noticeable.”

This helps us understand why some states may have more severe outbreaks, killing larger numbers of deer, than others but why this year are outbreaks so widespread across the landscape of the country? Some have related it to the summer heat and drought. That may be true, I don’t know. It would be logical to assume that being that the virus is carried and spread by tiny midges or gnats, a larger than normal population of that insect would be directly proportional to the spread of the disease. Of course science isn’t that simplistic and we know that there are probably many more factors to consider or it could be just merely a coincidence.

However, Guyse from Alabama eludes to the theory of increased numbers of midges, somewhat.

“Auburn (researchers) had traps out to catch the flies and they might catch a few every once in a while, and then all of a sudden they catch hundreds,” Guyse said. “Much of that still is a mystery.”

Obviously, they don’t have a good handle on it either.

Hunters and others should be aware of the symptoms they may find on deer suffering from the disease.

Symptoms of hemorrhagic disease include poor physical condition, sloughing hooves, abrasions or sores on the brisket and legs, and ulcerations on the mouth, tongue, and rumen (stomach).

As I said earlier, verification of the disease has to be done in the lab.

If you see sick or dead deer in your travels, please report it to the appropriate authorities. It is highly recommended that nobody eats any of the meat from deer sickened by EHD.

Tom Remington

Mississippi Man High Bidder In Vermont Moose Auction

Joe Hill of Brandon, Mississippi bid $8,001 for the first of five moose permits auctioned off by the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. A total of about $29,000 was raised through the auction that will go to the department. The moose hunt season is a split season with one occurring in October and the second in November.

Get more information and a list of auction winners and the prices they paid here.

Tom Remington

Mississippi Deer Baiting Debate Continues

The state of Mississippi has been debating the issue of baiting deer and shooting deer over bait piles for some time. In early February, the House passed a deer baiting bill. In late March a baiting bill ended up on the governor’s desk. Last month the governor opted to sign a bill that would study the issue of deer baiting first.

Baiting gets into two issues, ethics and a useful tool for deer management. Generally the tool for management gets overlooked in order to debate the issue of ethics. I have jumped on that bandwagon myself on several occasions. As a matter of fact I discussed at length this issue pertaining to Mississippi in a previous blog post.

The other day I found another letter to the editor from a 60-year old gentleman from Mississippi sharing his take on deer baiting. He points out that he hunts strictly on his own land and does not hunt over bait. How he views the practice and those who do, you might find interesting.

Concerning bait, let people hunt however they want to in order to attain as much enjoyment as possible from the hunting experience. Whether they hunt with a shotgun or a slingshot is irrelevant to me, and I think the baiting issue should be just as much a matter of personal choice.

Hunting is expensive, and people don’t have the time that they used to to put into it. For these two reasons, and others, hunting is on the decline; we should be encouraging the sport, and not discouraging it.

I think to tell someone it is unethical and unsportsmanlike to bait for deer is about as ridiculous as telling a fisherman that he or she must fish with artificial bait instead of live bait because the live bait just makes it a little too unfair for the fish.

The writer’s attitude is to be commended in that he does not sit in judgment of those who choose to use tactics to hunt that are different than his own. He doesn’t even say whether he approves or disapproves of any of it. All he says is that for himself he opts not to bait. The good part about this is that he finds no need to become the god of the hunting ethics world and demand that others conform to his style of hunting.

I also liked his analogy of hunting and bait to suggesting that restrictions placed on live bait versus artificial bait for fishing would be likened. He is exactly right but I wonder if in his analogy he really understands that this same kind of sportsman exists today. He almost sounds like he doesn’t think anyone real fisherman would suggest such a thing. Well, I got news for the man from Mississippi. They are out there.

There are sportsmen that have become so self serving in their own choices of sport that they can only see their own methods as viable and ethical. How ridiculous.

Tom Remington

Mississippi Governor Signs Bill To Allow Study Of Deer Baiting

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed a bill that will allow the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to study the notion of allowing hunters to hunt deer over a pile of grain. Presently it is illegal to hunt over the grain but not illegal to feed the deer up until hunting season begins.

Barbour says he’ll let science dictate the issue although he personally views hunting over bait unethical.

Barbour said commissioners will talk to biologists and other scientists to determine whether baiting will have negative effects.

“The commission should develop and make public an appropriate deliberative process that allows the science to decide the outcome,” Barbour said. “I have great confidence the commission will do so, and I appreciate the Legislature’s decision to turn the issue over to the professionals, rather than deciding it on a political basis.”

Tom Remington