TRAVERSE CITY - Bow deer hunting season has already started and firearm season will be here before you know it, and there are diseases hunters need to watch out for before they harvest.
According to the DNR, earlier this year there were reports downstate of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease or EHD.
This disease is spread through biting midges, but not through deer to deer contact. It hasn’t been detected in northern Michigan just yet, but another common deer disease Chronic Wasting Disease has popped up in northern Michigan in the recent past.
CWD causes proteins in the brain to fold irregularly giving rise to severe cognitive decline in the animal followed by emaciation and eventually death.
“When we harvest that animal and we feed our families with that, obviously humans don’t want to get any diseases and end up in hospitals and get sick and, you know, potentially obviously get that disease that the deer’s got,” says Thomas Jurkovich, TCH Gear co-owner.
If you believe you’ve taken a diseased deer, contact the department of natural resources. They can tell you whether the meat is safe to eat plus tell you the nearest testing location.