Deer Hair Loss Syndrome?

[steelhead22]

So I was out scouting for turkeys the other day and came across a few deer. One of them looked pretty bad, patches of hair obviously missing and generally looking unhealthy. Looked like a pretty uncomfortable situation for this animal. Anyone have any info on this? If I was hunting and came across a legal deer with this disease, should I harvest the animal or is the cooked meat harmful to humans? The way I see it, is that if it's not gonna hurt me when I eat it, it's probably better to get it out of the system.

[Fish Hawg]

:whazzup: i also have seen several deer with this diease i want to know if thier is any thing we can do Quick Fisher

[KingFisher85]

I've seen a few over here in SW washington. Not good. :depressed:

[Gobbaworms]

Hair loss

[Capin' Dan]

We have this issue really bad in the herd in the hills up above St. Helens in the Deer Isalnd area. I probably see one to two deer a week with it of course some could be the same ones. We have one that feeds in our yard that has it and I have seen her for the last two months at least once or twice a week. I talked to odfw on the issue and was given a report that they filed on the subject two years ago. It is caused by parasites and also lung worms I think. You can find the report if you do a search for it on their web site. I also think that it was reported here on this board last year.

[ 03-23-2003, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Capin' Dan ]

[GutshotApe]

The deer around my place (first ridge on coast range west of the valley) have been showing hair-loss syndrome for at least 3 years.

Today I watched a doe the neighbor woman calls "Dodie" (she spends $50/month feeding the birds, squirrels & deer). Dodie had twin fawns in 2002 (the neighbor named them both, too, but their names escape me now) and I saw both fawns with her about 3 weeks ago. Today Dodie came browsing across the hillside and had only one yearling with her. The doe looks OK but the smaller deer has completely bare flanks and upper front & rear legs...just about everywhere the poor thing can reach by licking or scratching has been rubbed bare. It fed actively along with the doe but stopped to scratch between every other bite. Where the deer still had hair it was dark, long and shaggy. How it has survived the past 4 months of cold & rain is a mystery. Its sibling apparently didn't make it. :depressed:

[Degner]

I wonder if they tested these deer for spongiform encephalopathy. Some of the eastern big game with that prion disease also had loss of hair. Pretty scary. Makes you wonder just how safe it is to eat.

[GutshotApe]

Degner - There is no connection between hair loss syndrome and the prion-caused chronic wasting disease (CWD) that is epidemic in elk farming operations elsewhere, so far, in North America. I've heard the hair-loss deer are fine to eat...they won't be in very good condition, probably, but are OK for human consumption.

Check out the MADelk Coalition website at www.MADelk.org for more info on CWD.