Mule Deer skin disease. Looking for info.

[paladincha20]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-02-14 AT 08:10PM (MST)[p]Hello all, first post and whatnot.
Anyway, I drew a cwmu tag for utah this year, and yesterday (Nov 1) I filled my tag. One of the firs things we noticed when we found him was the skin "scars" that covered his face, neck, and part of his front quarters. There was also a 2 1/2"x9" spot on his lower back.
We figured they were scars, as they are hard to the touch. When we gutted him out, and were cutting thru the neck skin, the skin was very hard to the touch and abnormally thick.
We got him back to camp where we met with my operator and 2 other hunters, they all said they were stumped and they didn't think they were scars. They thought it might be that he was just a very old buck.
I plan on calling the DWR tomorrow to see what kind of info they can give me. My internet research leads me to believe that it is some sort of mange in the early stages.

My biggest concern is if the meat is safe to use. Obviously I dont want to use contaminated meat. The pics arent the best, but notice how the hair is seperated by the skin "scars"
It is of note, that during the gutting, skinning, and quartering, that nothing was abnormal on the inside. By all means, he appeared to a healthy buck putting on fat for the winter. The operator also said he has never seen anything like it.

 

[Tycoon7]

First off sweat buck! Just throwing this out there as a guess is a lion got him. Scare on the lower back and it seems his neck had an infection too seems like a lion attack. Cats are the worst for carrying diseases in there mouth. What CWMU if you don't mind sharing?

 

[DW]

Real nice buck! Tycoons got a logical guess. Follow up and let us know your findings!

 

[paladincha20]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-02-14 AT 09:15PM (MST)[p]We did wonder if he survived some sort of attack and/or just a lot of fighting with other deer.
CWMU is Mountain Top. Like I said, the operator asked if he seemed healthy and everything looked ok while we took care of him, which we(me, brother, dad) responded 'yes'
The operator sees big deer on a daily basis, so for him to say he had never seen anything like it kind of raised some red flags for me. I'll be sure to follow, just looking for thoughts and opinions right now

edit: for those who care; 5x9 (not counting eye guards) with 25 1/2" spread. Operator scored him unoficially at 176 3/8"

 

[mmwb]

Any pics of the skin side?

 

[paladincha20]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

Here are some close ups; first pic is left side of face, second pic is right side.

 

[DW]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

Almost looks like an allergic reaction of some kind?

 

[Tristate]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

LAST EDITED ON Nov-03-14 AT 07:10AM (MST)[p]Cervid Mange.

I would handle that deer as little as possible.

 

[tuleelk]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

hard to tell but it could be lice. Blacktails out here have a couple different kinds of exotic lice. They are very small but there could be a couple in the pic but it is hard to tell.

Joe

 

[dogdoc]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

Mange would be top of my list based on the pics.

 

[DW]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

Just askin, thought mange caused hair loss not lumpy hide? I never "examine"the mange coyotes I shoot to know. If it's mange I agree with tri.

 

[nontypical]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

I don't know about mange and all that.

That buck looks a bit larger than 176 to me. You either had the greatest field shot photographer ever or someone scored that buck with a short tape. JMO...

 

[paladincha20]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

I talked to DWR this morning and explained the situation, afterward, I sent all the pics I had to him and the biologist to determine what was going on. I asked if they wanted me to swing by their office to show them in person and possibly take a skin sample, and they deemed that unnecessary.
Bottom line: the biologist determined that it is indeeed some sort of skin infection, more than likely a form of mange. They determined that the meat was PROBABLY safe to use. :/

I took the the head over to the taxidermist this evening, and he was all "wtf is going on with this deer?!"
He said he has seen/done over 1,500 mule deer and has NEVER seen anything like this. He said he had seen some weird stuff on deer, but this one took the cake. So, that didn't make me feel any better about using the meat.

 

[peak]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

Psoroptic scabies

 

[DW]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

I would PROBABLY put the whole thing (except the horns) in a 55 gal barrel with a bunch of scrap lumber,5 gallons of diesel, and a match. PROBABLY is not a vote of confidence to me. Just sayin

 

[muley10]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease?

i would really guess that it is a parasite prob and the deer has rubbed hard on a tree or post and prob happened while he had his summer coat i would look at the inner side of the skin and see if there is any abnormality to it and if not dont worry if it has gone into the soft tissue or meat then follow up with it u have no idea what beef looks like before hitting the grocery store good luck !

 

[elkassassin]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

He's Got AIDS!

T'wasn't a Lion!









[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!

 

[Sierra]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

I couldn't eat that meat. I couldn't get that photo out of mind while eating it.

 

[legacy]

paladincha20, PM Sent.

 

[jester]

Yucky!
Jester

 

[maxcarp]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

Deer can't get HIV/AIDs Bess.Are you sure its not EBOLA?

 

[elkassassin]

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? UPDATE

Hey maxcarp!

We gotta Blame it on something!



>Deer can't get HIV/AIDs Bess.Are you
>sure its not EBOLA?












[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!

 

[txhunter58]

If the buck was in good shape and good muscle, I would not have any problem eating the meat. Mange is only skin deep (and I am a vet too).

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[elks96]

>If the buck was in good
>shape and good muscle, I
>would not have any problem
>eating the meat. Mange
>is only skin deep (and
>I am a vet too).
>
>
>txhunter58
>
>venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore
>I am)
I would agree, if the buck had good muscle mass and was fat, I would also not have a problem with the meat!

 

[npaden]

I shot a deer several years ago that had warts all over it's face. Didn't get any good pictures of it though.

I ate the meat and it was fine.

This is probably the best picture of the warts. I think it was starting to even have a hard time seeing out of it's right eye the warts were getting so bad.

 

[Gator]

Now you have started shooting blind deer, LOL

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]

 

[DW]

He's Disney's fantasy wolf, only takes down the sick and the blind! U gotta stop huntin by that nuke plant! Hope it works out to safely eat in the end.