Looks to be one heck of a 13 point buck. Story: http://heartlandoutdoors.com/tims/story/giant_missouri_ehd_buck/ Pic: http://heartland.ehclients.com/images/EHD-buck-MNo-2015-3.jpg
That sucks. I have been feeling the aftermath of EHD for the last two seasons. I have on had a couple decent bucks show up on camera and have yet to see a single buck while out in the field. This on an area that had a dozen good bucks running around on it in the summer of '13.
We have ground in Macon & Adair County. We haven't hunted there for about 7 years now. Heartland Game Ranch did a number on that area.
A friend of ours shot a deer in the woods behind his house that was from a range. He walked up on it and it had a tag in its ear (The way the deer was, he never saw the tag). So, he immediately called the game commission. They came out and took the skull to do a test on it. They're afraid it had some disease, too. Thankfully we haven't had any mass problems around here.
They would be testing for a different disease than EHD though. Most likely testing for CWD. Chronic Wasting Disease is a far bigger problem than EHD, because for the most part EHD is a temporary issue. We lose deer from it, but it doesn't spread from deer to deer like CWD so the outbreaks generally run their course and the herd eventually rebounds. CWD has the potential to destroy the deer herd.
Yes, it is Chronic Wasting they were checking for. He was allowed to cut up the deer - but is still waiting for the results (although he was given the antler backs).
