I'm really starting to wonder if it hasn't hit the area I hunt hard. Last Sunday while in stand I could get an odor of decay when the wind would blow just right. When I got down I walked the bank top of the creek on the way out but didn't find anything. Today I sat in the same stand and had a bit stronger wind. Every now and them I'd get the smell again, after a week I knew it had to be something of size. I start scanning the opposite bank from the stand and just happened to look on the ground directly behind my tree. On one side was two legs, the other side I could see another leg, spine and rib cage with rotted flesh still on. Thought it was a fawn but when I climbed down it was a small 4pt. I've never really studied much on EHD, mainly because other than capturing and treating every deer there is not much we can do about it. That being said I've never dealt with it either. I am getting no deer on my cams, talking single digits in a week and no older bucks. Compare that to normally getting 3-5 in one shot multiple times a day on most occasions. Questions I have, for those that have been hit hard do you find a lot of does as well or is it mainly bucks? Reason I ask is I've now found one mature deer and one that I'm guessing was 1 1/2. Does it hit the bucks harder because they use a lot of nutrients during antler growth which is usually when EHD is most common? Is it just happen chance that I've found 2 and both were bucks?
