Tiny insects can be big problem for deer

by

BILL COCHRAN

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

There are a couple places in Virginia where the deer kill last season was down 30 percent, enough to impact the success of hunters. Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries' officials say much of the decline can be blamed on Epizootic Hemorrhage Disease, succinctly known as EHD or just HD.

HD occurs late summer and early fall and is carried by biting insects commonly known as midges, sand gnats/flies and no-see-ums of the genus Colicoides. They are so small that they are difficult to see, but they feel like burning cinders when they contact your skin. They are an irritant to people but can be deadly to deer.

Annual outbreaks of HD are common in Virginia and many other states. Often they are mild in intensity, but sometimes they are bad enough to take a bite out of the deer herd. The two high-impact areas in Virginia last year were the Caroline-King George County area and the Patrick-Henry County area including some spillover along the Franklin County line.

I have been wondering if the wet summer of 2013 might be the beginning of a major HD year. I known there have been many places where I've experienced swarms of gnats and stinging flies that gnaw at my ankles and dive-bomb my bald head. I figure these pests have benefited from a wet season that enhanced their breeding opportunities, so why not the same for midges, the vector of HD?

I ran this concern by Matt Knox, deer project leader for the DGIF.

"I think we may have had our first report of HD from Bedford County last week at Smith Mountain Lake," he said. "This is early."

But according to a weather profile put together by biologists including Knox, midges benefit from a mild winter, a hot summer and drought conditions during early summer. Major HD outbreaks occurred in 1999, 2002 and 2005. In 2005, 5.2 percent of the deer examined were impacted by HD, the highest ever recorded. Last year, that number was 2 percent.

"We had a fairly normal winter this year and obviously we did not have a June drought," said Knox.

In reality, drought appears to benefit midges and the spread of HD more so than an abundance of rain. But this summer rainfall has set records, so who knows?

"I have no idea what to expect," said Knox. 
Drought appears to create favorable conditions for HD by enhancing the environment for midges, which breed along the edge of water, and by drawing deer to the very places midges are most abundant. The spread of HD is from insect to deer; not deer to deer.

There is no way to prevent or control HD. It is seasonal, peaking somewhere between August and October, and ending with the first heavy frosts of autumn, which take care of the midges.

In some states, kills of up to 50 percent of the deer have been reported. The herd bounces back, but it takes time and hunters feel the impact and often express alarm.

For a time, HD was just a problem in Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but in 2007 it showed up in the west in a big way, and the same thing occurred last year.

Hunters who participate in Virginia's deer management assistance plan are major contributors of information on the severity of HD. They help monitor deer, checking for signs of HD on their property and in their kills. Those signs include deer with swollen heads, necks, tongues or eyelids, along with lameness and emaciation. In some instances, death appears in a few days.

Humans cannot contract HD from fly bites or from eating venison, so evidence or threat of the disease should not disrupt scouting and hunting. Most hunters probably aren't even aware of the problem even in impacted areas; they just know they aren't seeing as many deer as normal.

Hunters say Coyotes tough on the deer herd

by BILL COCHRAN 
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 

Is Virginia's deer herd in decline? Yes said half the hunters who participated in a recent Virginia Deer Hunters Association membership survey. Only three percent said the herd is increasing while 47 percent said it has remained about the same in recent years. 

When asked how the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries should manage the herd, 12 percent said efforts should be made to increase it; 53 percent said it should be held at current levels and five percent recommended decreasing the herd. 

Coyote predation was cited as the No. 1 reason for the decline in deer numbers. Loss of habitat ranked second. 

Fifty-nine percent of the survey participants said they saw a coyote while deer hunting this past season; 15 percent reported killing a coyote. 

"Our association has been completing surveys and asking our members tough questions for more than 20 years," said Denny Quaiff, executive director of the association, which was formed in 1985. One tough question that wasn't included in the 2013 survey was the Sunday hunting issue, a subject that has sharply divided members in past surveys. 

Seventy-seven percent of the participants said they practiced quality deer management; meaning they passed up small bucks in order to give them a chance to mature and grow larger antlers. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, 60 percent of the participants said they favored an antler-point restriction that would require at least one buck in the bag limit to have a minimum of four points on one side before it is a legal target. Forty percent said no to that. 

Fifty-five percent said that would support a regulation that required a deer hunter to kill a doe before a second buck could be taken. 

Members were opposed to hunting over bait (57 percent), but 64 percent said they were involved in planting food plots and 60 percent favored year-round supplementary feeding. Twenty-two percent opposed year-round feeding and 18 percent said it didn't matter. Feeding currently is prohibited Sept. 1 though the first Saturday in January. 

Just over half the participants said doe days should remain as they are while 12 percent said they should be increased and 35 percent decreased. 

Likelihood of Collision with Deer 2011-2012

Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Hunters concerned over decline in national forest deer

By Bill Cochran Thursday, June 23, 2011

“Whitetail hunters who know Virginia know to head for a county called Bath for a buck.”
That was the title of a 1960s article in Outdoor Life Magazine. Bath County once was the jewel of Virginia’s deer hunting.
No longer. The deer herd and harvest have plummeted, especially on national forest land, which makes up more than half of the county.

That fact drew about 100 sportsmen to a meeting with Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologists last week at Bath County High School. The same meeting could have drawn the same crowd and sparked the same questions and discussions in Rockingham County, in Augusta County, in Shenandoah County, in most any county that harbors a large chunk of national forest property.

Across the more than 1 million acres of George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, the once bountiful deer herd is in sharp decline and hunters are taking notice and demanding action. Since the mid-1990s, there has been a 50 percent decline in the deer kill on public land west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Just what is going on?
Lots of things, according to the four wildlife biologists who addressed the Bath County meeting. Let’s take a look:

HABITAT: The quality of deer habitat on the national forest has declined. The once succulent under story that was the result of timber harvests, fires and wildlife work, has matured into contiguous blocks of aging hardwoods. Environmentalists love what is happening, but it doesn’t make good deer habitat, and the same can be said of other species, especially grouse.

Old growth forest becomes a deer desert when there is a mast failure, like in 2007, 2008 and 2009. An urban area with houses, gardens and ornamentals provides better deer habitat than a mature forest, said DGIF biologist Al Bourgeois.

Deer require forage, the kind produced when there is a checkerboard of habitats, including early-succession forest that comes in the wake of timber cutting and fires. An adult deer needs three to four pounds of vegetation every day. That can be difficult to achieve when the majority of the forest is 80 or more years old. There has been an 80 percent decline in national forest timber harvest the past 20 years, Matt Knox, DGIF deer biologist, told sportsmen in Bath County.
Hunters need to tell national forest officials that they want more wildlife habitat, said Bourgeois. Now is a perfect time to do that. The George Washington National Forest is asking for public comment on a new management plan it has drafted, which, by the way, includes little cutting. Address comments to comments-southern-georgewashington-jefferson@fs.fed.us.

PREDATORS: Both coyotes and bear prey on deer, primarily fawns, but wildlife officials don’t have solid data on how significant such predation is. They hope to find out from a three-year DGIF research project just under way that is called the Virginia Appalachian Coyote Study. It is being accomplished in cooperation with the forest service, Virginia Tech and the Nature Conservancy.
Field work will be done in Bath County and western Rockingham County, two areas receiving the most complaints about declining deer.

“If we find out coyotes are the problem, what can we do about it? asked Mike Fies, DGIF biologist. “They are very hard to control.”
Both bear and coyote populations are growing, and there are more coyotes on public land than on private land, Fies said. He believes their impact on the deer population is minimal, but they could compound problems in areas of low density.
Check Cochran Field Reports for more information on the coyote/bear predation study.

FEWER HUNTERS: During the glory days of deer hunting in Bath County, sportsmen came from miles, including from out of state, not just because there were trophies in Bath, but because there were no deer in their home area. When the Outdoor Life headline at the top of this column was published, Bedford County didn’t have deer. Last year, it reported a kill of 7,500, highest in the state.

Deer hunting now is spread across the calendar and across the state and never will be the crowded, often accident prone, show that it once was, and that is good. But fewer hunters and fewer deer make for a different kind of hunting that sportsmen need to embrace. Gone from the national forest is the kind of hunting pressure that moved deer and made them more vulnerable to hunters.

Hunters aren’t just spread out more than ever, they also are older and are dropping out of the sport. The decline has been about 1.5 percent a year, Knox said. That doesn’t sound like much, but over a 20 year period it is significant and it has impacted the kill.

The decline of hunters on national forest property is even more startling -- 40 percent the last 16 years. Old-timers can remember when forest service roads were crowded with deer camps, but there has been a 60 percent decline in such camps on national forest property since 1995.

“The main reason they aren’t coming is they have better deer hunting at home,” Knox said.
REGULATIONS: In recent years, the DGIF has been reducing the number of either-sex hunting days on most national forest land and in some cases on adjoining private land. In terms of lowering the female kill, the regulations have worked, Knox said.

Either-sex hunting days in Bath County this fall have been lowered from three to two. It is the same for Alleghany and Highland counties, the only three in the state with fewer doe days for the upcoming season.
If that doesn’t do the job of growing the herd, the next step will be bucks only, which would be back peddling to the 1940s and '50s. Knox hopes that won’t be necessary.

Deer Population decline (more)

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries estimates the state deer population at between 850,000 and 1 million deer.  The summer was very warm, but there wasn’t much drought here, and deer forage was abundant and high quality.

Over the last five years, the Department's been managing the deer hunt here with the goal of boosting the antlerless harvest in much of the state where deer populations were over goal. It’s worked. The antlerless kill has been at record levels for the past five consecutive deer seasons.

State deer coordinator Matt Knox says the western-third of Virginia, essentially west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, has seen a dramatic drop in deer numbers and harvests the last decade-plus, especially in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.  Older forests, with little understory, appear to be the main cause of the deer decline.  But Knox also notes that this part of the state has also seen a huge growth in coyote numbers. A three-year study to determine what impacts the predator may be having on deer numbers is now in its second year.

Health issues?  Chronic wasting disease was found in the very northwestern corner of Virginia in 2009, but only a handful of deer have since tested positive for the disease. 

Coyotes and Deer?

Virginia
W. Matt Knox, Deer Program supervisor with the State of Virginia, explains that, "In the western part of the state, we very frequently get comments and questions from deer hunters regarding the impact of coyotes on the deer herd. These hunters frequently perceive coyotes as having a negative impact. It should be noted, however, that the deer kill in this part of the state has been at record levels for the past 3 years. However, there has been no decline in deer herds anywhere in the state that can be attributed to coyote predation. I would hypothesize that coyotes feed on deer primarily at three times: fawns during the fawning season, wounded/crippled/unrecovered deer during hunting season and deer in very-poor conditions during late winter/early spring. Luckily there are very few areas or deer in Virginia that meet this criteria." Knox mentions that due to the negative impact of coyotes on agricultural interests, he thinks the state could use fewer coyotes. "Our hunter-survey data clearly demonstrates an increasing coyote population in Virginia."

A coyote trotting through the Eastern hardwoods is becoming a common sight these days, and hunters are beginning to wonder if the predators are having an effect on deer numbers. In some places, whitetail populations have indeed slipped while coyote populations have increased. Hunters in parts of western Virginia and western North Carolina, for example, have seen success rates fall and in some cases, bag limits reduced. Biologists, however, blame the decline in deer numbers directly on the loss of good habitat, not on coyotes. National forests throughout the East are experiencing a decline in suitable habitat as a result of decreased timber harvest, said North Carolina Wildlife Resources biologist Gordon Warburton.
“Cutting timber creates excellent browse and high-quality fawning areas,” he said. “As the forests mature, we have less and less quality habitat because environmentalists have succeeded in stopping timber cutting on public lands.”

or

April 28, 2012

Scientific confirmation

Studies show that coyotes eat a significant amount of deer

Science has confirmed what West Virginia's hunters have long suspected: Coyotes eat a lot of deer.

By John McCoy

The Charleston Gazette

Science has confirmed what West Virginia's hunters have long suspected: Coyotes eat a lot of deer.
A 20-month study of coyotes' dietary habits found that deer remains were found in nearly 60 percent of coyotes' stomach contents and manure samples.

Geriann Albers, the West Virginia University graduate student who coordinated the research, revealed her findings recently at a meeting of the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. She didn't mince words.
"Coyotes in West Virginia are primarily consuming deer," Albers said.

Division of Natural Resources officials commissioned the study to try to determine what impact, if any, coyotes might be having on the state's whitetail herds. The findings appear to show at least some impact.
"Of course, we had no way of telling how much of those stomach contents were the result of predation," Albers explained. "There's probably a good bit of it, but coyotes also scavenge road kills, eat remains of deer gutted during hunting seasons, and scavenge the carcasses of deer that die of winterkill.
"Our findings would suggest that there's a need for further study to see how much predation actually is occurring."

The research that generated Albers' findings wasn't at all glamorous. Instead, it involved hundreds of hours' worth of grisly, smelly CSI-style detective work.

Researchers spent part of that time examining the stomach contents of road-killed coyotes and coyotes killed by hunters and trappers. That, believe it or not, was the most glamorous part.
They spent the rest of the time breaking down coyote manure samples and analyzing the contents.
Deer remains showed up in 59.5 percent of the 969 samples examined. Grass and twigs showed up in 39.7 percent, small mammals such as mice and voles in 19.3 percent, fruits and seeds in 18.4 percent, squirrels and chipmunks in 11.4 percent, birds in 4 percent and rabbits in 4 percent. The percentages add up to more than 100 percent because many samples contained more than one category of food items.

The study found that by volume, deer remains comprised nearly four times as much of coyotes' stomach contents and manure composition as small mammals, the second-ranked category.
Deer accounted for 44 percent of the volume, followed by small mammals at 12.5 percent, squirrels and chipmunks at 8.2 percent, fruits and seeds at 7.1 percent, grass and twigs at 7.1 percent, rabbits at 3.3 percent and livestock at 3.1 percent.

If nothing else, the study showed that coyotes are opportunistic feeders.
"They'll eat anything - and I mean anything," Albers said. "Their diets vary according to what is available."

Science has confirmed what West Virginia's hunters have long suspected: Coyotes eat a lot of deer. A 20-month study of coyotes' dietary habits found that deer remains were found in nearly 60 percent of coyotes' stomach contents and manure samples.

Geriann Albers, the West Virginia University graduate student who coordinated the research, revealed her findings recently at a meeting of the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. She didn't mince words.

"Coyotes in West Virginia are primarily consuming deer," Albers said.
Division of Natural Resources officials commissioned the study to try to determine what impact, if any, coyotes might be having on the state's whitetail herds. The findings appear to show at least some impact.

"Of course, we had no way of telling how much of those stomach contents were the result of predation," Albers explained. "There's probably a good bit of it, but coyotes also scavenge road kills, eat remains of deer gutted during hunting seasons, and scavenge the carcasses of deer that die of winterkill.

"Our findings would suggest that there's a need for further study to see how much predation actually is occurring."

The research that generated Albers' findings wasn't at all glamorous. Instead, it involved hundreds of hours' worth of grisly, smelly CSI-style detective work.
Researchers spent part of that time examining the stomach contents of road-killed coyotes and coyotes killed by hunters and trappers. That, believe it or not, was the most glamorous part.
They spent the rest of the time breaking down coyote manure samples and analyzing the contents.
Deer remains showed up in 59.5 percent of the 969 samples examined. Grass and twigs showed up in 39.7 percent, small mammals such as mice and voles in 19.3 percent, fruits and seeds in 18.4 percent, squirrels and chipmunks in 11.4 percent, birds in 4 percent and rabbits in 4 percent. The percentages add up to more than 100 percent because many samples contained more than one category of food items.

The study found that by volume, deer remains comprised nearly four times as much of coyotes' stomach contents and manure composition as small mammals, the second-ranked category.
Deer accounted for 44 percent of the volume, followed by small mammals at 12.5 percent, squirrels and chipmunks at 8.2 percent, fruits and seeds at 7.1 percent, grass and twigs at 7.1 percent, rabbits at 3.3 percent and livestock at 3.1 percent.

If nothing else, the study showed that coyotes are opportunistic feeders.
"They'll eat anything - and I mean anything," Albers said. "Their diets vary according to what is available."

For example, the study found that deer remains were only half as abundant in coyotes from West Virginia's southern coalfields, where deer populations aren't nearly as dense as in the rest of the state. Albers said that in the coalfields, coyotes ate deer far less often and ate plants and squirrels far more often.

Hunters have long accused coyotes of killing large numbers of newly born fawns, but the study's findings didn't bear that out. In fact, the data revealed that coyotes feed most heavily on deer between January and April.
"Studies in other states have shown that during times when snow is deep, coyotes have an easier time preying on deer," Albers said. "Winter is also a time when deer die of winterkill, and they travel on roads to avoid deep snow and get hit by cars. Scavenging accounts for a good percentage of winter deer consumption stems from scavenging, but there's probably a lot of predation too."
During the January-April time period, deer showed up in more than 70 percent of coyotes' stomach contents and stool samples. Between May and August, which includes the fawn birthing period of May and June, only 55 percent of the samples contained deer remains.
"One of our more interesting findings was that the percentage dropped to just 38 percent between September and December," Albers said. "At first glance that seemed odd, because that period includes the hunting seasons. Between wounding loss and piles of offal left from field dressing, coyotes have a lot of opportunities to eat deer.

"We think the drop-off occurs because coyotes can take advantage of easier food sources during that time period. During our survey period, there were oodles of squirrels, and lots of fruits and nuts. It's easier for a coyote to eat a persimmon or kill a squirrel than it is to kill a deer or find a gut pile left by a hunter."

Another finding that defied conventional wisdom was the study's discovery that turkey remains and turkey eggshells didn't often show up in the stomach contents or scat samples.
Hunters have long believed that coyotes prey heavily on nesting hen turkeys and their eggs, but Albers said the data show just the opposite.

"Of the 4 percent of samples that contained bird remains, only half of those were from [ground-nesting] birds such as turkeys and grouse," she said. "We did find some shell fragments, but those were from turtle eggs. We found no evidence of bird shell fragments."

Still, Albers has no doubt that a coyote would eat those things if it had the opportunity.
"They will eat just anything. We saw remains of skunks and opossums - things you wouldn't think they would eat," she said.

One coyote took its eat-anything reputation seriously.
"It must have been a Dumpster diver," Albers said with a grin. "In its stomach we found the remnants of a Dairy Queen napkin, a Subway sandwich wrapper, a Taco Bell sauce packet and a commercial crab leg."