An unprecedented outbreak of a disease with a tongue-twisting name is thinning Michigan deer herds a month before the two-week firearm hunting season starts Nov. 15.
Jim Lynch of The Detroit News spoke with a hunter whose family counted nine carcasses so far on their 60 acres near Muskegon: "Downwind, you can smell more dead deer out there," says Brian Bouwkamp, 29, a painter who has hunted the family land since he was 12. "For every one we've found, there are probably a lot more."
The infectious disease [epizootic hemorrhagic disease] was first detected in Michigan deer in 1955. But nothing comes close to what's happening in 2012. The disease poses no threat to humans, but more deer have died from the disease this year than all others combined.
Whitetail Deer
As of Oct. 8, Michigan's Department of Natural Resources reported 8,671 cases of whitetails killed by the disease — most located in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula. And as farmers harvest their crops and clear fields, that number could reach 10,000.
Spread by small flies called midges, the disease causes massive internal hemorrhaging. Seven days after infection, deer become weak and feverish, and eventually fall unconscious and die.
State officials said they believe the reason behind the spike this year is the near-record warm temperatures parts of Michigan have seen in recent winters, as well as drought conditions.
