Lymph nodes and disease in deer

[devon deer]

Following on from another thread, in relation to Hemal lymph nodes.
I am the last person to try and be a smart arse, but i just thought this might help people on here identify disease/illness in deer/elk
Its quite simple, but it can give an indication as to the health of the deer.
As an example, i have come across TB in deer, it was pretty subtle in the one i shot, 2 mesenteric node's were enlarged, and the pre-scapula also had puss in it.
There are other things to be aware of, but this might help.
http://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/159.pdf
I wouldn't worry too much, most diseases are destroyed when the venison is cooked

Cheers

Richard

 

[Hunting Wife]

This is a neat reference Richard! Thanks for posting. Basically covers a lot of what my husband and I kind of pay attention to when field dressing animals. I've only once killed an animal that was unfit to eat.

In the U.S., particularly areas with CWD I would probably discourage people from digging around for the retropharyngeal lymph nodes (head/neck) or brainstem. Those are what your state game agency will want to collect for testing and in my experience people end up destroying the samples if they don't know what they are doing.

 

[devon deer]

Hopefully it helps some.

I agree, the retropharyngeal and sub maxillary can easily be cut into.

I was told something quite useful once, when we have an infection, we can feel our swollen glands, and that is what i feel for in the deer's throat through the skin, if they are obviously swollen it might be sick, otherwise, if all the other nodes are fine the deer is usually healthy, usually!

Thankfully we don't have CWD in the UK, but no doubt it will arrive one day.

 

[devon deer]

This is not pleasant, i have seen something similar in a TB infected red deer hind, yuck!
http://www.wideopenspaces.com/disgu...uld-always-inspect-venison-before-you-eat-it/