What do you think?

[Wapiti Warrior]

Watched this deer do this for hours. When I walked up to it, it almost ran over me and then went back to doing the same thing even with me standing 20 yards from it. FWP says they didn't detect any known diseases and were not sure what caused this deer to act like this?

What do you think?

I did put it down and called the biologist for the area. He came and got the animal and took it to their lab.

John
[video=youtube_share;jH7G-Z3J_Nw]https://youtu.be/jH7G-Z3J_Nw[/video]

 

[dcopas78]

What ever it is, it looks neurological. I've seen videos of deer doing that here in Ohio

EDIT: I thought this was one of the signs of CWD as well

 

[Addicting]

Brain worm. Seen lots of videos of moose doing that in Maine.

 

[Mudranger1]

Maybe he just likes to turn right

 

[Hunting Wife]

This behavior isn’t all that uncommon in deer. Meningeal worm or even rabies can cause something like that but I would imagine those would have been on the list of things they tested for. CWD is possible but probably less likely. This buck appears to be in good body condition- typically CWD would have affected a deers ability to swallow long before this level of neurologic symptom became evident. This looks like something more acute.

That said, just because they didn’t detect something doesn’t mean there was nothing there- sampling error and all that. Hard to say, but you probably did him a favor.

 

[MThuntr]

This behavior isn’t all that uncommon in deer. Meningeal worm or even rabies can cause something like that but I would imagine those would have been on the list of things they tested for. CWD is possible but probably less likely. This buck appears to be in good body condition- typically CWD would have affected a deers ability to swallow long before this level of neurologic symptom became evident. This looks like something more acute.

That said, just because they didn’t detect something doesn’t mean there was nothing there- sampling error and all that. Hard to say, but you probably did him a favor.

It's a shame because that looked to be an otherwise healthy buck. Hopefully they saved enough sample for a retest or multiple tests. I'd hate for something new to show up in the system.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Wild, haven't seen that one myself but I have heard of it. I've always heard that it was the worms. Give us an update if the FWP shares the intell. Thanks for sharing that's too bad.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

This behavior isn’t all that uncommon in deer. Meningeal worm or even rabies can cause something like that but I would imagine those would have been on the list of things they tested for. CWD is possible but probably less likely. This buck appears to be in good body condition- typically CWD would have affected a deers ability to swallow long before this level of neurologic symptom became evident. This looks like something more acute.

That said, just because they didn’t detect something doesn’t mean there was nothing there- sampling error and all that. Hard to say, but you probably did him a favor.

I would vote Rabies on this one.

 

[Jorgy]

Any chance Cushman has been hunting in the area?

 

[PrairieHunter]

I saw a lot of this over around Glendo back in I believe 2011. You could walk right up to deer and they would not run. One thing I noticed was the way they held their mouth open as if they were hot or working hard to get air for some reason.

I also noticed a doe mule deer doing the same thing in the Snowies this year.

Appears to be similar to what you video taped with this buck.

 

[the nikster]

I have seen horses that had a kinked bowel do this. Stand up, twirl a couple dozen times, lay down, repeat.

 

[ImBillT]

Probably was brain worm. He looked a little thin, especially in the neck, but still doesn’t look like anything I’ve heard about with CWD.

 

[406LIFE]

Has whirling disease finally crossed from trout into deer?