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A white-tailed deer, its neck bulging with huge, ugly, wart-like growths, has made startling headlines out of Alabama. But many hunters were already familiar with the grotesque growths on the buck, and many other strange things they find on and in their deer.

Deer warts

From Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division

The growths on that deer are deer warts, or cutaneous fibromas, caused by the animals immune system reacting to virus transmitted by biting insects. The leathery, hairless, gray or black masses, ranging from a half-inch to more than eight inches in diameter, grow individually or together in clumps.

Some deer have been found with more than 200 fibromas. If their locations do not severely interfere with the deers vision, breathing, eating of ability to move, the animal usually will survive the fibromas.

Venison from a deer with fibromas, which are growths on the skin, is generally considered safe to eat.

Chronic wasting disease

al.com

Example of deer afflicted with Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources photo).

While fibromas captured the most recent headlines, chronic wasting disease has been in the news much more regularly over the past several years. The always fatal, prion-based disease of deer, elk and related cervids does not present itself as obviously as do fibromas. CWD can take months, even years, to present symptoms of extreme weight loss, lack of coordination, excessive salivation and more.

While the disease has not been documented to spread to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that venison from infected deer not be eaten and testing is offered by the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System.

Ticks

Third-Party-Submitted

A deer ticke on an adult thumb, for size comparison. (Stuart Meek, Wikimedia Commons image)

Ticks are another well-known companion of deer throughout Pennsylvania, and beyond. Its the rare deer that does not have some ticks and plenty of deer have hundreds on them. And, hunters come in close contact with the deer they kill, presenting themselves as prime new hosts for the tiny arachnids.

Deer do not contract Lyme disease, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. And, ticks presence on a deer present no danger to those eating the venison.

Old wounds

An abscess formed at a wound on a deer

Hunters regularly find wounds on the deer they kill. Not wounds that they inflicted in killing the animals, but previous wounds from misplaced bullets or arrows from other hunters, battles with other deer, collisions with motor vehicles and attacks by predators. Some wounds simply heal, even around a bullet, arrow or bone fragment. Others develop abscesses filled with yellow, green or even black pus.

Other parts of the deer are safe for consumption, if the infected area is safely cut away. But if the infected area or fluids from it come into contact with other areas, the venison there always will not be safe to eat.

Lumps

Chest cavity of a deer with tuberculosis.

In processing the deer they harvest, hunters regularly find blood clots in the muscle tissue, green or black discharge from organs and even bad smells, all of which can be signs of disease. In addition, yellow or tan lumps on the lungs or the inside surface of the rib cage may indicate that the deer has tuberculosis.

Some hunters choose to overlook some diseases but eating venison from a deer with tuberculosis likely could lead to humans contracting the disease.

Deer keds

Deer keds, which are parasitic flies, are more widespread than previously thought.

Parasitic deer keds flat-bodied flies with grabbing forelegs and deciduous wings are usually found on deer, elk and moose, but occasionally bite humans and domestic mammals. Although several tick-borne pathogens have been detected in deer keds, including the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, cat scratch fever and anaplasmosis, its unknown whether they can be transmitted through the insects bite.

Deer hunters are most likely to come into contact with deer keds, as they process deer they kill. "Deer keds can run up your arm while you're field dressing a deer and bite you, said Michael Skvarla, extension educator and director of the Insect Identification Lab in the Department of Entomology at Penn State. If these insects are picking up pathogens from deer, they could transmit them to hunters. We don't want to scare people, but people should be aware there is the potential for deer keds to transmit pathogens that can cause disease."

There is no evidence that keds cause venison from the deer to be unsafe for human consumption.

Nasal bots

Cross-section of a deer skull infested with nasal bots.

Nasal bots are another parasitic insect regularly found on deer, as well as rabbits and squirrels. They are more specialized than the hide-roaming keds. Nasal bot flies lay eggs in the nose of the animal. Larvae hatch from the eggs, feed on tissue inside the nose and grow until they are large enough to cause discomfort to the animal, which sneezes them out to further develop into the next generation of winged adults.

The insects have no impact on the deer meat.

Lung worms

Lung worms in a deer

Lung worms are another common parasite of deer, spread in their feces and the vegetation touched by their feces. In hunter-killed deer, they are most obvious as spaghetti-like clusters slithering around the animals windpipe or lungs. The larvae of the nematode begin life in the intestinal tract of the deer. They eventually pass out in the scat of the animal, mature in the soil, climb up onto vegetation, where they are eaten by other deer. Once inside the animal they migrate from the stomach to the lungs.

In low numbers the lung worms have little impact on the deer they inhabit. But in large concentrations in deer already compromised by other parasites or disease, they can contribute to the animals death.

Blue tongue

Deer with swollen tongue

Blue tongue is a virus contracted by deer through the bite of a biting midge in the genus Culicoides. The most notable symptoms are a swollen tongue with a blue color to it and sloughed or deformed hooves. Other symptoms include swollen neck and eyelids, reduced activity, weigh loss, excessive salivation, and fever.

The virus that causes blue tongue has not been shown to spread to humans who eat the meat of the animal, but the deer often have additional infections that can make the meat unfit for human consumption.

Arterial worms

Arterial worms in a deer

Horsefly bites can infect deer with tiny, white, parasitic roundworms that live in the arteries of the animal. Their presence is most commonly detected through bone deformities, particularly the jaw. When the jaw is deformed it can lead to food being stuck under the tongue, tooth loss and secondary infection.

Venison from deer infected with arterial worms is generally considered safe to eat.

Mange

Hunter-killed deer with mange.

Mange, typically displayed as hair thinning and loss, leaving thickened, wrinkled, dark skin covered in scabs and foul-smelling crust, is a highly contagious skin disease of mammals caused by mites. There are several categories of mange affecting wild mammals caused by different species of mites that are very similar in appearance, according to the Northeast Wildlife Disease Cooperative. The three major categories of mange are sarcoptic mange, which is caused by Sacroptes scabiei, notoedric mange, which is caused by Notoedres centrifera, and demodectic mange, which is caused by two species of mites from the genus Demodex. Sarcoptic mange is the most common and most studied in wildlife and will thus be the focus of this disease description.

Demodectic mange has been reported in many mammalian species including white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk. A new larger species of Demodex mites affecting white-tailed deer was described in 2007.

Many affected animals will resolve their mange without intervention if their immune systems begin to function normally.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission suggests that people handling mangy animals should wear gloves and should wash thoroughly immediately after handling. Infected carcasses should be frozen prior to examination, because sufficient freezing will kill the mites.

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Nasty stuff hunters find on and in their deer: Oozing green gunk, huge warts, parasitic insects and more - pennlive.com

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