EHD Impacting Whitetails in Northern Indiana
To start off, I will provide some background on this story, my property and the 2021 season. I've been fortunate enough to hunt this property in Northern Indiana since the 2013 season. Last season, 2021 was the only year where I didn't average seeing 15-plus deer per sit. Going into the season, I did more work on this property than any year prior. This included installing a new food plot even bigger than my previous one.
In my opinion, this was an easy location for me to hunt, access and exit. I had great action on my mineral site all summer, and had good deer numbers like usual. I was also watching 3 good bucks that were quickly making it to the top of my hit list. The last time I went to this farm before the season opened was early August to mow paths and plant foodplots. I then went to Colorado in September, so I didn't hunt the property till mid October. It was then that I realized something was wrong.
I pulled my trail camera cards as I was walking in, and observed very minimal pictures since I had left in August. This is not normal. During my first hunt, I only saw 2 does, which had me scratching my head. Not to mention there were 30-plus vultures circling the farm, and this had me fearing the worse.
Following that hunt, I reached out to the neighbors and was informed that EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) hit that area. I then learned that 12 does were found dead in September on one of my neighbor’s properties. I continued to hunt the farm over the rest of the season, just hoping for a chance to see one of the good bucks I had a history with, or for a new buck to show up. Neither happened.
Fast forward to to April, 2022; I finally got time to make the drive and look for dead deer and sheds. This led to me finding 5 dead bucks and 3 dead does on my property. I didn't get to comb the whole property due to time restrictions, so I'm guessing there was more. One cool find was the big 8-point sheds from a target buck during the 2019 season. I found them buried in the switchgrass; almost ran them over with the ATV! He was my main target buck that year, and we played cat and mouse all season, only for him to get the best of me that year. Last known pics of him was actually fall of 2020, so I'm guessing he's dead too.
Overall, it was a challenging fall, followed by some discouraging finds this spring. It will be very interesting to see the upcoming impacts of EHD on this area in the coming seasons. If you have any input, feedback, or questions, please feel free to reach out to me or Fall Obsession on our socials media pages.
Happy Hunting!
-Michael Tepe, Fall Obsession Field Staff
