As some of you know I live in the country and have a deer feeder in my back yard. We watch the does and fawns year round and they will walk up to us within 8 feet or so. Tonight my wife and I were watching the deer (16 or so does) eat at the feeder when one came from over the tank dam. I thought it was a small buck with its head down and when it came up to the feeder the other deer spooked. Well this was no buck and I looked closer and thought that it had been shot in the jaw. I got the binos and looked and its tongue was huge and hanging out 5 or 6 inches!!! My wife looked at her and told me to shoot her. I got my gun and put her down. I was still thinking that it was a shot deer so I got a tag and walked outside. I got up to her and she had no marks on her what so ever. She was very skinny and the tongue was huge. I loaded her up and called the local GW. He told me that he didnt know what it was and to call him next time to save myself a tag as I wasnt going to eat the nasty thing. I thought the deer might have CWD after talking to Cody. He called the local biologist and thats how we came up with this blue tongue thing. Guys I dont know what it is but this deer was very sick and sad to look at. Here is a phone pic I'll post more if anyone wants to look at them.


The deer was soaked from being in the tank just before she came to the feeder.

The jaw didnt seem broken but was dislocated.

Wow! thats crazy. TPWD has a biologist assigned to your area, you should pass it on to them, they are always interested in this kind of stuff

That sucks. Hope it is an isolated case.

go to google and enter "blue tongue deer" and you can learn more about the disease. The story you tell is exactly what happens w/ blue tongue. That deer would have been dead within 2 days (if you did not shoot it) You should contact the local biologist and let them know you shot a deer that had a case of blue tongue.

Cant believe the GW didn't know what it was, but I would call the biologist like mentioned above. Hope whatever it is, it doesn't affect the rest of the herd.

I'll tell you this it was a sad deal and had to be to get my wife to say shoot her. She hunts but those are more like pets.

It's unusual this time of year. At least further up north. After the first frost it usually stops.

Anyone ever seen anything like this in Texas?? Help me out here guys!

All I can say is, thanks for putting her down.

We called em they didnt seem to intrested. Anyone one here a bio??? If you know one pass on the pic and info so I can figure out what is going on!!!

Blue Tongue kills'em quick, most suffocate when the tongue expands so far they can't breath.

But will it spread?? Will cows or other livestock get it?? Should I have burned her??? Will pigs get it because I'll put her in a pig trap

One of my best friends uncle owns a big game ranch out by the lake. He had several cases of this a few years back. TAMU even sent a research team to the ranch to do a study and figure out what was happening.

If I remember correctly the onset is caused by some type of bugs/gnats in the ear. This is frequent up in the colder states when they have unusually warm weather. Not real common in Texas.

I've never seen anything like that, poor girl. Glad you took her out.

You did a good thing.

It's spread by nose to nose, saliva, snot type contact as well as flies from what I've been told. I would definitely consider burning her but chances are she's not the only one you will find. And if what I have read is true feed spots contribute to spreading it. We lost 2/3rds of our herd to in NW Missouri. That was 11 years ago and it still hasn't fully recovered.

Learn something new everyday!

I was hunting south of Brady about 3 years ago talked to the ranch manager who said they pulled deer out of a stock tank all day that had blue tongue I think there was a big hit there then hit like 5 counties what i heard

The more I think about it and based on everything I read last night I don't think it's blue tongue. That tongue is not swolen nearly enough to have dislocated her jaw. I think she injured her head/jaw causing the tongue to swell. Her tongue would have to be the size of a cantaloupe to pop her jaw out. She may have run into a fence or gotten clipped by a car. I'm inclined to think it's an injury and not an illness.

We had a buck here just like that last january. Lost his antlers, couldn't eat because of a tongue like that, couldn't drink. Called a GW and they put him down. He tried to follow one of our lodge patrons through the parking lot because he had a cookie in his hand. He wasted down to just skin and bone. No explanation or samples taken. Just put him down and threw him in the brush.

Weather she was sick or hurt she was in some dang bad shape. It was a bad deal for her.

Bluetongue disease or catarrhal fever is a non-contagious, insect-borne viral disease of ruminants, mainly sheep and less frequently of cattle,[1] goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries and antelope. It is caused by the Bluetongue virus.

Bluetongue virus causes serious disease in livestock (sheep, goats, cattle and deer). Partly due to this BTV has been in the forefront of molecular studies for last three decades and now represents one of the best understood viruses at the molecular and structural levels. BTV, like the other members of the family is a complex non-enveloped virus with seven structural proteins and a RNA genome consisting of 10 double-stranded (ds) RNA segments of different sizes. Data obtained from studies over a number of years have defined the key players in BTV entry, replication, assembly and exit and have increasingly found roles for host proteins at each stage. Specifically, it has been possible to determine the complex nature of the virion through 3D structure reconstructions (diameter ~ 800 Å); the atomic structure of proteins and the internal capsid (~ 700 Å, the first large highly complex structure ever solved); the definition of the virus encoded enzymes required for RNA replication; the ordered assembly of the capsid shell and the protein sequestration required for it; and the role of host proteins in virus entry and virus release. These areas are important for BTV replication but they also indicate the pathways that may be used by related viruses, which include viruses that are pathogenic to man and animals, thus providing the basis for developing strategies for intervention or prevention.

This stuff is found on a lot of high fence deer breeding ranches. The rancher told me the deer get it from gnats. They lose deer in pens often for this..........

http://www.huntingnet.com/staticpages/staticpage_detail.aspx?id=58
Hemmorrhagic Diseases

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease and "bluetongue" are diseases that can ravage deer herds. But even hard-hit herds generally recover in a few years.

A virus carried by gnats causes hemorrhagic diseases. Gnats aren't specific to deer-they bite many warm-blooded animals-but for some reason some viruses affect only certain animals.

When a gnat bites a deer, the virus is transmitted into the animal's blood stream. It causes swelling of the head and swelling and hemorrhaging of the heart and lungs. A deer has breathing problems and gets thirsty. Because the virus cannot survive outside the carrier insect or host deer, the only way to determine the disease is to take blood from a live or dead deer.

Localized outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease occur in the deer herds of Nebraska and other states from time to time. Outbreaks start in summer when insect numbers are high and last throughout the fall. If a deer contracts the disease but survives, it develops an immunity, preventing further problems the next time it comes in contact with gnats.