Deer Hunting Abscession Explains It All

Finally there a study that sheds light on the reason the hunters from our camp up north don't get the big deer. The usual take is a few sightings and every 4 to 5 years 1 in 10 will get a spike. My 7 pointer is the only multi-point deer in 25 years of hunting there.

As reported by Dr. Dave Samuel a bacterial disease called intracranial abscessation is killing our older mature bucks. The buck deer fight to determine a pecking order in the herd. When the rut is on, bucks fight and
even though those fights look bad, it’s pretty unusual for bucks to actually kill each other. One gives up and high tails it out of the county. Now a study done by Gabrial Karns, a graduate student from North Carolina State University, and Dr. Mark Conners, manager and wildlife biologist at Chesapeake Farms on the eastern shore of Maryland, shows that some fights involving mature bucks do lead to a slow death.


The bacterial disease known as intracranial abscessation (basically a bad infection) affects the brain, deteriorates the skull and leads to the death of some older bucks.

These researchers found the disease in 35 percent of the older bucks they autopsied that died a natural death. That doesn’t mean that the disease killed all of those bucks, it just means that 35 percent had the infection. No one can be sure what killed them. It's highly probable that the older bucks are infecting one another when they fight during the rut.   With this new knowledge everyone in camp can feel better about themselves. We can't help it that we hunt in an area with an epidemic amount of deer with this disease. I just hope it doesn't cause the number of hunt hours to plummet. Plus with the new Lower Peninsula Deer Management Initiative (LPDMI) that has proposed a four-point APR for all of Zone 3 in southern Michigan things could get worse throughout the state.

 Atta Boy to the researchers working at Chesapeake Farms — a great cooperative effort that might just lead to lowering the mortality caused by this nasty disease.

Get Outdoors Downriver.

Fish For Free Before The Price Goes Up

Just a reminder that all Michigan residents and non-residents can fish without a license this Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9. Please note all other fishing regulations still apply.

Do you still need a muskie tag?

Saturday and Sunday make up the Summer Free Fishing Weekend, an annual effort to promote Michigan’s numerous fishing opportunities. While many individuals and families will head out to fish for free on their own, there are also numerous organized events scheduled throughout the state to celebrate the weekend as well.

Don't know where to go? Try the DNR's family fishing page. http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10364-299046--,00.html

You could even make money fishing!

As if on cue along comes Michigan's first significant increase in hunting and fishing license fees since 1997, passed by the House on Wednesday, a move that has the blessing of outdoor groups.


Legislation approved 77-32 by the Republican-led chamber would raise about $20 million more for wildlife, fisheries and habitat programs, a 40 percent boost. The fee hikes, which legislators recently built into the next state budget at the request of Gov. Rick Snyder, would begin in March 2014.

Michigan has 227 different types of hunting and fishing license fees. The bill headed to the GOP-controlled Senate would leave the state with approximately 40, according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis.

For the average fisher or hunter the fees will be lower. Great news in these financially challenged times.

So Get Outdoors Downriver.