What Deer Hunters Need to Know

Few things are more discouraging for a deer hunter than finding dead deer along a creek bank, farm pond, or drainage ditch.

You spend years improving habitat, working with neighbors, passing young bucks, balancing doe harvest, and investing in the future of a property. Then seemingly overnight, a disease outbreak leaves multiple (sometimes hundreds) dead deer across the landscape.

Nobody likes seeing that. For many Michigan hunters and landowners, 2026 is providing another reminder that Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) can appear suddenly and leave a significant impact on local deer populations. Unlike some other wildlife diseases, EHD often makes itself known in dramatic fashion, with dead deer appearing near water sources during late summer and early fall.

The good news? While EHD causes severe local losses, history has shown that deer herds recover over time. [Recovery from EHD]

Why EHD is Different

When deer hunters hear the word “disease,” many immediately think of CWD or TB.

EHD is fundamentally different. CWD spreads deer-to-deer and through contaminated environments, with infectious prions persisting in soil for years. TB can spread through close contact among deer and between deer and livestock, or through feed or bait contaminated with the TB-causing bacteria. Both diseases require long-term management strategies aimed at reducing transmission and monitoring disease prevalence. [deerassociation.com], [mdc.mo.gov]

EHD works differently. The disease is spread by tiny midges, sometimes called “no-see-ums,” that can carry and transmit a virus when they bite deer. Deer do not directly infect one another. Once cold weather arrives and kills the insects carrying the virus, transmission effectively stops until conditions support another outbreak. [deerassociation.com], [mdc.mo.gov]

That distinction is important because there is currently no management action that can stop EHD from appearing on a local property.

You cannot:

Reduce direct deer-to-deer spread

Remove infected deer to stop transmission

Eliminate the virus from the landscape

Prevent infected insects from moving across an area

For deer managers, EHD is largely a disease whose impacts must be monitored and responded to rather than actively controlled.

“Hemorrhagic disease is often localized in outbreak areas. Even when some landowners are heavily impacted, others a mile or more away may receive minimal or no impacts. Also, not all deer that contract HD die from the disease. Thus, HD isn’t a disease we can manage for. Rather, we assess the impacts after it occurs and adjust harvest rates if necessary. Importantly, 2025 was a terrible year for HD in the Ohio River Valley in Southeast, OH. The OH DNR stated it was the worst disease mortality event in the state’s history. However, following the 2025 hunting season, the DNR conducted population estimates in the hardest hit areas and determined there were still over 50 deer per square mile. This is an extremely high deer density, and that’s especially true post deer season.” Kip Adams, Chief Conservation Officer, National Deer Association

What is EHD?

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease is a viral disease that affects white-tailed deer and other wild ruminants. The disease is caused by an orbivirus and is transmitted through the bite of infected midges. Outbreaks are most common during late summer and early fall, particularly during hot, dry conditions that concentrate deer around water sources. [deerassociation.com], [mdc.mo.gov]

Common symptoms include:

High fever

Swelling of the head and neck

Difficulty breathing

Excessive salivation

Internal hemorrhaging

Sudden death

Many infected deer seek water as their body temperature rises. As a result, dead deer are frequently found near ponds, streams, rivers, wetlands, and drainage areas. [deerassociation.com]

The Challenge: EHD is Spotty and Unpredictable

One of the most frustrating aspects of EHD is how uneven its impacts can be. One neighborhood may lose a significant portion of its local deer population while a property just a few miles away experiences little noticeable impact. Michigan hunters have seen this pattern repeatedly.

Unlike diseases that steadily spread across a landscape, EHD outbreaks often resemble a patchwork map. Some areas experience substantial mortality while others escape relatively unscathed. Weather patterns, local habitat conditions, water availability, insect populations, and previous exposure likely all play a role. [deerassociation.com], [mdc.mo.gov]

That variability creates challenges for deer managers. A countywide estimate may not reflect what happened on your property. Likewise, your experience may not reflect what happened across the county. Thus, county wide reductions in antlerless tags are likely not appropriate.

“Establishing regulations at a scale relevant to EHD impacts just isn’t feasible. When we monitored deer response to the biggest ever EHD outbreak back in 2012, survey routes just a few miles away from the habitat near the river where a major die-off was centered couldn’t pick up any noticeable impacts on deer abundance. Making informed decisions about harvest practices on your hunting property is the best way to respond.” Brent Rudolph, Deer, Elk, and Moose Management Specialist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources

What Should Deer Managers Do?

Although EHD cannot be prevented once an outbreak occurs, there are several productive actions hunters and deer managers can take.

Report Dead Deer

The first step is helping wildlife managers understand the scope of the outbreak. If you observe dead deer that may be associated with EHD, report them to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. [Eyes in the Field]

These reports help biologists:

Confirm outbreaks

Track disease distribution

Estimate local impacts

Improve future monitoring

Reevaluate Deer Numbers Honestly

One of the biggest mistakes after an EHD outbreak is managing based on assumptions rather than observations.

Spend time evaluating:

Trail camera data

Summer surveys

Hunter observations

Mast production

Doe sightings

Fawn recruitment

If deer numbers remain strong, harvest goals may not need major adjustment. If substantial losses occurred locally, harvest strategies may need to change.

Consider Temporary Harvest Adjustments

In areas experiencing significant EHD mortality, it may be wise to reduce antlerless harvest pressure for a period of time. The key word is temporary.

Many deer populations rebound naturally after EHD outbreaks. However, choosing to reduce your doe harvest in heavily impacted areas can help accelerate recovery.

Assess local population conditions before season decisions.

Avoid making harvest changes based solely on rumors.

Use camera surveys and hunter observations.

Consider reducing doe harvest where significant mortality occurred.

Reevaluate annually as populations recover.

The Silver Lining: Deer Herds Are Resilient

When EHD hits, it feels devastating. For many deer managers, it can seem like years of work disappeared overnight. Yet one of the consistent stories from areas that have experienced severe outbreaks is the remarkable ability of deer populations to recover.

Whitetails evolved with periodic disease events, severe winters, habitat changes, and predator pressure. Given quality habitat and reasonable harvest management, populations often rebound faster than many people expect. [deerassociation.com]

This is where the experiences of long-time deer managers become valuable.

A Local Case Study, Mike Ketelaar

Kent County Coop after EHD in 2024. We had a 95% herd loss. These were bucks found on one property. A “memorial” was created for them.

I would not wish a severe Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease outbreak on any hunter or landowner, as watching a herd you have invested years into managing suddenly perish is a painful and frustrating experience. On our 700-acre cooperative in Kent County, eight of us managed our deer with strict discipline, yet our survey numbers hit 120 deer per square mile in 2020 and 90 in 2023. The harsh reality was that our population far exceeded the biological carrying capacity of the land. Despite an aggressive antlerless harvest, intense resource competition caused chronic nutritional stress. We saw clear browse lines, depleted native forage, suppressed antler expression on mature bucks, and harvested does that averaged just 94 pounds—roughly 15 pounds below national norms.

When EHD struck our area in September 2024, the mortality rate was sickening, leaving behind a foul smell across our properties and dropping our post-outbreak survey to just 11 deer. It was a massive gut punch, but as conservationists, we made the tough agreement to pause harvesting and allow zero take that season. Once the initial grief settled, looking at our land through a biological lens revealed an unexpected silver lining. The sudden, involuntary population reduction immediately lifted the heavy browsing pressure from our habitat. Free from overbrowsing, the native vegetative browse began to regenerate, browse lines disappeared, and our established food plots were finally able to sustain the surviving herd through the winter months without being completely destroyed.

By 2025, our survey bounced back to 25 deer, and the single mature buck we harvested that year was one of the healthiest, highest-quality trophies we had taken in a quarter-century. Fast forward to 2026, and our observation numbers reached 40 deer with a balanced 1.5 to 1 buck-to-doe ratio, backed by the strongest, healthiest individual animals and habitat conditions I have seen in 25 years of hunting this region. While EHD was terrible to live through, it ultimately served as a vital biological reset that accomplished what human harvest alone had struggled to achieve. It taught us that when a herd is reset to align with the land’s natural carrying capacity, reduced competition allows individual animal health, body mass, and antler development to thrive. More than anything, it proved the power of voluntary hunter stewardship, showing that when local conservationists unite to make responsible decisions during a crisis, nature can build back stronger than ever.

Mike Ketelaar, State Council President, Michigan National Deer Association

Final Thoughts

If you’ve found dead deer this summer or fall, your frustration is understandable. No deer hunter or deer manager enjoys seeing the resource impacted that way. But EHD is different from diseases like CWD and TB. It is sudden. It is localized. It is often unpredictable. And in most cases, it is not something that can be directly controlled.

What can be controlled is how we respond.

Report observations. [Eyes in the Field] Monitor your herd honestly. Adjust harvest strategies if necessary. Continue investing in quality habitat. And remember that Michigan’s deer herd has demonstrated remarkable resilience following past outbreaks.

The deer you don’t see today may make next year’s management decisions difficult, but they don’t necessarily determine the future of your herd. Recovery is coming.

Here’s a practical comparison of the three major deer diseases:

Feature	EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease)	CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease)	Bovine Tuberculosis (TB)
Cause	Virus (Orbivirus)	Misfolded proteins called prions	Bacterium (Mycobacterium bovis)
Transmission	Bites from infected midges (“no-see-ums”)	Deer-to-deer contact and contaminated environments	Direct contact, respiratory secretions, contaminated feed/water
Spread Between Deer	No direct deer-to-deer spread	Yes, very effective	Yes
Speed of Disease	Rapid, days to weeks	Slow, months to years	Slow, months to years
Fatal?	Often, but some deer survive	Always fatal	Can be fatal
Symptoms	Fever, swelling, hemorrhaging, drooling, sudden death, deer often found near water	Weight loss, drooling, stumbling, lack of fear, neurological signs	Weight loss, coughing, enlarged lymph nodes, respiratory problems
Seasonality	Late summer to early fall	Year-round	Year-round
Environmental Persistence	Virus survives briefly	Prions can persist for years in soil	Bacteria can survive for months in favorable conditions
Population Impact	Can cause sudden local die-offs but populations often recover	Long-term population declines possible	Usually localized population impacts
Human Health Risk	No known risk	No confirmed human cases, but CDC recommends not eating CWD-positive deer	Can infect humans, though risk from wild deer is low with proper precautions

Sources: National Deer Association (EHD vs. CWD), Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife disease information, and state/federal deer disease monitoring resources. Information condensed and adapted for educational purposes via Copilot.

When EHD Hits Hard