Vomiting deer???

[varmintH8R]

Saw some weird deer behavior today. Some background:

About 10 days ago a doe was killed by a car on our street. Shortly afterward, I began seeing a lone fawn come onto my food plot. A few days later, she hooked up with a button buck and I see them together almost every time I am out.

Tonight when I was out, they both came in together as normal. After a few minutes, the fawn's tail started flailing all over. I mean really whipping around. Like you come back from a 2 week trip and pick your dog up from the kennel tail wag. Weird.

The tail never stopped, and the fawn starts heaving and puking over and over. The puke appeared to be clear and slimy (I didn't biopsy it, I was watching through the binos). She went on like this (a lot like a puking dog- wheeze wheeze wheeze puke) for at least 5 minutes, and was still wheezing when she walked off.

So - is this weird behavior indicative of some disease (tail wag retch syndrome? Is it common and not a problem? If the fawn is going to die, infect other deer, etc I'll mercy kill it. If it isn't a known set of symptoms for a disease, I'll let her go as she seems otherwise healthy and our recent winters have been mild.

Let me know if you've seen this before....

 

[trebark]

weird. can't say I know what the problem is.

 

[500mag_guy]

I'd contact your local Fwp biologist and see if they have seen any signs of this in the area.

Never seen what your describing but that doesn't mean they don't do it. Let us know what you find out.

Thanks, Eric

 

[varmintH8R]

I'd contact your local Fwp biologist and see if they have seen any signs of this in the area.

Good idea! I emailed the DNR this morning and I'll let you know what they come back with.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Where do you reside? It's not on your signature line. You mention DNR so I assume Michigan..

I get a kick out of our term for legalized baiting.....'food plot'. Ain't no food plots in the woods unless planted by man....

I just use the 2 gallon rule a few days prior to. Sweet feed is cheaper and quicker.....

 

[LONGSHOOTER]

It might be the initial sign of EHD.

MIDNR has a form on their website for reporting sick deer.

http://www.michigandnr.com/diseasedwildlifereporting/disease_obsreport.asp

 

[Red Sparky]

We just had 100 head of elk die in about 1 sq. mile. Biologist looked for all sorts of reasons and lab work came up with a toxic algae bloom in the water they drank. So my guess is some sort of poisoning. Let the biologist decide if they can.

 

[varmintH8R]

I got a detailed response from the DNR first thing this AM:

I can't say that I have ever observed the tail behavior other than, the fact that you are observing young animals it could be a sheer joy type of behavior—I know I have seen fawns act perfectly normal and then charge off with their legs kicking out, their necks twisting around, jumping into the air, etc. and then act perfectly normal again. So it may be nothing more than youthful enthusiasm. As for the wheezing that sounds like there was probably some type of irritant in the respiratory tract that was causing her to cough/wheeze. It could be nothing more that inhaling some dust/small vegetative parts, etc. and coughing because of that. It is possible that it could be more severe, such as a pneumonia or a pleuritis, but the fact that she acted normal prior to the coughing/wheezing and that you have seen her before and she was fine indicates that it is probably the less severe case. Deer don't really vomit—stomach contents can come out of the stomachs due to pressure/bloat or while being handled, but for them to vomit like a dog does does not occur. The fluid may have been from the respiratory tract or the mouth, but I can't say that I have actually observed this before in a deer. Keep an eye on the animal and her condition will tell you if it was something minor that caused what you saw or if it was something much more severe. There really isn't much that can be done for the animal as far as treating it if indeed it has pneumonia, so all I can really tell you to do is to continue to monitor its condition.

Thought it was interesting. If it turns out that it is instead the first stages of deer turning into zombies, I will advise the forum so we can make preparations.