Hunters Beware: New Parasite Found On Deer in Great Lakes Region

If Michigan deer hunters didn't already have enough to worry about chronic wasting disease, now a new parasite is being found in the Great Lakes region deer.

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Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

Chronic wasting disease has been a huge headache for Michigan hunters since the Department of Natural Resources biologists detected it in the state's deer herd years ago. It has led to hunters not being able to use bait in the Lower Peninsula in order to try and save the deer herd. This has also led to hunters not deer hunting because if they can't use bait they won't see any deer.

Deer have to get checked out for CWD after you harvest your kill.

There are still areas in Michigan with deer carrying CWD so until that goes away we are stuck with no baiting in the Lower Peninsula.

Deer Ticks

Deer ticks are another issue hunters and deer have been dealing with for years. Adult deer are pretty resilient but for fawns born in areas where there are heavy infestation of ticks the mortality rate is around 30%.

If a deer tick bites a hunter or any other human that is carrying Lyme disease, the side effects can be devastating, and in rare cases, even cause death when untreated.

There's a New Parasite Affecting Deer In The Great Lakes Region

Some deer in the Great Lakes region have been shot that have something that is similar to a deer tick called a European Deer Ked.

The European Deer Ked are also known as deer ked or deer fly. You would normally find them in Europe and Northern China but now they are being found in North America thanks to shipping containers.

First the good news, the European Deer Ked doesn't carry Lyme disease to humans. Now the bad news is if you are bitten by a Deer Ked, it will feed on your blood like a tick and will cause skin lesions that come with itching and burning symptoms. So far, no deaths have been reported but scientists are still studying this new parasite and don't have enough data but they want the public to be aware of this new parasite. If you kill a deer found with these parasites on them you should notify your local DNR office.