Parasites and disease

[MattM37]

So, I mentioned in another thread that I'd been watching "MeatEater" lately. In the episodes about Coues deer in the Southwest, Steven Rinella shows the horrid bot-fly larvae often found in the Coues' nose and throat. Imagine living with one of those things squirming around in there!

What grotesqueries, if any, have you found in your game and fish over the years? A weird question, maybe, but all part of the hunting-fishing world like anything else, I suppose.

[MattM37]

I've killed a couple of deer that had these hard, black masses on their sides and back. I have no idea what they were. They were about the size of a half-moon cookie and had the texture and hardness of asphalt. Also had a deer once that had these clear, hard, marble-sized globes massed inside its ribcage and along the spine. Described both to fish-and-wildlife staff and was told the meat was still fine to eat; I don't remember what they said the things were.

Never caught any kind of deformed or diseased fish, surprisingly. Seen plenty of wounds on fish from herons and kingfishers (maybe even eagles, these last few years), but nothing suggesting disease.

[bowhunter75richard]

In my taxidermy work I saw some not so good things to look at, but one of the weirdest things I encountered was a fine buck with with a 7 inch piece of antler imbedded 3 inches up his nasal passage which was terribly infected. But, I myself have never taken an animal or fish that was not normal.

[FirstBubba]

Nope.
Trapped an awfully ugly sow once who was missing an ear! One evil looking witch!
Cleaning bass one time, I noted some small yellow dots. Some type larvae.
Other than some #4's and #5's found on a couple of turkeys backside, nothing out of the ordinary.

[jhjimbo]

I've killed a couple of deer that had these hard, black masses on their sides and back. I have no idea what they were. They were about the size of a half-moon cookie and had the texture and hardness of asphalt. Also had a deer once that had these clear, hard, marble-sized globes massed inside its ribcage and along the spine. Described both to fish-and-wildlife staff and was told the meat was still fine to eat; I don't remember what they said the things were.

Never caught any kind of deformed or diseased fish, surprisingly. Seen plenty of wounds on fish from herons and kingfishers (maybe even eagles, these last few years), but nothing suggesting disease.

Those marks could be where lampreys have latched on. I have caught fish with one still hanging on. Chances are, if a Eagle latches on they don't let go. Once in a while a Eagle latches on to one too heavy to fly with and they let go but I think that is rare.

[MattM37]

Those marks could be where lampreys have latched on. I have caught fish with one still hanging on. Chances are, if a Eagle latches on they don't let go. Once in a while a Eagle latches on to one too heavy to fly with and they let go but I think that is rare.

The marks on the fish have always been gashes on the back or side, not the round kind of mark a lamprey would leave -- I should've described that in my post. Your point prompted me to look up lampreys on the DEC website, though, and I learned that they're more common in streams than I'd thought, not just the lakes. DEC says there is at least one species of lamprey in every NYS watershed.

[MattM37]

In my taxidermy work I saw some not so good things to look at, but one of the weirdest things I encountered was a fine buck with with a 7 inch piece of antler imbedded 3 inches up his nasal passage which was terribly infected. But, I myself have never taken an animal or fish that was not normal.

Butchering a deer one time, my brother and I found an inch-long apple thorn way down deep in a buck's shoulder meat. No sign of wound or infection in that spot when we'd skinned it; apparently he'd just kind of absorbed it after getting stuck by it.

[jhjimbo]

The marks on the fish have always been gashes on the back or side, not the round kind of mark a lamprey would leave -- I should've described that in my post. Your point prompted me to look up lampreys on the DEC website, though, and I learned that they're more common in streams than I'd thought, not just the lakes. DEC says there is at least one species of lamprey in every NYS watershed.

When lampreys got too high a population in years past the ODNR and NY DEC poisoned the streams where the incubate. It used to be every walleye in Oneida or Erie had a mark on it. It worked and the population is now under control.

[jhjimbo]

It was reported that two Zoo Gorillas have Coved-19.

[MattM37]

It was reported that two Zoo Gorillas have Coved-19.

Fur-Fish-Game magazine has been reporting outbreaks at mink farms.