9/15 Deer With Rabies
So opening day of doe season started out as any other day, left the house debating on where to go. Stand I ended up in was good for about 15 minutes and the wind started blowing pretty good in the wrong direction, I decided to ease around to another field where the wind wouldn't mess me up. As I'm easing down the road to the next field I see 3 does at 250yds and then hear something move in the bushes directly to my left. That's when things get weird. I look to my left and see a deer laying in the road on its side like its dead, walk over to get a better look and its not dead. Deer is just laying there, cant really move, kicks every minute or 2, deer looked healthy on that side, I'm looking for the buckshot, arrow, bullet hole, cause of why she's laying there dying. Flipped her over, no trauma of any kind. Called DNR and he got there at dark, looked at the deer, called a biologist or 2 and they settled on A. Pneumonia, said they've seen it and the symptoms matched or B. Head/Neck Trauma that we weren't seeing. GW put the deer down and checked her mouth for blue tongue which she didn't have. One biologist told us if we wanted the deer the meat would be fine. I called 2 more people one a former DNR employee and the other the farmer who's a close family friend, both of them told me to cut the deer's head off and have it tested for rabies, very slim chance but better safe than sorry. Carried the head to Clemson's Veterinary pathologist Friday morning and he told me he didn't think it was rabies but since deer are mammals there is always a chance, he would run a full panel in addition to DHEC. DHEC and Clemson told me not to worry about it until the results came back so after a long weekend it was finally Monday. Monday at lunch the phone starts ringing and doesn't stop for awhile, deer came back positive for rabies and I need to seek treatment immediately. Called another great friend of mine to carry me to the hospital since I was completely freaked out by this whole ordeal and I got to sit in the ER for 5 Hours Monday evening getting multiple tests/x-rays/blood work done and a series of shots. Everything looks good at this point, have to complete the series of shots over the next 14 days since the deer did scratch me when I flipped her over and drew blood. Found out yesterday that there where only 4 instances of Rabies in white tailed deer in the US last year and that it is extremely rare. This whole ordeal has just reinforced what I already knew, 1. IF you see a wild animal that isn't acting right don't mess with it, even if its a deer in the middle of deer season, they can carry rabies. 2. Keep hand sanitizer in your truck incase you come into contact with something sketchy. 3. Don't be a dumbass. Hopefully all is well and Yall can laugh at me in the future. Thanks for the prayers again fellas, I have a beautiful wife and a 10 month old little boy at home and sitting in that hospital bed thinking about leaving them scared me to death.
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Originally Posted by Sportin' Woodies
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