Deer With Tuberculosis

[WyoDoug]

I have not seen a recent case of TB in Deer or Elk in Wyoming or Colorado, but it does happen. Something to watch for as this is highly contagious and can be transmitted to humans.

CDC warning: Deer with tuberculosis can pass it on to people

Hunters are advised to wear protective gear while field dressing.

www.kron4.com

You are more likely to encounter this disease where deer or elk are used to grazing in the same area as cattle where they catch bovine tuberculosis. I am no expert on this, but I think that it is unlikely to encounter TB in wild game that does not have contact with cattle.

 

[PrairieHunter]

Saw one in Idaho just recently family had already eaten it according to the post. .

 

[WyoDoug]

Best place to look for TB is the liver. It will look like a bunch of fatty cysts. You will also see it a lot on the inside of the abdominal cavity when you pull the guts out. Me personally, I use gloves when field dressing because I have seen things like this before but not in recent history.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Best place to look for TB is the liver. It will look like a bunch of fatty cysts. You will also see it a lot on the inside of the abdominal cavity when you pull the guts out. Me personally, I use gloves when field dressing because I have seen things like this before but not in recent history.

This is incorrect. Lesions are most prevalent in lung tissue and chest cavity (and associated lymph nodes). They’ll range from small, firm, round nodules like those pictured to larger abscess type lesions. In very advanced cases, lesions may appear throughout the body.

There are focal areas of disease in wild white tails in areas of Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana, and these are where a hunter would be most likely to harvest an infected animal. Still, it is not super common. Outside of those areas, it is extremely rare in wild deer. Most cases stem from game farm animals, or cattle. The US has had a TB eradication program in place for decades, and most of the country is certified TB free, though sporadic cases do happen - probably moved around and transmitted by captive animals in most cases.

Wear gloves and avoid aerosol exposure to body fluids - good guidelines no matter what animal you are taking apart. Thorough cooking does kill the bacteria.

 

[Tufrthnails]

Man I have gotten hammered today on my fakebook with non hunting friends sending me links to the CDC article. I told every last one to research the prevailance of TB In cattle you know the meat they eat. I told them I’m 100x’s more worried about the meat I buy at the store then the meat I process and inspect myself. That said I use gloves while dressing animals.

 

[Gr8bawana]

We wouldn't see any of this if we're using the gutless method, right?

 

[WyoDoug]

We wouldn't see any of this if we're using the gutless method, right?

Probably not, but if you eat the meat from an infected animal, you could get it. If you are in an area where bovine TB is common, you may want to pull out the liver and look at it. If cattle are grazing in the vicinity, I would look at the liver at the minimum just to be on the safe side.

 

[Hunting Wife]

We wouldn't see any of this if we're using the gutless method, right?

No, and honestly even people gutting their animals usually miss seeing the lesions because they can be subtle.

If I was hunting in a TB area, I would do a quick inspection of the interior rib cage and lungs the same as if I was doing a necropsy...visual inspection and feel for nodules, bread slice one lung from front to back crossways and check, “shred” the other one by following the airways all the way through the lung with my knife and check.

I think those TB endemic zones in the states I mentioned may have disease testing programs in place for hunter harvested animals? Not positive...but worth asking if you hunt there.

 

[devon deer]

No, and honestly even people gutting their animals usually miss seeing the lesions because they can be subtle.

If I was hunting in a TB area, I would do a quick inspection of the interior rib cage and lungs the same as if I was doing a necropsy...visual inspection and feel for nodules, bread slice one lung from front to back crossways and check, “shred” the other one by following the airways all the way through the lung with my knife and check.

I have had hands on experience with one confirmed case of bTB in a red deer hind.
You are bang on the money, it can be very subtle, or really obvious.
In my case the deer was on it's own, maybe because it was unwell, they are normally a herd animal, I inspected the gralloch and one of the lymph nodes on the mesenteric chain was enlarged, around the size of a table tennis ball, the lungs looked and felt fine, (the above liver doesn't look like bTB to me) the remaining lymph nodes were fine (I think I posted a link on the forum on how to find the lymph nodes but can't find it) although I probably shouldn't have I incised the node, it was a creamy white cheese puss, that set alarm bells ringing (I had plastic gloves on, I always do) so it's the law in the UK, we HAVE to contact the government vet, he came out the following day, he suspected it like I did, but he said 'let me try this' he plunged his scalpel through the hide into the pre scapula node, there was an explosion of puss!
He took samples, a few months later they reported back, confirmed bTB.

If I had inhaled the breath of the deer there is a chance I could have been contaminated, but because it had died quickly that was unlikely, and I had gloves on.
Cooking the meat will kill bTB, in fact when cattle have a positive bTB test in the UK they go into food chain.

bTB is a hot potato in the UK at the moment, 1000's of cattle are being killed, there is a cull ongoing in several areas to try and eliminate what the government believe to be the main carrier and transmitter, the Badger, whilst this is being done very low key by Government marksmen at night with thermal and night vision sights the 'anti's' try and disrupt the cull using all means at their disposal, but they have had little affect, there have been mixed results but in some areas incidence of bTB in cattle have dropped off dramatically.

Thankfully bTB in deer is quite rare.

Cheers

Richard

 

[WyoDoug]

@devon deer: You are right on the button with TB. If you clean with gloves and clean the meat well and cook it, it does kill the TB virus. Fully smoking or cooking past medium rare will kill the virus. However, research I have done indicates that it does not survive well into the muscle. This is something I would put the caveat use your own judgement and at your own risk. If you use the gutless method though, my bet is TB is not a risk because of where it resides in an infected animal. It is a hot potato alright. Every health department across the country varies on whether it is safe to consume meat of an infected animal. If there was a way to detect it before I started field dressing, I would just use the gutless method and leave the organs and rib meat.

 

[Western Traveler1]

While using the gutless method one does reach into the body cavity to retrieve the tenderloins. Wonder what could be missed. Glad it is rare...

 

[devon deer]

Thought some of you might be interested in this.
TB in a red deer in the county I live in.
Its starting to show up more frequently, and a reason we believe behind it is high concentrations of deer.
Since Covid hit hardly any deer were being hunted, our population was already high, now it's just getting out of control.
The Red Deer is a herd animal, so they can transmit to other healthy deer quite easily.
Personally, I think the gutless method has some serious failings.