A Deadly Disease Wiped Out 55,000 Deer in Ohio, but Hunters Say the Aftermath Could Lead to Better Buck Hunting

A devastating outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, better known as EHD, may have killed an estimated 55,000 whitetail deer across three counties in southeast Ohio, leaving hunters with fewer deer to see, fewer mature bucks to pursue, and a difficult recovery period that could last several years.

But longtime Ohio deer hunter Mike Rex believes the outbreak may also create an unexpected opportunity down the road, especially for hunters willing to wait through the short-term decline. In a conversation with Andrew Maxwell and Jacob Myers of The Southern Outdoorsmen, Rex said severe EHD die-offs can sometimes reset a crowded deer herd in ways that eventually improve nutrition, reduce stress, and create conditions for more high-quality bucks.

Rex was careful not to minimize what happened. He described the outbreak as one of the worst he had ever seen in more than four decades of hunting and living in the area, with dead deer reported across Athens, Washington, and Meigs counties.

“This year, it blanketed hundreds of square miles,” Rex told Maxwell and Myers. “It blanketed almost the entire county, Washington County, which is just east of here. It blanketed about two-thirds of Meigs County and about two-thirds of Athens County.”

For hunters who watched the outbreak unfold, the loss was not theoretical. Rex said there were places where people could step out of a vehicle and smell dead deer nearby, a grim sign of how widespread the disease had become.

A Disease That Hit Far Beyond One Creek Bottom

Rex told The Southern Outdoorsmen that EHD had been present in parts of southeast Ohio for more than 30 years, but outbreaks had usually appeared in isolated pockets.

A drainage might see dead deer. One ridge or township might be affected. Nearby areas could remain relatively untouched.

This time, Rex said, the disease moved differently.

Instead of staying localized, it spread across a much broader landscape and affected large portions of several counties. He said wildlife officials often estimate that only about 10 percent of deer that die from EHD are ever found and reported.

That is partly because many deer die near water sources in late summer, when woods are hot, buggy, and less traveled by hunters. A deer can die in thick cover, along a creek, or near a swamp and never be discovered.

Rex said roughly 5,500 dead deer were reported in the three-county area. Using the 10 percent estimate, he said the real number of deaths may have been close to 55,000.

The numbers were hard for even experienced hunters to process.

“In the whole state of Ohio in 2023, there were 18 reported cases of EHD,” Rex said. “I personally found 72 last year within five miles of right here myself.”

That comparison explains why he believes the outbreak was unusually severe. One hunter finding 72 dead deer in a small area, while an entire state had reported only 18 cases the year before, suggested something far beyond a normal localized event.

Wet Weather Helped Create The Perfect Conditions

Rex said the outbreak likely began with an unusual weather pattern.

According to his account, southeast Ohio received heavy rain through May, June, and July, leaving standing water across much of the region. His own rain gauge, he said, measured around 14 inches of rain in July, far above the county’s normal average.

Then August turned dry.

The water receded, exposing muddy shorelines and wet ground that became ideal breeding habitat for biting midges, tiny insects that spread EHD between deer.

Rex said the midges were everywhere.

“When I’d mow my yard in the afternoon, you’d have to wipe the midges off,” he said. “They were just everywhere.”

The disease also appeared unusually early. Rex said the first lab-confirmed case in the county came around July 4, more than a month earlier than anything he had seen in the area before.

That early start may have given the disease more time to spread during the hottest part of summer, when midge activity was high and deer were still moving frequently around water and feeding areas.

Maxwell noted that many hunters assume EHD is mainly tied to drought, but Rex said that view is incomplete. In his explanation, the most dangerous setup is not simply dry weather. It is a wet period that creates breeding habitat, followed by dry conditions that expose muddy areas where the insects thrive.

Mature Deer Were Hit Hard

Rex said the outbreak appeared to kill a large share of the adult deer in affected areas.

He said many of the deer that survived seemed to be yearlings or that year’s fawns, possibly because young deer may have had some protection from maternal antibodies through colostrum and milk.

But he said mature deer were hit especially hard.

“The majority of the deer that survived were yearlings or that year’s fawns,” Rex said. “Almost all of our adult deer were killed or died from that disease.”

That creates an immediate problem for hunters.

Older bucks are already difficult to find in most deer herds. When a disease event removes many mature animals at once, it can take years for the age structure to rebuild.

Myers pointed out that hunters leasing land or managing a property may face a frustrating stretch ahead, because deer numbers may be low and the few remaining animals may be too young to provide the kind of hunting people had become used to.

Rex agreed, saying the next few years could be difficult while the herd recovers.

The impact has reportedly gone beyond hunting. Rex said some land values and hunting lease prices in the area have dropped because hunters are hesitant to pay for property in a region that just lost a major portion of its deer herd.

For landowners and hunters who stay committed, that could create opportunities. But it will also require patience, because deer populations do not rebuild overnight.

The Possible Silver Lining For Trophy Buck Hunters

The most surprising part of the conversation came when Rex explained why a severe EHD outbreak could eventually improve buck quality.

He pointed to Jefferson and Harrison counties in Ohio, which experienced a substantial EHD outbreak in 2017. Rex said those counties were not traditionally viewed as top-tier destinations for record-book bucks.

But six years after the outbreak, he said, they ranked first and second in Ohio for Buckeye Big Buck Club record-book entries.

That did not mean EHD somehow made deer genetically better. Rex was clear that the disease is indiscriminate and kills deer regardless of antler size or potential.

The change, he said, may come from reduced density.

When there are fewer deer on the landscape, remaining deer have access to better nutrition. They compete less for food, experience less stress, and may have more room to grow.

“Low deer densities usually equals better quality,” Rex said.

He also argued that modern trophy hunting can create an unusual imbalance in the herd. In a one-buck state, hunters often target the best-looking mature bucks while allowing smaller-antlered bucks to survive for years because they do not want to use their one tag on them.

A widespread disease event does not make those choices. It removes deer without regard to antler size, age, or hunting value.

Rex described that as nature “chlorinating the gene pool,” though he acknowledged that the more important factor may be nutrition and reduced competition rather than genetics alone.

It is an uncomfortable idea, because it asks hunters to see a benefit in a wildlife disaster. But Rex was not celebrating the die-off. He was explaining why the recovery period could eventually produce better hunting if the herd has time to rebuild.

The Biggest Risk Is Another Outbreak Too Soon

Rex said the hopeful scenario depends on one major factor: the deer herd needs several years without another severe EHD event.

If the area gets six, seven, or eight years to recover, he believes hunters could eventually see stronger age classes and more quality bucks.

But if outbreaks return every two or three years, the herd may never get the chance to rebuild.

“That’ll be demoralizing,” Rex said.

That concern is especially important because EHD is still not fully understood. Rex said there are several theories about how the disease survives from year to year, including the possibility that some deer carry antibodies or infections without becoming seriously sick, while biting midges may also survive winter conditions in ways researchers are still studying.

He said the recent outbreak was likely the result of several factors arriving at once: high deer density, heavy early-season rain, a large midge population, an early disease start, and dry weather that created ideal insect habitat.

“It was just a perfect storm,” Rex said.

What Hunters May See In The Years Ahead

Rex said many deer that survived the outbreak showed signs of having been sick.

Some had “fever lines” in their hooves, while others had cracked or curled hoof growth that hunters sometimes describe as “elf shoes.” Those signs can indicate a deer survived EHD but experienced serious illness.

He said tissue and blood testing in the area found that 54 percent of sampled deer that survived the outbreak had antibodies to EHD, suggesting they had been exposed and lived through it.

That may provide some reason for cautious optimism.

A herd that survives a major outbreak may carry more resistance than before, though Rex stressed that nobody can say for certain how future outbreaks will behave. The local deer density is also lower now, which could reduce the speed at which disease spreads if conditions become favorable again.

For hunters, the immediate reality is likely to be fewer deer sightings and fewer mature animals in the woods. But Maxwell and Myers noted that the long-term picture may be more promising for those willing to ride out the recovery period.

The outbreak was devastating, and Rex did not try to soften that. Yet the history of other Ohio counties suggests that, over time, a reduced herd can produce healthier deer and stronger bucks when food, habitat, and age structure begin to recover.

That does not erase the losses in southeast Ohio. It simply gives hunters a reason to look beyond the next season and think in terms of five or six years rather than one fall at a time.