https://widnr.widen.net/s/dnqzs7qttg/ehdwashington

Lots of dead deer showing up in primarily Washington County (West Bend area).
DNR story as of the 16th of Sept Washington County has had over 1100 dead deer.
This area of SE has ALOT of deer.
the annual harvest from hunting in that county alone is over 4000.
So 1100 isn't many in the grand scheme of things.
I'll get excited if it hits over 10,000 but 1100 ain't much compared to the total population.

That area is just south of me by about 30 miles.
No dead deer showing up in my area

just for context the state harvested about 380,000 deer last year, that one of 72 counties had over 10% of the harvest.

Haven't seen any by me either, not that I'm all that far from you.

That’s a bummer. But remember. 1100 is just what they’ve found or been reported.

We just got a bunch of rain so I’m hoping that can carry us to the first frost. We’re still not recovered from back to back years of it in 20 and 21.

EHD is brutal and doesn’t get near the attention it should compared to their precious CWD.

Found around Richfield WI too.

if you let the herd get out of control , mother nature will bring it back in

Washington county has long been a metro sub unit they give out extra tags and have extended seasons they can not kill enough.

Good thing is the cooler temps will put the brakes on EHD....the midges will go away.

Hope it is a short term deal for you. It has completely changed the population around here. 2009 to 2012 in my part of Iowa we harvested between 635 to 840 deer in this county. EHD in 12,19, and back to back in 23 and 24, has reduced the harvest to the low 200's in my county. This year most of western Iowa is regulated down to bucks only. Having seen it first hand, guessing 1100 is just the tip of the iceberg. Once more people get out and about I would wager the count will go up. Interesting fact when it hit here the deads were easy to count, nothing would eat them they just kind of melted into the ground. G.

“the annual harvest from hunting in that county alone is over 4000.”

4000 is 10% of 380,000? Is that trapperman math?

He's only 34,000 off.

Maybe he meant 1%.....

Yep, my bad, gotta hang my head low and apologize for the mistake.

West Bend one of the largest if not the largest city in the county has sharpshooters in the town to shoot deer there are so many.
I grew up in that town and NEVER saw a deer, I moved out in the late 80's.

Saw a bunch of turkey vultures hanging out in a tree north of the house along the creek. Took a little walk and found this doe. No visible wounds at all. Eyes gone, mouth open. She was swelled up and smelly, but not too ripe yet. I did bump 2 more deer very close to her. We'd been seeing a doe with two fawns pretty regular in that area.

Sorry to hear this. It is very sad when this happens and I wish your area the best.

Why is it that city folk feel so much better when they call people shooting deer "sharpshooters" rather than hunters?

No way to say but that deer doesn't look like EHD victim. It hit our lease HARD 3 years ago. On 220 acres I found 18 dead deer in August thru first of Oct. Couple still alive staggering it the river. Most were skinny. Bones sticking out ribs showing. Is there a road close to that deer . Might be car injury. Or did you turn it over . Might not been exit wound.

Exactly

I live in Fond du lac and have not heard of any yet. Hopefully it stays south

I've found several dead deer over the years on my place.
Hard to say what kills them with out doing some work.

The usual suspects are hit on road and wandered a little ways and dies or wound from hunter and eventually dies.
Those two causes probably the most deer death in the area typically, hunters and cars.


update as of 9/25/26, 9 days later.
Now the total for washington county is over 1200, 100 more in a little over a week.
We got several weeks before a hard frost typically in this area.
So maybe a couple of hundred more?

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/disease/Epizootichemorrhagicdisease

more info, DNR says "we are getting hundreds of calls every day" doesn't mean that they are all about a dead deer. Lots of concern I'll bet about deer hunting in the county.

Another interesting quote from DNR "Washington County’s deer population had grown substantially in recent years, increasing about 42% from 2021 through 2025"

more “You could have a core area where the population is plummeting 90%,”.

I suspect in the end the deer population will be right back to where it was in a just a couple of years barring another bout of EHD.

Unlike CWD, some deer will recover and develop immunities to EHD....but like you say, brutal for sure....

My area of Kent County, MI was has been hit twice over the past twelve years. Massive die offs. It took three or four year for the deer populations to rebound. I hunt a 225 acre farm. This last round there were 27 dead deer found. A couple of monster bucks included. The section south of there they found another 35 or 40 dead. Egypt Valley Country Club supposedly has 30 to 40 dead deer on their grounds. All along the Grand River from Ada, MI north a few miles there were allegedly hundreds of dead deer on the banks or floating in the river. The stench was horrendous driving down the roads bordering on either side of the river.