PA Hunter contracts rabies by field dressing

[bobow]

http://tinyurl.com/6nvm7b8

HUNTER EXPOSED TO RABIES BY FIELD DRESSING DEER

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission officials today announced that a Lancaster County hunter has undergone post-exposure rabies shots after harvesting and field dressing a deer on Jan. 20, in Valley Township, Chester County, that ultimately tested positive for rabies.

[Ohio farms]

That's disturbing. I had not heard of deer carrying rabies before.

[alyssaly]

Nor do I!

[Rutnut]

I didn't know they were carriers either. That is bad news.

[Deebz]

I don't think deer would be considered "carriers"... If I remember correctly from my freshmen bio class in college a carrier is an organism that has the virus/disease or whatever in its system but is not affected by it. HIV in the chimps and monkeys is an example. This is why bats are commonly involved in rabies infections... they can carry the virus but are not really affected by it.

Any mammal can contract rabies, and can also pass it on once they are infected. This particular deer was definitely a threat of infection, but I don't think we need to worry about deer randomly having the rabies virus... It should be obvious if ANY mammal is infected (other than in the very early stages) by their erratic behavior, slobbering/foaming at the mouth and that kind of thing.

[Woods Walker]

I've gotta die from something. It may as well be deer hunting.

[Deebz]

Along those same lines... did you hear about the guy in Indiana who walked up on the buck he'd shot only to have it jump up and charge him... piercing his heart with its antler? That's pretty much all I heard about the story, but that would be insane...

[Ohio farms]

I do remember reading that. I was in Indiana. A guy shot a deer, but as he approached it it was not dead, so he finished it with his knife. He called his son and told him the story, then called the park ranger for help bring the deer to the check station. When the ranger arrived he found him dead. Autopsy determined the cause of deathe as laceration to the liver.
I remember a good while back on the forum we discussed how to finish off a wounded deer when you find it. There were more than a few who used a knife to finish a wounded deer off. Personally, I thought that it was a bad idea, not only due to the danger, but it seemed like an unneccesarily traumatic way to end it considering that you have a weapon in your hands. It seems that that there is little debate about the danger aspect to it.

[Woods Walker]

EVERY deer that I shoot I approach from the non-feet side. I look first at the eye. If it's open, I take a stem or twig and gently touch the open eye. If there's ANY movement I shoot it again. If the eye's shut I most definately shoot again, and QUICKLY. There's been more than one "dead" deer that got up and ran off!

[Deebz]

The buck I killed with my shotgun this year did just that... I stalked up and shot him once as he jumped up out of his bed... I saw go into the tall grass by the creek, but he never came out the other side. My buddy who had a high vantage point said he hadn't seen him pop out of the creek bottom anywhere, so I started tracking... No blood, but I could easily follow his footprints in the wet sand on the creek edge.. I literally walked up on him... he was about 10 feet away before I actually saw him. I was trying to decide whether or not to shoot when I saw his ear twitch... I moved ahead a little more to avoid blowing up a shoulder and he exploded out of his bed... I quickly shouldered the gun and shot like I was hunting pheasants.. he dropped right there and died very quickly... I'm glad I was off to the side of him when he took off or I quite likely could have been trampled...