The deer were here looking the way I feel--home in bed with a horrible cold--

[mnhtnbb]

on this overcast afternoon.

They look kind of scruffy, but they do look after each other.

[HassleCat]

1. Our deer are fat and sleek, well fed, nearly tame.

They like to watch me work in the yard. For some reason, they like the wheelbarrow. We have five or six in our yard almost every day. The record is thirteen.

[mnhtnbb]

3. I was just about to take a nap and heard them coming through the ivy/dead leaves.

We have a group of about six that come around almost every day. When out walking early in the morning in the last year or so, I've seen as many
as 12 together.

They have all looked much better than they do now. And yes, they are really tame. They don't spook when I'm out walking with my dog. I guess they understand the concept of the leash!

[alfredo]

14. I bet they like the salt from your hands in the wheelbarrow handles

[hermetic]

2. So sweet

Say, I read yesterday that Vitamin D helps fight off colds, flu. Might be worth a try. Hope you feel better soon.

[mnhtnbb]

4. Thanks for the reminder. I just went and took my D3.

[mnhtnbb]

5. Must be nap time now for them, too.

Took one last look out the window and could see two of them at rest. They are really well camouflaged this time of year.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. The deer in our neck of the woods are looking pretty good.

We've had an unusually mild winter with no snow to speak of so they haven’t really been stressed by weather.

[elleng]

7. Happy they look after eachother!

Didn't see any on my way in, but did see geese.

Take care of YOU!

[Laffy Kat]

8. Could be chronic wasting disease.

Not sure what part of the country this is but I would not eat that meat. (I actually wouldn't eat any game, although that's beside the point.) CWD is a prion = mad cow, human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Would. Not. Risk. It.

[mnhtnbb]

9. I got to thinking about your post. We're in city limits and not allowed to hunt deer

but I have taken a lot of deer photos over the last few years and never seen any that had such scruffy looking coats.

So, I looked up our NC Wildlife Commission on-line and read about CWD (not identified here in NC) and hemorrhagic disease
which is caused from infected insects biting the deer. Those deer coats look like they've been biting at something which may have
been biting them.

I sent along several of the photos in an e-mail to the Wildlife Commission to ask whether the wild life biologists would consider
these coats indicative of some possible underlying disease process that would be of concern.

That's about all I can do.

[Laffy Kat]

10. Prion diseases are a special interest of mine.

To my knowledge it has not reached NC. It has impacted both deer and elk in CO. Supposedly, they are safe to eat as long as you don't eat any neural tissue, but that's what they used to say about mad cow and turned out to be wrong.

I feel sorry for the deer you photographed. They do look sick with something.

[mnhtnbb]

12. I had an answer from the wild life biologist!

Good news, there is nothing wrong with the deer in your neighborhood, they are simply shedding their winter coats. Each year deer put on additional fur to protect them from colder winter weather, and as spring arrives they will blow that coat in favor of a sleeker summer coat. During that shedding process they can look messy and unkempt, but this will fade once they rid themselves of the extra fur. We are always happy to look at pictures, so please feel free to send any along if you notice anything else unusual in these (or other) animals.

[Mira]

11. These shots are great

the second one so sweet.
(they are looking for the food you throw them, right?)


I hope you are on the mend!

[alfredo]

13. Winter coats aren't that stylish in the animal world except

For the Snowshoe rabbit, and the coat of many colors of the Starling.