Page 33 - 2018 MAY/JUNE Outdoor Oklahoma

The amount of fat around the heart and general body fat are
also factors that can offer insight about the animal’s condition.
Also, the deer’s lower jaw is examined; predictable tooth wear DON p. BrOWN/ODWC
and eruption patterns are used to age the animal. The brain is
removed and its lining examined for the presence of meningeal
worms. And lymph nodes are removed and sent to a lab in
Colorado to test for the presence of chronic wasting disease.
At present, no instance of chronic wasting disease has been
found among any free-ranging deer or elk in Oklahoma.
The udders on the adult females are evaluated to determine
if the doe had fed any fawns the previous season. This helps
provide a recruitment rate to determine how many fawns survived
into the hunting season.
Finally, if the doe has been bred, a fetal analysis is conducted
where each offspring is aged and the gender determined.
Backdating the age of the fetus determines conception date and
is a key to mapping breeding data. Biologists are using this data
specific to Oklahoma regions to better understand rut timing and
the effect of population density and sex ratio on breeding dates.
Barber said the HHE studies will continue to yield great data
that will be used to monitor and fine-tune deer management in Deer herd research involves inspecting the animal’s brain for the presence
of meningeal worms.
Oklahoma, which will ultimately benefit deer hunters and the
state’s deer herd. “The longer we continue the HHE, the better
refined the data will become. Even in the first few years, we have DON p. BrOWN/ODWC
obtained valuable information. This is a very worthwhile project!”
But there is one other valuable benefit that people receive from
these HHE studies. Once all of the scientific data is collected, the
survey crew turns their attention to processing the animals for
donation, often working through the night to ensure that nothing
goes to waste. All of the meat harvested during the study session
is used, either given back to the landowners or donated to needy
families or food banks. And in this way, the Wildlife Department’s
Herd Health Evaluation studies not only support the science of
deer management, but also put high-quality food on the table for
many Oklahomans each year.
(Program Supervisor Jerry Shaw contributed to this article.)
DON p. BrOWN/ODWC

A vial of blood is place in a centrifuge so that plasma can be collected The lymph nodes from a doe are packaged for shipment to a lab in Colora-
for testing. do, where they will be tested for chronic wasting disease.

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