Deer hunting season arrives with health warning

BEND, Ore. – (Update: comment from the biologist and ODFW hunter)

While the deer hunters prepare for the opening of the rifle season this weekend, a new health alert will warn you.

If you are hunting big game, such as deer, there are precautions you can take to make sure you are not exposed to dangerous bacteria. A study of federal centers for disease control and prevention, released last week, warns hunters that deer with TB can transmit the bacteria to humans.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6837a3.htm?s_cid=mm6837a3_w

The first case comes from a Michigan hunter who contracted TB in 2017 while he was dressing deer, and other cases involve hunters who inhaled bacteria when handling carcasses dead.

The CDC recommends that hunters wear protective clothing and clothing when hunting and dressing deer to avoid contracting bacteria or disease.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department states that, although tuberculosis cases are rare, there are diseases in the country that can be transmitted from wildlife to humans.

"Certainly, no matter what animal or disease you are handling, you want to examine the lymph nodes and internal organs, to make sure everything looks normal," said Corey Heath, district wildlife biologist. "Make sure there are no injuries or anything of the sort. Especially with tuberculosis, there are granular lesions, typically inside the lungs or the ribcage."

Heather these hunters should check abnormalities in the organs and any abnormal behavior before the deer is killed.

A Bend man who hunted deer for 20 years, harvesting and cutting his own meat, said that he had been twice different from not being able to harvest his catch.

"I saw two deer that I took that I have not eaten," Merle Brown said. "When you cut the meat, you can see the different colors and the grain, and if something in it seems not to be there, I will not eat it."