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jaymzth007

Worms in Mule Deer skull

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So while processing the deer I just shot this past weekend, my buddy was working on getting the skull skinned and removed from the spine. while doing this, he noticed about 8-10 large maggot like worms living in the wind pipe of the deer, still squiggling around. Some of these worms were about an inch in length and about 3/8" in diameter. A group of worms were almost entirely blocking the trachea of this deer. He was moving around just fine before I shot him, it didn't seem to bother him too much. Have any of you guys seen anything like this? Do you think the meat is ok to eat? We are also concerned that this may be happening to other deer in the area as well. I will attach some pics below.

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it is actually quite common. i imagine it would be a huge nuisance to the deer though. i have seen it a lot of times. i may be wrong, but think it is actually bot fly larva

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I have seen them in nasal cavities before. I think both fly larva? They probably started migrating down into the trachea heading towards the remaining body heat?

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Guest 300ultramag.

I ate a deer that had these the meat was fine Should by gtg. Just add pepper!

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Guest 300ultramag.

I think if you shoot a deer in the higher elevations the deer are less likey to have them. Sucks to see but like I said I ate mine up along with the fam. We're all kickin still and twice as good looking as lark and Casey.

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Sounds like Bot Fly Larva. I've seen them in rabbits, usually under the skin in the neck area....never noticed them on deer.

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My December deer also had these. Everything should be fine.

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So it sounds like it is a fairly common thing. I was just worried about eating the meat and if it was going to be some kind of bad thing like CWD is. I know I'd be pretty bummed if I had big worms living in my throat and nasal cavity!

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My girlfriends grandfather and his buddy killed 2 bucks in oct. when i took them up to the same unit. I have killed like over 10 bucks from this unit and never seen them before. So I freak out when i cut into the head.. Does it bug the deer? When we 1st spotted him bedded down he was chewing with his eyes closed almost like he can feel them crawling around.

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Does it bug the deer? When we 1st spotted him bedded down he was chewing with his eyes closed almost like he can feel them crawling around.

 

I'm sure it bugs them on some level but it sounds like this buck was just chewing on cud and snoozing a bit as deer do normally.

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If You find em coming out of Your nose then You got trouble..............BOB!

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