In the 1980s, there was a popular movie about what would happen if the Soviet Union invaded the United States. Full of action, combat, explosions and fights, the movie was widely popular, and my friends and I were no exception.
But of all the dramatic, intense scenes depicting a group of high school students, the “Wolverines,” fighting against the Soviets, there is one clip from the film that stuck with me.
While I wasn’t quite old enough to hunt when “Red Dawn” came out, I was getting close.
And I couldn’t wait.
During those years leading up to my 12th birthday, I read Deer and Deer Hunting magazine religiously, taped Leonard Lee Rue III’s deer pictures to my wall and, later, quit playing youth football so my weekends would be free to hunt (priorities).
Anyhow, when “Red Dawn” came out, there was a scene in which several of the main characters shot a buck while they were hiding out in the mountains. The character that shot the deer, at the behest of his friends, had to drink a cup of the animal’s blood as a show of respect for the spirit of the creature.
“When you drink it, you’ll be a real hunter,” one of the characters said.
Even as an impressionable kid – one who couldn’t wait to become a hunter – I remember thinking the whole “drink the blood, show respect” scene was a bit silly.
Turns out, in today’s deer woods, such a macho act could be downright deadly as well.
It’s unsettling to think about the increase of diseases either threatening or afflicting the deer population in Pennsylvania.
We’ve heard plenty about chronic wasting disease since it was first detected in the state in 2012. There’s also been several instances of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in parts of Pennsylvania, resulting in outbreaks with alarming localized mortality in deer.
But it doesn’t end there.
Recently, the Pennsylvania Game Commission issued a news release warning hunters about Eastern equine encephalitis – a rare mosquito-transmitted virus that turned up in the state this year. The virus has been found in two wild turkeys in Erie County, a wild deer in Luzerne County, captive pheasants in Monroe County and horses in Carbon County.
Will there be more?
There is also renewed concern about bovine tuberculosis in deer – a bacterial disease that has been blamed for the 2017 death of a hunter in Michigan. While bovine TB hasn’t been diagnosed in Pennsylvania’s wild deer, it’s serious enough that the PGC included information about the disease on its website.
It’s obvious that the threat – whether it’s CWD, EHD, EEE or any other acronym – is real.
Going back to the 1980s, when I took my hunter-trapper education course, I keenly remember one of the instructors stressing the mental steps we should take before squeezing the trigger.
Positively identify your target.
Make sure it’s legal.
Be certain there is a safe backstop behind the target.
Those are important steps that we should all employ during every hunt. But with the increasing prevalence of disease issues in wildlife, I think another step needs to be added to the list.
“Does this animal appear healthy?”
It’s a legitimate question today.
I don’t want to sound like an alarmist, and it’s important to mention that chronic wasting disease, hemorrhagic disease and equine encephalitis are still rare occurrences in the deer herd as a whole.
But we can’t deny that these diseases are present and no one knows, with certainty, if or where they’ll surface next.
And that’s what I find disconcerting.
Just like it’s important to always go through those mental steps before clicking off the safety and firing a shot, perhaps it’s just as imperative to heed the precautions reiterated by the PGC when it comes to handling game.
Wearing rubber gloves is a universal recommendation, regardless of the disease. That’s not a hard one to follow, considering one of the common pathways of disease transmission is an open wound – something as simple as a small cut on the hands.
Some agencies even recommend wearing a mask while field dressing deer. The infectious particles of equine encephalitis, for example, can become aerosolized (airborne) and are a danger when inhaled.
Sanitizing knives and any tools used to dress or process game, with bleach, is another easy step.
Ultimately, when it comes to minimizing risk, keep the blood of your hands and your equipment clean.
Going back to “Red Dawn,” after the successful hunter drank a cup of the buck’s blood, he was congratulated and told “His blood is yours. Once you do that, there’s going to be something different about you.”
Today, that might not be a good thing.
- This column originally appeared in Pennsylvania Outdoor News
