FORT KNOX, Ky. — An historic amount of springtime and early summertime rain followed by recent sustained drought conditions have led to a sharp rise in the death of whitetail deer across the state of Kentucky.
With the current toll over 1,000, officials from Fort Knox Hunt Control are calling on anyone who comes across a dead deer to report it. David Jones, Fort Knox Forest Program manager, said biting midges are behind the deaths.
“The outbreak is a result of hemorrhagic disease, which is a virus that is caused by a small insect called a midge, or no-see-um,” said Jones. “Based on the reports we're getting and the weather conditions, there is an extremely high likelihood that that is what is going on.”
Jones explained that the best breeding conditions for biting midges is a wet spring and summer followed by drought conditions. This year’s spring and summer weather conditions have increased the number of insects over previous years, which has increased the number of infections.
Though recent years have had more prolonged drought periods, according to Jones, the disease itself is common to whitetail deer in the area.
“In the mid-South, scientists have documented this for over 60 years, and it’s very normal to have an outbreak amongst whitetail deer,” said Jones. “But it's highly variable based on the type of weather that we have.”
Jones said this year’s drought period has been more severe because of a lack of thunderstorms and hurricanes, which has given rise to greater numbers of biting midges.
“We’ve already had several dozen reports, which is unusual from past years,” said Jones. “And the reports are coming in from hunters and passersby. We’ve even had reports from contractors who do mowing along the roadsides and fire lanes, that they have smelled several dead deer nearby – and also from range personnel.”
The sharp increase has caught the attention of Kentucky state officials. In 2024, there were seven reports of hemorrhagic disease. By Aug. 28, officials had received over 200. One official from Kentucky Fish & Wildlife noted that the most recent “bad year” happened in 2017, where they received over 3,000 reports.
Jones said that number can sound like a lot, but considering there are thousands of deer roaming across the installation’s 109,000 acres and their populations rebound quickly, the rise in deaths are not cause for alarm.
According to a Sept. 15, 2025 Tennessee government white paper titled “Hemorrhagic Disease in White-Tailed Deer Confirmed in Eight Counties,” the disease affects deer in various ways.
“The disease can cause fatigue, respiratory distress, swollen tongue, sores in the mouth, fever, and sloughing of hooves that may cause lameness in deer,” from the article. “The deer may become thin, the tongue may hang from the mouth, accompanied by drooling, a lack of fear, and the whites of the eye may appear red. Usually, sick, dying, or dead deer are found in or near water as they try to relieve fever symptoms.”
Officials say not all deer will look sick, however, and deer that die from it do so within a couple of days. Akin to viruses, not all deer contract hemorrhagic disease, and of those that do not all die from it, said Jones: “Some deer have antibodies; some don’t.”
Jones said his office has been getting some confusion about what should happen if they come in contact with an infected deer: “It's not transmissible to humans.”
Others express concern about eating meat affected by the disease.
“With cooking meat in general, you obviously want to cook it to where any type of bacteria or any other concerns would get heated out of that meat,” said Jones. “Just use common sense and good judgment.”
A big concern comes from people’s misunderstanding of the disease. Jones said many folks mistake it for chronic wasting disease.
“They are not the same thing,” said Jones. “Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disease caused by abnormal proteins in the brain.”
Jones said the most effective way to end the threat of hemorrhagic disease each year is the same way it began – weather.
“A hard freeze will kill the midges, effectively ending HD outbreaks,” said Jones. “We normally get a hard freeze at Fort Knox during mid to late October.”
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