The EHD deer menace: Reports pouring in from Jackson County

By Ken Wyatt

Next month, Michigan motorists enter that time of year when car-deer accidents soar in Jackson County, leaving many roads littered with carcasses. But while October is still weeks away, deer are reportedly dying in significant numbers – not from vehicle crashes, or hunters – but from a plague known as Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease.

In recent days, Facebook and social media have published many reports from landowners and those who ply the rivers by canoe and kayak. Here are some of the many posts in recent days:

-“Kayaking The Grand River Southern Ingham County/Jackson County, Labor Day weekend, the Smell was BAD. Counted six deer carcasses along the banks.” – Michael Woods

-“ My daughter has a pond and lake on her property and the other night we walked around pond there [in Pulaski Township] where nine dead deer we could see. It was sad and heart breaking.” – Sandra Webster

-“They’re dead all along every stretch of Grand River in Jackson County. Especially outta Michigan Center and Vandercook Lake.” – James Nurkka

-“I got a call from some folks I know — they were kayaking down the river from the campground near Swains Lake down to Concord. They counted 70 dead deer just the day before along the riverbanks, and only three were does.” – a post from Don C. on the Michigan Deer Hunters site

So what is EHD? Here’s what the Department of Natural Resources had to say: “The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the state’s first epizootic hemorrhagic disease cases of 2026 in free-ranging white-tailed deer from Branch, Ingham, Jackson and Lenawee counties.  EHD is a viral disease that typically occurs in late summer and early fall, transmitted through the bite of an infected midge, or biting fly. Outbreaks are often driven by wet springs followed by hot, dry summers that favor the insect population, while the first frost ends transmission.”

That report, highlighting only four counties, may not sound all that serious. But some of the reports from deer hunters, environmentalists and others are sounding the alarm bell.

The same day the DNR report was issued, the Grand River Environmental Action Tean (GREAT) cancelled its annual river cleanup day. Here’s what its press release had to say:

“We discovered seven dead Whitetail Deer, in the Grand River, near or in log jams, between I-94 and Parnall Road. We have heard other reports of dead deer at the Cascades Golf Course, Browns Lake, Vandercook Lake, Lime Lake, Vandercook Lake and Williams Lake.”

Citing the rise of EHD cases and related dangers from carcasses in the river, the decision was made: “For the safety of our participants, who usually get very wet picking up the trash at a river cleanup, the GREAT Board has unanimously voted to cancel the Grand River Cleanup in 2026.”

All of these reports have an overall context. Here’s a big picture. Michigan’s 2025 deer population was estimated at more than 2 million. Jackson County is No. 3 in a 2024 top 10 list for car-deer collisions on the Michigan Insurance website. There were 1,557 crashes recorded by that agency.

According to the DNR’s top 10 list of counties with the highest 2025 firearm deer harvests, Jackson County was No. 10, with a total of 2,583, with 1,547 antlered deer and 1,036 anterless.

So there are different ways one could view the loss of deer through hunting, vehicle crashes and EHD. By one perspective, if there’s a deer overpopulation, does it really matter how the population is thinned out?

Here’s one Jackson County hunter’s view on the EHD menace. “I haven’t seen the DNR report, I haven’t seen them say that there is a huge decline all of a sudden,” said . Austin A. Smith. “I don’t see the DNR putting out there, that there is an EHD kit that you can put in water to help fight it. I found a couple on the land I hunt. And I know so many people out there who were getting hold of me to let me know that they are finding 25 to 50 dead deer at a time.

“I’m an avid outdoorsmen; I have been hunting most of my life. I truly believe this is hurting our population bad. I feel as if the DNR is just letting it happen. We put three to five deer in our freezer every year and this year I’m worried that we might not be able to.

“I believe the regulations they are setting are not helping. That causes the number of hunters to go down, plus they’re going to say that we are over-populated on deer, but they have turned our state into a one-buck state. It don’t add up.

“We as a community need to come together and fight back.”