Does this axis buck have EHD or Bluetongue?

[HogCommander]

I've had this axis buck on camera for a couple of months now. Trail cam photos seemed to show him always with his mouth open but I got some last night that clearly show his tongue clearly hanging out. His tongue has been hanging out in all the photos I have since 26 Dec (maybe longer...I deleted my older ones). Also have several photos of him looking straight up in the sky (not near a licking branch) which seem strange to me. There's water close by on my neighbors lot but not on mine.

I had planned to see if he makes it a few more months for the antlers to finishing growing but now I'm not sure.

Do you think this deer has EHD or Bluetongue? What would you do...let him mature or harvest him now? I'm under the impression that venison from infected deer is safe to eat but appreciate inputs from others with more experience. Thanks in advance for any wisdom

[TildenHunter]

don't know but I would put him out of his misery asap and toss the meat.

[forced-2-work]

is part of his lower jaw missing? It almost looks like in the 2nd pic that he has like 1/2 a bottom jaw. My opinion I think his lower jaw should be longer than it appears but IDK?

[Patton]

^Agreed on both accounts^

[dustinztx]

is part of his lower jaw missing? It almost looks like in the 2nd pic that he has like 1/2 a bottom jaw. My opinion I think his lower jaw should be longer than it appears but IDK?

I agree looks like part of his lower jaw is missing.

[lovemylegacy]

I got nothing, no pic

[Sika]

Broken jaw
If he had ehd you wouldn’t have a trail cam pic of him. He’d be dead in 12 hours.

[HogCommander]

I appreciate the counsel...I'll be waiting on him tonight in the hope he comes in. If it's just a broken jaw I may try the venison but if there's any sign of disease the buzzards can have the meat.

[Hills of Texas]

Lower jaw injury. He’s starving.

[lanceodom]

Its a mouth/jaw issue. we had a doe like that for most of the summer. Her tongue just flopped. She finally got over whatever it was and is fine now.

[HogCommander]

Update...No LDPs but I shot this buck tonight. Front half of his lower jaw was gone and the skin under the chin had pulled back. He was also pretty bloated so we didnt keep the meat. Not sure how much longer this one would have made it but hes out of his misery now.

[Wayspr]

Glad to hear you got him, hate to see an animal suffer

[Hogmauler]

Good job HC. Several years ago I shot a yearling. I didn’t do it the first time she came by but I did the second. She had a mangled rear leg and didn’t want her to suffer. When I got to her you could smell the injury. My buddy took the meat despite the smell. I contacted a biologist with TP&W that told me he wouldn’t have eaten it either. Said infections can be systemic.

[THChunter]

We put down a big axis that was growing in velvet, had his bottom jaw all mangled, thought coyotes at first but i think since axis would rather go thru a fence than over, they must catch and rip em on the fence strand

[STGS]

Broken jaw
If he had ehd you wouldn’t have a trail cam pic of him. He’d be dead in 12 hours.

X2