I just found out about this forum and I love it. I have been a Taxidermist for a long time and last year when I was skinning out my deer heads I noticed these critters crawling out the nose and looking at me. I found out they were Bot. About 50% of the deer had them. Some of those things were large as a 44 mag shell. I live in Texas and just curious if you have them up north? I never ran into these critters before. I got to checking with the Vet. and he said sheep have them also. It has to miserable for the animal. Have a great day!
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Yep we have em here in Arkansas.
Never mind the sheep , what about the ones that are in people . Dennis , for your info , there are different species of bot flies for different mammals . Some species of bot fly are only found on one animal like the rabbit bot fly , sheep bot fly , deer bot fly etc . I'm not sure which one attacks people . Rick
Probably 50% of the deer I mount here in KY have them. It's hard to believe the biologists who say they have no ill effects on the deer! I have seen deer sinuses and throats full of them. I hate having them and ticks crawl around on the table while I'm caping so I usually freeze the head/skin then thaw and cape it out. I have found that it's better not to show them to customers unless they ask. Most folks will be totally against eating meat from deer who have them. I also see a lot of skin damage when the maggot works it's way out of the deer. Most of the damage is behind the ears or neck region. It usually shows up as a hole about the size of a pencil eraser but may also be a sort of tunnel where the hair comes off.
Thanks for the response. I know more about Bot now. Last deer season a tick got me and I wound up with Rock Mountain Spotted fever. The tick was a lone star tick. I have been bitten by a rattler and rabied skunk and the Rocky Mountain Spotted fever was darn near worse than the other two put together. I think the snake was pretty much a dry bite. I found out the fever comes back about every 4 to 5 months. I guess a guy will never get it out of his system?
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