Worming deer

[Deer Slayer]

My deer are covered with ticks around their eyes and ears and look miserable. Last weekend during a hunter education class that I was teaching, one of my does came to the feeder with blood all over one side of her face. She had,apparently, been picking at the ticks with her hoof. I needed to do something about it. I consulted with my veterinarian buddy from Comanche,Okla about using Ivamec for the ticks. This is used on cattle for flies, ticks etc. The medicine is also used to treat colon cancer in humans. The label said to use 1 ml/22 pounds of animal. I calculated that I needed 36 ml for approx 800 pounds of deer. 36 mls equals a little over 1 ounce. I am spraying some of this on their daily ration in their feed trough and stirring it in.My doe that has the worst problem ate some and said "screw this" and left yesterday afternoon. This morning the ration was gone. Hmmmm, ok, I can improve on this as I need to up the dosage to be certain they are getting wormed. I remembered an old trick that has worked before....maple syrup. I added more feed to the trough this morning, sprayed the feed with a spray bottle and drizzled " Log Cabin" syrup on everything and stirred with a stick. I whistled for them and went into the house. 5 minutes later my 3 does were at the trough eating the VitlMax feed by Big Bucks Plus. Aaaah success. Tonight I will up my dosage of Ivamec and ration to dilute the bitter taste of the medication and add more syrup to be certain that they will eat the medicated feed. Stay tuned. IF a person had a similar setup with their deer this might work. These are free ranging deer. I am not advocating anyone do this, nor am I dispensing recommended feed rates. The enclosed instruction sheet in the box provided me with the application rate and I am working with a vet. There is a window of time that the medicine can be used and be out of the animals body before hunting season.

 

[Honey Badger]

Back in the day when we had a sick calf we would mix sweet feed with a beer. It's supposed to help grain be more palatable to the ruminant digestive tract.

However, in this instance I think I would a sweetener..... like molasses to mask the Ivomec taste and smell. Try mixing just enough to make it stick together but not heavy or clumpy.

Good luck.

If this works..... I'll be glad to shoot one of your does for you!! I need some freezer meat. Lol

 

[Honey Badger]

Ivomec has a 30 day risudual period when used on swine. I assume it's the same in cattle and deer.

 

[Deer Slayer]

I put a gallon of feed in the trough 15 minutes ago, sprayed 1 oz of Ivomec over it and added approx 8 ounces of maple syrup over the feed and stirred to coat the pellets. I whistled and banged the empty bucket on the cedar tree when I walked off. 6 deer walked in under 5 minutes. They know what the whistle means. My clover, chickory and plantain have gone dormant so the only browse is low protein and stemmy. This is one of the two stressful periods in the deer's annual cycle. They are depending on me now until rains renew the clover. I will increase the feed tomorrow and add 1.5 ozs of Ivamec plus the syrup and see if they will still take the feed. Tomorrow will be the second day on the treatment. I will suspend treatment after day 3 and monitor the ticks on their face and ears.

 

[Honey Badger]

Good luck man. Hope it helps.

 

[Deer Slayer]

I will know in probably 4-5 days if I see that the ticks have started disappearing from around their eyes and ears. I may do a second treatment in 15 days which should reduce a good bit of stress off them and be good until hunting season.

 

[retrieverman]

I've used Ivomec (pour on and injectable) for years on cattle and dogs, but I've never thought of treating deer. Keep us posted on any results.

Have you thought about Safeguard blocks? I've gotten lazy and am rotating them into my cattle worming program, and my cows really seem to like them.

 

[Deer Slayer]

I am not familiar with Safeguard blocks. What are they?

 

[DEER 24/7]

I have often thought a person could help a deer heard if we could figure out a way to keep ticks off. I believe it affects antler size but idk.

 

[retrieverman]

I am not familiar with Safeguard blocks. What are they?

It's a mineral/molasses type block with Safeguard wormer. I like to use them this time of the year on my cows, so I don't have to gather them up and stress them in the heat to get them wormed.