Dead deer in a pond

[BSmaster]

I found a dead deer in a small 1/4 acre pond with no apparent trauma.  I am gauging the deer (doe) to be 1.5 or 2.5 yrs old.  Any idea why or how?

[Lunchbox]

Drowning? Close to a road? Maybe hit by car and ran Into pond and died.

[Xxx]

Maybe the crud that cows and deer get, or Lyme disease?

[Traveling Circus]

Blue tongue....???

[Nautitroller]

Gut shot deer become very thirsty and often die in a pond. Close exam may show arrow hole.

[devoknevo]

Maybe he drank the polluted water and croaked.

[momay4000]

I found a dead deer in a small 1/4 acre pond with no apparent trauma.  I am gauging the deer (doe) to be 1.5 or 2.5 yrs old.  Any idea why or how?

How sloped is the bank? Maybe she just drowned b/c she couldn't get out? I do like Nauti's idea above though.

 

Keep us posted - there's about 200 different things it could be.

[ripnlip]

We had a "gnat" (just for 1 year, in 1 or 2 counties)that hung around water holes & was biting the deer transmitting a disease called Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease(EHD) that would make them thirsty, seek water & die, either in the streams or ponds. It was terrible. Anytime you were around water you would find a dead deer. The woods smelled like death. But it only lasted 1 year. Being that it only lasted 1 year made it seem odd. But that was the official story the Pa. Game Commission was sticking too. But the deer population took a noticeable hit.

[BSmaster]

Banks of the pond are steep.  It is the only watering hole except for streams in the area.  Again, no noticeable trauma to the deer what so ever.  I took my anchor up to pull it to the side so we could get it out and it was too waterlogged for me to pull it out.  I only grabbed her front leg and the smell on my hand was terrible that was left behind.  I used clorox wipes and hand sanitizer to try to get it off.  She didn't look like she had been there that long.  Maybe it was a mild car to deer collision (Road ~40ft away), maybe disease...  I never saw a deer (or hoof prints) in the pond before - usually they go up to the side and drink with no real contact with the water.  Water in that pond isn't polluted.  No waste source to flow into it.  Blue tongue - never knew about it before today.  A gnat carrying a disease.  That sounds plausible too.  I smelled death in the woods this summer but couldn't locate what or where it was and with all the browse in full vegetation it is hard to locate anything.

 

The smell is enough to warrant me not going near it again.  The landowner was contemplating calling the DEC to take care of it but I told her they probably wouldn't.  I told her to have her grandson wear  dish gloves and drag it over the bank where the yotes can find it. 

 

Definitely a mystery...