This is most likely a rumor.
This story or this rumor actually broke back in November.. not that November was that long ago but its been around for about a week. ND Game and Fish also said it was a rumor and they were not aware of it. Actually did some digging and although I could not find my original source I did find this article:
Story of 75 dead deer in a cornfield can't be confirmed:
While 75 deer seemed a bit of a stretch, the potential for Death by Corn certainly is plausible. Deer are “ruminants,” animals with four-chamber stomachs that chew their cuds, and too much corn can be fatal. And as any deer hunter will attest, there’s no shortage of corn on the landscape again this fall.
By: Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald
Mike Jacobs, Herald editor-publisher and resident bird expert, stopped by my desk the other morning with word of a rumor that warranted checking.
Of course, any time the publisher stops by your desk with word of a rumor, it warrants checking.
The rumor Jacobs relayed involved a story he’d heard from someone that morning at a meeting. According to Jacobs, a farmer near Fordville, N.D., supposedly had found 75 dead deer in a cornfield he was harvesting.
These deer, the story went, had died after eating too much corn, some of which was moldy.
While 75 deer seemed a bit of a stretch, the potential for Death by Corn certainly is plausible. Deer are “ruminants,” animals with four-chamber stomachs that chew their cuds, and too much corn can be fatal.
And as any deer hunter will attest, there’s no shortage of corn on the landscape again this fall.
I checked with Gary Rankin, the local game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, and Marty Egeland, the agency’s outreach biologist for the northeastern part of the state.
Both said they’ve heard rumors, but nothing as extensive as 75 deer.
“Nobody’s called me,” Rankin said. “We’ve heard rumors, too, but I couldn’t tell you a location or a name of a farmer, and I haven’t seen any dead deer.”
Chances are, if a farmer found 75 dead deer in a field, Rankin would be among the first to know.
“During deer season, I had calls about suspicious animals, and we get quite a few calls about potential wildlife problems,” Rankin said. “I think something like this would be pretty dramatic.
“It’s not required that somebody calls, but I would sure hope they would.”
I also called the Fordville Co-op Marketing Association, where the woman who answered the phone laughed when I asked her about the rumor.
“We’ve heard the same stories, but we’ve heard by Langdon or Devils Lake or McVille,” she said.
These deer might be dead, but they sure do get around.
Egeland said he heard reports earlier this fall of people finding dead deer in cornfields, but the quantities were more like a dozen.
And like the latest rumor, most of the reports were third-hand, if not even further removed.
“Deer can succumb to grain overload in cornfields, and moldy corn can be toxic,” Egeland said. “It is possible, but I have seen no proof that this has happened this year.”
Rankin said he picked up a deer last winter in Walsh County that died from corn overload, adding Game and Fish personnel in other parts of the state also had confirmed deer that died after eating too much grain.
But he doesn’t know of any verified problems this fall.
How the latest story got started is anyone’s guess. Chances are, grain overload killed a few deer.
Before long, it was 75 deer.
That’s the way it is with rumors.
And unless someone can furnish a photo of 75 deer lying dead in a cornfield or provide proof to professionals such as Rankin and Egeland, the story will be relegated to rumor status.
Until I hear otherwise, that’s my story.
Dokken reports on outdoors. Reach him at (701) 780-1148; (800) 477-6572, ext. 148; or send e-mail to bdokken@gfherald.com.
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Topic: dead deer (Read 1551 times)
