Blue tongue?

Hubby just told me that there's a problem in the local deer population, a disease called blue tongue. And, he doesn't want any deer meat this year because of it. I'd never heard of it B4, so I looked it up. I couldn't really find anything about eating the meat from an infected deer. Does anyone know anything about this disease and whether or not the meat is safe to eat? Or, should we just forget about venison this year?

It is easily avoided, do not take meat from animals that are sick. A good coat, combined with normal deer behavior are indicators of a healthy animal. Cronic wasting disease, blue tongue, and hoof-n-mouth disease are always present in the deer populations. Look for well muscled, fit and alert animals when hunting.

For the non-hunters and those who raise sheep:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetongue_disease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-and-mouth_disease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease


As to hunting and harvesting meat, if you take an animal look carefully for signs of any disease or mal-formations or lesions. You must tag and check in any deer you harvest. Even if you cannot use the meat due to the animal being sick or diseased, you have improved the health of the population.