Tag: deer warts

White-tailed Deer Warts

A deer hunter never expects to see giant warts or tumor-like growths on a white-tailed deer, but they do occur. Over the years I’ve seen many of photos of both live and harvested deer with “tumors,” although I’ve never seen one while in the field. The technical term for these growths is cutaneous fibroma and it’s caused by a virus. From a deer management perspective, there is not much you can do to keep wild deer from getting fibroma.

White-tailed Doe with Fibromasts

What are External Deer Tumors?

First, they are not tumors at all — they’re warts. Cutaneous fibromas are caused by a naturally occurring virus of the deer’s skin. The virus that causes these unsightly warts in deer is believed to be transmitted through biting insects and/or direct contact with damaged skin. Once the virus enters the skin, warts begin to form.

As the warts increase in size, the skin surrounding them is typically hairless and grayish in color. The number of warts on an infected animal can vary from one to several hundred, they can sometimes clump, and can in some cases end up covering much of the deer’s body.

Do Warts Bother Deer?

For the most part, these warts will not cause a white-tailed deer any major problems. However, sometimes the growth of the wart can indirectly cause problems by restricting the consumption of food or the deer’s breathing depending on where the growths are located.

Although death from fibromas in deer can occur, death from warts is not always imminent it seems. There have been many hunter testimonials of white-tailed deer with warts “shaking them off,” so to speak. In those cases, where they really the same deer? I can’t say for sure. I could see a situation where a deer with an isolated wart could recover, so to speak.

White-tailed Deer with Warts White-tailed Buck with Warts

White-tailed Buck with Tumors White-tailed Doe with Fibromasts (Warts)

Deer Warts, Deer Hunting

From a deer hunter’s perspective warts are quite unsightly. Since fibromasts are a virus of the skin, they will be removed if the deer is skinned. Notice I said IF the deer is skinned. Although the meat of a deer is typically not affected, most hunters that harvest a deer with a large number of warts are hesitant to put the meat in the freezer.

This is understandable and probably the safest thing to do. Some research reported that a buck with external warts also had internal and cancerous fibromasts. Again, if an animal does not appear healthy then use your own, conservative discretion.

The take home message on warts is that they do occur naturally in white-tailed deer across their range. Fibromasts can occur on any deer, healthy or otherwise. With that said, these warts occur rather rarely and there is nothing that can be done from a deer management standpoint to manage against them. Deer are the only host for the virus, so fear not for yourself should you find yourself standing over an infected, wart-covered animal.

Deer Warts or Tumors?

When deer hunters head out into the field they don’t usually think to themselves, “Man, I want to harvest a healthy deer.” But we all do, even though we don’t really think about it. So., what if you harvested a deer with warts? Most hunters would be a little concerned because, after all, warts are not normal on white-tailed deer.

Although injuries and diseases are some things hunters and property owners serious about deer management try to avoid having in their herds, it usually can not be avoided.

These “deer tumors”, which are more accurately wart-like growths, and are formally referred to as cutaneous fibromatosis. The virus that causes such growth on the skin can be transmitted between deer, at least experimentally.

Deer fibroma occurs occasionally in white-tailed deer living in North America. Although the ailment is not common, it not extremely rare either. The cutaneous growths can vary in diameter, but usually vary from about 1/4 inch to 4 inches in size.

These wart-like growths can be found growing by themselves or in clusters, typically on the front-end of an infected deer. The whitetail buck featured in the above photos has warts caused by cutaneous fibroma on the underside of his neck and face.

Although these tumor-looking growths are not believed to directly harm the deer, the presence of these warts could cause additional stress or points for additional injury on an animal.

From a hunting or deer management perspective there is little that can be done once a deer contracts fibroma. In some cases the infection may not even be noticeable, but as in the example above, the warts may be very obvious. The virus has been successfully spread under experimental conditions from deer to deer, but the chances of this happening in wild deer herds is unknown.