The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is asking bowhunters who may encounter deer affected by Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) to report the find to DEC.

EHD is a viral disease of whitetail deer that cannot be contracted by humans. Reports from hunters help DEC track the disease's potential spread, a DEC press release said.

DEC wildlife biologists have been receiving reports of dead and sick deer this fall and collected carcasses for testing at DEC's Wildlife Health Unit in Delmar, Albany County. Tissue samples have been sent to the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University to confirm the presence of EHD.

To date, EHD has been confirmed in portions of Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, and Westchester counties, and DEC has received reports of approximately 750 dead deer. Though the current outbreak appears concentrated in the lower Hudson Valley, EHD may have spread elsewhere.

While EHD outbreaks can remove a number of deer from a localized population, DEC says they do not have a significant long-term impact on deer populations. Deer populations throughout the currently impacted region are robust. DEC does not plan to reduce harvest in areas affected by EHD at this time.

The EHD virus is carried by biting midges, small bugs often called no-see-ums or 'punkies.' Outbreaks are most common in the late summer and early fall when the midges that carry the virus are abundant. Once infected with EHD, deer usually die within 36 hours. The disease is not spread from deer to deer or from deer to humans.

A deer infected with EHD may appear lame or dehydrated. Frequently, infected deer will seek out water sources and many succumb to the disease near a water source. There is no treatment for nor means to prevent EHD. The dead deer do not serve as a source of infection for other animals.

The EHD virus affected New York deer in 2007 in Albany, Rensselaer, and Niagara counties, and in Rockland County in 2011.