#353 - What You Can Actually Do To Combat EHD: Ecosystem Health and Water Quality with Zach Hass of EHDefense

Habitat Podcast

Jared Van Hees

Sports, Wilderness

4.9 • 584 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Habitat Podcast #353 - In today’s episode of The Habitat Podcast, we are back in the studio with co-host Andy and our good friend Zach Hass of EHDefense. We discuss: What EHD is and how it spreads among whitetails Why outbreaks are often tied to hot, dry summers and midge activity Signs that deer in your area may be impacted by the disease The difference between short-term die-offs vs. long-term herd recovery Zach’s firsthand experiences seeing deer numbers drop overnight The challenges of managing land when EHD wipes out hit list bucks Why water sources become hotspots during outbreaks Steps land managers can take to support herd resilience Stories from Kansas and the Midwest showing how unpredictable EHD can be Encouragement for hunters to focus on long-term habitat improvements And So Much More! Shop the new Amendment Collection from Vitalize Seed here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://vitalizeseed.com/collections/new-natural-amendments ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PATREON - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon - Habitat Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Brand new HP Patreon for those who want to support the Habitat Podcast. Good luck this Fall and if you have a question yourself, just email us @ info@habitatpodcast.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon - Habitat Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Latitude Outdoors - Saddle Hunting: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/hplatitude⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Stealth Strips - Stealth Outdoors: Use code Habitat10 at checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/stealthstripsHP⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Midwest Lifestyle Properties - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3OeFhrm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vitalize Seed Food Plot Seed - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/vitalizeseed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Down Burst Seeders - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/downburstseeders⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 10% code: HP10 Morse Nursery - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/MorseTrees⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 10% off w/code: HABITAT10 Packer Maxx - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/PACKERMAXX⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ $25 off with code: HPC25 First Lite - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3EDbG6P⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LAND PLAN Property Consultations – HP Land Plans: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LAND PLANS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Leave us a review for a FREE DECAL - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apple.co/2uhoqOO⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Morse Nursery Tree Dealer Pricing – info@habitatpodcast.com Habitat Podcast YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmAUuvU9t25FOSstoFiaNdg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email us: info@habitatpodcast.com habitat management / deer habitat / food plots / hinge cut / food plot Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've been preaching water and water quality for years in the land management side of it. And now EHD has become such a social epidemic, essentially, you know, where everyone's talking about it. Yeah, I mean, South East, you know, we talk about Ohio. We talk about Indiana now. The Midwest period is just getting slammed by E.H.D. It's so bad to the point where I've had people actually emailing me letters they're sending to their representatives trying to shut down seasons. I mean, Ohio, it's bad. I went down there actually about
0:25.6	three weeks ago on a consult and yeah, you could just smell the death. You could literally just
0:29.9	drive and smell dead deer. And kind of how I guess I'm involved in it, you know, so I've obviously
0:35.3	being aquatic biologist dove down the rabbit hole of what
0:38.5	obviously is EHD, what causes EHD. And I did this years ago. I mean, so I was a research
0:44.2	director for the private pond lake management company I worked with. So during the wintertime,
0:48.4	we don't really have much to do because we're not outspraining ponds because everything's frozen.
0:52.2	So I dove into the research of the Mitch. And so I was talking to all the different professors old west, my own professors from UW Stevens Point, UW Madison, everything just trying to figure out, all right, what can I do as a biologist to actually curtail this and fix this issue? And it always came back to water quality issues, water impairment, and also high salinity. As we kind of were doing some of these studies and stuff like that through my undergrad, all we found a lot of the systems the Midge thrived in was actually the systems that didn't have predators. It didn't have an actual ecosystem, didn't have food chain. So that's what I focused on. And then I developed a product this last year. Actually, it came out was EHD fence, and that's the help to restore ecosystem health so we can combat EHD.
1:39.5	Welcome to the Habitat Podcast, the podcast for wildlife habitat management, hunting strategy, and land stewardship.
1:49.0	And now, your host, Jared Van Heaths.
1:55.2	Welcome to the Habitat Podcast.
1:57.2	I'm your host, Jared Van Heeseese here with Andy. We are presenting another episode of
2:05.5	the Habitat podcast, but right now we're in West Virginia, almost to our Patreon deer camp.
2:10.1	You'll hear more about that on next week's episode. Guys, this week we have Zach Haas, good friend
2:16.0	of mine. He's a land manager out in Wisconsin, and we're talking all things, E.H.D.
2:24.2	Great episode. Hopefully, E.D. is not affecting you where you're at, but it's making the rounds this year with this drought.
2:31.0	So great episode here. Nice for listening. Thanks for coming back.
2:35.7	We have a giveaway for Antler Anchor Company.
2:39.6	Be sure if you subscribe to the Habitat Podcast YouTube channel, just Habitat Podcast.
2:45.4	And you will be entered in a prize package for some awesome stainless shed antler mounts, European mounts, all great
2:56.3	products made by a good friend of ours in Wisconsin as well.
3:00.0	So we'll give that away next week.
	...

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