Rodney G. Marburger

A Game Department was added to the Texas Fish and Oyster Commission in 1907, and three functions branched from this department. Law Enforcement was formed first, with wildlife restoration following and becoming sophisticated by the addition of wildlife pathology in 1963. In these 9 years, some 2,000 necropies have been performed on various species of wildlife to develop disease backgrounds. The benefits of pathological study have been: (I) background data on diseases (2) game management implications as related to disease study and implementation of disease controls (3) forensic pathology...

Disease as a limiting factor on big game populations has been long recognized but formal studies did not begin until 1963. Three diseases studied since that time are presented to demonstrate that intelligent management decisions can be derived from knowledge about the diseases. The three diseases discussed are theileriasis, bluetongue, and salmonellosis. Disease has long been recognized as a limiting factor on Texas big game herds (Van Volkenbergand Nicholson 1943, Hahn 1945, Buechner 1950 and others). Large-scale white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) die-offs have been recorded...