The Great Search

Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch: What really killed that deer?

Finding a prehistoric snake would certainly be a dramatic turn of events for the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch team, but there are other options to consider.

If you watched the most recent season of Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch, you will know that Charlie, Duane, Chad and the rest of their team have just uncovered a puzzling new Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch – an unexplained dead deer.

Examining this recent Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch find

According to what the team, and the new biomedical expert, Emery Smith, have found so far, they suspect that a giant (possibly prehistoric) snake may have taken up residence in the Blind Frog Ranch creek. And this huge creature is what ultimately strangled and killed the deer.

However, as terrifying as it would be to believe that the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch team now has river monsters to deal with on top of all of the other unexplained mysteries, harsh weather conditions and claim-jumpers that have impeded their treasure-hunting progress thus far, it is important that we objectively examine all of the evidence first.

And, as with all things mysterious and unexplained – there are a few alternative theories which would also make a lot of sense.

A snake’s fang or a predator’s tooth?

At this point, the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch team is certainly not shy about throwing out new theories about all of the seemingly strange goings-on at their Uintah Basin property.

But, while these theories are certainly compelling, we just cannot help but feel like there are a few other ways to interpret not only the tooth, but also the theories surrounding the deer’s blue skin and the reported drag marks found leading away from the creek.

We will leave the discussions surrounding Charlie’s photograph of the river monster up to you.

Firstly, although the team did not give us a very clear shot at the tooth that was found embedded in this deer, it does not seem to bear much resemblance to a snake fang.

When you compare this below screenshot from the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch episode with photos of the teeth of Utah’s largest predators, including black bears (as pictured here on the SCDNR website), coyotes (as pictured on the Urban Coyote Research Project website) and even mountain lions (as discussed extensively on the Mountain Lion Foundation’s website), as opposed to these detailed pictures of Kingsnake fangs on the National Park Service website, the tooth clearly does not look anything like a snake fang (at least not any of the current-day Kingsnakes that call this area home).

Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch: What really killed that deer? Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch: What really killed that deer?
The moment right after Charlie locates the tooth (Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch, season 3, episode 6) Duane and James examine the tooth after hearing Charlie’s account of what happened (Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch, season 3, episode 6)

Strangulation or disease?

Finding a dead deer with blue skin is certainly unusual, but Charlie’s strangulation theory is not the only one worth examining for this strange phenomena.

There is a disease called Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which is quite common in whitetail deer and can cause a bluish discoloration in the tongue.

And while this blue color is usually not present on other areas of infected deers’ bodies, this disease can be fatal and does cause the deer to seeking water in the hopes of combatting their rising fever.

Expert opinion or incorrect assumption?

If you followed along throughout the entire deer investigation on Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch third season, then you will already know that Duane contacted the Biomedical Examiner, Emery Smith, for his help in this investigation.

However, a quick glance at Emery’s LinkedIn page reveals that he has now transitioned into a television hosting career, and that most of his former research was done on human wellness, and not animal DNA or anatomy (Emery is also not listed on Stanford University’s list of board members, as of January 2024, which does mean that there is some room for error regarding the conclusion that there is prehistoric snake DNA in the pond.

Drag marks or evidence of human activity?

One last thing that needs to be addressed before you decide whether you will jump on the Blind Frog Ranch river monster bandwagon are the drag marks which were reportedly found leading away from the pond.

While such marks would certainly be compelling evidence of a very large snake, they could also simply be further evidence of all of the claim-jumpers that have been camping out near this area of Blind Frog Ranch.

After all, getting rid of the claim jumpers’ camp ultimately led Charlie to discover the deer in the first place.

And, in the end, there really are many different ways to explain how this deer ended up dead on Blind Frog Ranch.