Chronic Wasting Disease

[LarryBud]

Hello All,

I hunt in NW KS for deer and and NC Colorado for Elk. Both places are infected with CWD. Kansas GFPs claims 10-20% of the Whitetail Bucks in my unit are infected. They have no published data for other deer.

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/chron ... p-jan-2018

A quick look at the above map will tell you if your area is impacted. I don't want be an alarmist but it should be on our radar. I personally will no longer eat an animal which has not been tested and my family has been a 2-3 deer/year consumers for decades. I'm really bummed about this whole deal. I post this because it was completely off my radar until a Thanksgiving conversation with extended family from an infected area in MN.

Times change.

 

[MrTom]

Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, here in Minnesota....we're all full of it. During the past firearms seasons in the SE corner of MN I believe they found 17 deer infected, most of which were bucks. The area where these deer were taken is in the #3 zone that has antler point restrictions. In my opinion, this was avoidable in this zone by simply not imposing the point restrictions. When a healthy, balanced deer herd like we have had in that corner of the state gets inundated with young male deer that will take fully two years to be able to be shot and the does commonly having two to three fawns, its not hard to see where the imbalance lies and those male deer are the ones that do the traveling for the most part. Minnesota has NEVER had any trouble growing BIG antlered deer. The point restriction came as a result of lobbying to get them so some selfish dink bowhunters who think they should be shooting a mega-buck every year are too darned lazy to hunt for the big horns.

Wisconsin proved that an elimination hunt isn't going to get rid of CWD. MN has tried it in two areas [both inside the point restricted area] as well and it still prevails. Deer over-crowding is one of the major elements in fostering this disease and in our zone three there are simply way too many deer now with this point restriction stuff and I think its way too late now to change anything other than eliminate the point restrictions and offer extra licenses during the regular seasons and to outlaw feeding the deer from feeders and not allow any stores to sell the mineral and salt type of stuff used too draw deer in numbers.

 

[LarryBud]

Seems to me the Genie is out of the bottle now. Various management or reduction strategies will only slow the spread.

Hunters will need to make a personal choice on whether or not to feed the infected or potentially infected animals to themselves and loved ones. I believe we'll head to a landscape where every deer will be tested prior to consumption. Private or public testing stations or labs will need to fill the void.

Many hunters will just walk away and state agencies will have challenges managing the herd.

 

[samwilliamson]

I believe that the danger may be a bit overstated as of 2 weeks ago the Michigan DNR said there have been only 63 total tested positive for CWD in Michigan, in recent years, which I think means since 98 or 2000. Out of an estimated herd size of 1.73 million deer? Only 1 in the the U.P. I have been hunting in Ingham co for years and always turn in the heads for testing. Never met anyone yet who even knows someone who knows someone who had a positive test for CWD or TB.
That doesn't mean i will stop watching for unusual behavior or stop turning in the heads, but I'm a little skeptical of the motives the gov't has for all the restrictions and new regs on hunting in Mich and other states. Maybe im just paranoid tho.

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[MrTom]

Many hunters will just walk away and state agencies will have challenges managing the herd.

We're already seeing this happening here in SE Minnesota what with this constant fear being fed to people by the dnr and also with the point restrictions. For years people bought a license with the hope of taking an animal with horns. How big the horns were was moot. People had a choice in what to harvest. Now having no choice these people are not opting to hunt. Throw in the constant carping about a disease that at this point cannot be eradicated or controlled by any known means and there's little incentive to get younger hunters started or for those who simply enjoyed being out hunting without the restrictions placed on them today to come back to it.

Minnesota's dnr's premier shining star in the big game division came here from Colorado. His elk and deer management skills there I hear were far less that stellar while he tried to sell his east coast education ideas down the throats of the locals out there. Now he's trying to run his "east coast" ideologies down our throats. His answer to cwd is extermination. Or at least attempted extermination. Personally I feel as though he has worn out his welcome and should go back to where he got educated.

 

[slowwalker]

I feel for you guys..I live in and hunt in Maryland...3-4 yrs ago we never had CWD now in the western part of the state we have it..and something called Blue touge..you can sometimes see it in the white tail but not always..I shot a nice 8 point Buck this past month with my muzzle loader..and it was tested for CWD and it had it..the D.N.R. Said OK to eat it..won’t hurt you..but West Virginia and Pennsylvania says don’t ..It is all about money for hunting licenses in this state...”East Coast Ideologies” you bet..P.S.- We now have the Lone Star Tick if you get bit...you can never eat red meat again!.... By the way I didn’t eat the Buck..

 

[LarryBud]

By the way I didn’t eat the Buck..

I'm no scientist and from what I read, the jury is out on what it means to consume the meat. While there are no documented transmissions from game to human, its really only been abundant in the recent years.... not enough time to really know what it means. In one study, monkeys fed CWD contaminated meat had the prions ( The bad form of protein you don't want ) transmitted to them.

I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do. This was totally off my radar until two weeks ago and it's a real kick in the butt. I don't think I can ignore in my hunting grounds.

 

[MrTom]

Where I hunt I'm quite a hike from the current hot spot in the state. I still pay attention to the deer I shoot as far as acting weird.

Apparently a deer has to be at least a year and a half old to have the disease manifest itself in the animal. All id do with the meat is make jerky and sausage and I can legally take two critters so maybe start having to pop the pint-sized critters. Getting to where I hunt is getting tougher on my old frame too so maybe just quit hunting or pay the landowner to take me to the stand on his ATV. Once there its all downhill so I can get back. Still its hard telling where this is going to lead to and I feel bad for the young people that want to hunt in a few years and may have to pass if this crap gets any worse.

 

[treepotato]

Where I hunt I'm quite a hike from the current hot spot in the state. I still pay attention to the deer I shoot as far as acting weird.

Apparently a deer has to be at least a year and a half old to have the disease manifest itself in the animal. All id do with the meat is make jerky and sausage and I can legally take two critters so maybe start having to pop the pint-sized critters. Getting to where I hunt is getting tougher on my old frame too so maybe just quit hunting or pay the landowner to take me to the stand on his ATV. Once there its all downhill so I can get back. Still its hard telling where this is going to lead to and I feel bad for the young people that want to hunt in a few years and may have to pass if this crap gets any worse.

I'm not too savvy on CWD, but from what I understand an animal under 18 months may be infected and capable of passing the prions to others while not showing the obvious symptoms yet. 18 months seems to be the first point where the disease becomes physically evident from emaciation or staggered walking, but these deer were already sick for some time before reaching 18 months. Therefore shooting young deer may not prevent getting exposed to the prions.

Physical emaciation of a deer comes late in the disease if I understand correctly. So obviously don't harvest and eat an emaciated animal, but animals that don't show symptoms may be diseased but still in the early stages of infection so it's not apparent based on appearance or behavior. Lab testing is the only way I know of to be sure an animal is safe to eat.

 

[masakimm]

We have had CWD in our area for many years and only recently have they done any testing there has never been a report around here of a person being infected That I have heard about and the county where I live they where doing no testing this year even with it still listed as a chronic waste county. the county where I hunt has never had a case of CWD So they have the points restriction on the bucks. I usually don't shot bucks unless its all that I see. I am still waiting to here the results of the testing they did on opening weekend in the county's around here.

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[LarryBud]

Just some feedback from KS DNR:

They no longer test in the NW Unit ( my unit with 10-12 counties in it ). I guess because CWD is a known quantity and we can do with it what we want. They do test in the SW Unit as they try to get a handle on how far and how much it’s spread.

Also, animals will carry the prions and appear healthy for up to two years befor displaying physical symptoms. You can’t look at a deer and say they are OK. Testing is the only way. More from the CDC.

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/prevention.html