Wisconsin deer and CWD ...
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Pure bologna.....enough said. We have lived through this BS for years. Every year they change the story. Wring your hands if you`d like but we don`t.
By "we" he mean s those that don't believe in science.
Not faulty manipulated so called "science"....just like Climate Change. Come up with a result then make the science and facts fit the result. That`s not "science".
How many infected deer have you 2 seen in the woods? TRY to be honest.
None but since I don't hunt where there is CWD, that would be unlikely but the question is moot.
I'm an EMT and have never witnessed? a massive brain aneurysm but that doesn't mean there is no such thing.
There is provable evidence a brain aneurysm exists.....sadly there is none for CWD....other than what those that have been completely wrong about it for the last 50 years have told us. No thanks.
You one of those guys who believe we didn’t land on the moon too I bet...
Just Keep your head in the sand man it’s easier
There certainly is evidence of CWD. Plenty deer that were found dead from the brain degeneration caused by the disease and harvested deer that were tested and found to be carrying it.
Funny you bring up the moon landing....isn`t that the same year that CWD was first discovered. I live there....you don`t. I watched these nimrods stumble around this subject for the last 15 years. For 10 years they said eradication was the answer....the first 5 years it was the older deer had it....then the next 5 years, the younger deer had it. Then the U.W. in Madison said it`s in the soil.....then they said "Oooops".
I seen the same cluster cluck in N. Illinois. Look at the 1st place it was ever found....Colorado 1969. Guess what they did? You guessed it....ZERO. And absolutely nothing ever changed in the herd. Keep your grimey human fingers out of nature.
Having grown up and lived my entire life in Wisconsin. I have read any and everything I could get my hands on about deer and CWD. I have spoke with scientists, biologists, DNR. I apologies to all of the rest of you that the disease of this post, the post itself, has been brought here and out of WI Bowsite Forum. I really question the character and background of the same individual's, that I continue to read the same dribble over and over and over. My head is not in sand but you claim what you wish.
By nothing changing you mean the infection rate increasing to 16% in bucks?
I hunt in the heart of the CWD zone in WI. I haven't seen a sick deer and haven't seen any evidence of buck declines. Its here to stay and we just have to live with it. I do worry a bit about eating cwd positive deer but at this point I'm sure I have. Not too concerned, heck, I eat at McDonalds and we know that ain't good!
And what did that effect "skook".....nothing. It`s also because the % rose because testing increased. But to this day the herd has been unaffected.
JTV, the topic is WI CWD been being bantered about on the WI forum forever now. You haven't been there the crossover like CWD I guess is the same. As per where my head is, your attack and lack of intelligent thought is confirmed by your response. You simply further reinforce my lack of respect for your input.
OMG, the end is near! Or not...
Learn from those of us who have lived with it for the past 50 years since it was "discovered". It's not a big deal except to alarmists. Deer herds aren't going to crash unless the DNR slaughters them, people arent going to get sick, the hysteria will go away and life (and hunting) will go on like it did before.
If you do shoot and field dress/skin a deer that tests positive, be sure to bake your knife, broadhead, arrow, saw and truck bed to over 900 deg F before using them again. If you already had it commercially processed, let them know to bake their knives, saws, grinders and tables as well. Thats how you kill a prion. Sounds tough on equipment...
My oven at home only goes to 575 and I can't fit my truck bed in there anyway so I gave up. No symptoms yet. I do forget where my keys are more often but I'm pretty sure thats caused by the same thing as the gray hairs showing up in my beard and not CWD.
Blunt check your coat pockets ;)
Excellent article. Hopefully hunters will continue to become educated and take necessary precautions. Tests are not 100% accurate, so feeding venison from known CWD areas to unsuspecting family members (such as children), is a risk I will not take. The threat is real, very real. We likely have not seen anything yet.
I live and hunt in the original WI eradication zone. I’m still going to eat the deer I kill unless it is visibly sick. It’s here, it will sort itself out like it has for hundreds of years. The sky is not falling.
Processed foods are a much greater concern to our health.
Missouri here than is another thought for yourself, and I am just saying..... Do not eat any venison because cwd may be anywhere, and only by testing would you know?
I agree with some of what is said here, and yes there is some hysteria, but I will challenge Jaquaomo,,,, in 30 years, according to independent scientist, not associated with hunting, but studying the disease, deer may be off the landscape in SE Wy, where the herd is 50 percent positive....... That information came off a round table radio show on the subject, in Michigan 2 weeks ago, on CWD discussion......
Bottom line no one knows yet the answers, but I will take Wildlife Science any day over political science
Merry Christmas everyone,,,,,,
"And what did that effect "skook".....nothing. It`s also because the % rose because testing increased. But to this day the herd has been unaffected."
You do realized the mathematical formula for calculating percentages, correct?
Regardless, you are incorrect. In 2003 they tested more deer than they did this year and the infection rate was .85%. In 2018 the infection rate is 12.4%.
Just because you ignore the science doesn't make it wrong.
If CWD bothers you that much, and you won't eat venison or feed it to your children, then stop shooting deer. Stop feeding them beef too....mad cow disease. Stop feeding them chicken....avian bird flu. Stop feeding them vegetables....some animal probably died and infected the soil they were grown in. If that doesn't scare you, start googling those ingredients and preservatives in all the other crap you feed them. Get a grip, people.
the main threat to the Wisconsin deer herd is the DNR not disease.
So Josh, if you had a 2 year old daughter, you'd feed her meat from a deer that tested positive for CWD? If you don't have children, don't bother answering.
Always get a chuckle how some people want to utilize sound wildlife science when it comes to most management practices (grizz hunt, wolf hunt, population objectives), but when the same organization of wildlife officials come up with something they don't agree with all of a sudden the people putting out the statistics are morons. Very much reminds me of a funny post on anti-vaxxers the other day that said It's funny how when the CDC says you should throw away your romaine lettuce everyone takes it as gospel, but when the same agency tells you vaccines save lives they're part of the ilumanati. Just a very interesting observation.
^^^^ Good take grossklw
When I see the varied responses of G&F agencies across the country to CWD it reminds me of an old adage (which I've tweeked a bit) "Man plans, Mother Nature laughs"
No surprises here. Despite decades of warnings, there are still millions who harm themselves with cigarettes and excess alcohol, as well as place their entire family in harms way. Hunters are no different, many are uneducated.
Jim....I have a 16 year old son, a 9 year old daughter, and another one on the way. My kids grew up eating rabbit, squirrel, and lotsa deer meat...just like I did. I'm sure somewhere along the lines, we've eaten deer infected with CWD, contaminated beef, dirty chicken, and probably some bad romaine lettuce....but we're all still happy, healthy, and going strong. If I tested everything we eat before we ate it, I probably wouldn't have much to feed them. I tend to worry more about what's in the chicken nugget happy meals that the grand parents provide. :)
I also feed my family all manner of small game, big game, birds, fish, mushrooms, etc... Obviously you can't protect them from everything. But, you didn't answer my question. Would you feed your kids meat from a deer that tested positive for CWD?
Common sense precautions are always best. With CWD, there is much to learn. Right now in some areas CWD tests are available ( but not conclusive), and my grandchildren do not depend on venison to survive. Therefore I act as responsibly as I can. Others should do what they feel is best but I would not criticize the spouse who resists feeding certain venison to the family. I will not feed "potentially" harmful venison to the unsuspecting, we are not simply dealing with diarrhea here.
Jim....you missed my point, but I'll elaborate. If I was so worked up and worried about CWD, that I tested every deer I shot to see if it was positive or not, I would quit hunting deer. If I shot a deer that looked sick or suspect, I wouldn't eat that deer, or feed it to my kids, and would notify a game warden. Do you test the meat you buy from a grocery store before you feed it to your kids?
I do not buy lymphatic or nervous system tissue to have CWD tested.... therefore not sure testing is an option. The USDA does have prion control measures in place.
Dirk: I would suspect that the G&F people did not lie. They just didn't know because there is no set management protocol for dealing with CWD. They tried what they thought would work and it didn't. Better testing is needed. Quicker, more reliable and readily available. I don't think it needs to be mandatory.
Um. How do you know it didn't do anything? It's almost certain it would be more prevalent.
You still have not answered my question. I didn't ask if you test your deer. I asked if you'd feed a deer to your family that you knew had CWD. You may not live in an area with high CWD prevalence. Someday you will.
I do not test deer that I shoot in MN because CWD isn't known in the areas I hunt yet. However, I hunted in Wyoming this year and shot a very old buck in an area with a high prevalence of CWD. I absolutely tested that deer and would not have fed it to my family had the test came back positive.
The more deer you test, the more cases you will find. By golly, that is ground breaking news, right there. Just think, 50-some years ago, when we had no test for it, there was not a single positive case.
I would like to say that I appreciate all the concern some of you have for me and mine. But in reality I don't! The government and other overreach into our lives to much already and now we have those of you. I and my family will make decisions for our family. We had more people die from tree stand falls in WI this year maybe we should ban them. You are the same as talking with a PETA member, not changing my mind not changing theirs. Let this go away on this site.
Thousands of children and grandchildren have been eating meat from infected deer and elk. I'm sure I did when I was a kid too. Now we're in our 60's, 70's, maybe long dead if it was in the wild prior to the "discovery".
Guess what? No spongiform encephalopathy, no CJDv. The percentage of CJDv in our county is lower than the national average. Youth football is a far greater threat to developing brains in adulthood than eating venison.
Each person should make their own decisions, nobody is denying that. This is a discussion forum for each to share their views, I simply shared mine. Being reluctant to consume potentially harmful venison is hardly the same as PETA.
There is no suspected risk of humans contracting Bluetongue or EHD, both utilize flies as vectors and are not prions. The major concern by health officials with CWD is not so much the deer herd, it is the potential to spread to humans and other human food sources. There is much yet to be learned. Time to be cautious and responsible, not time to panic.
JTV - Thanks for sharing the information. I don't understand how people can say its related to the number of deer tested when they tested more deer in 2003 (14,941) and got 117 positives compared to the 816 positive they have so far this year and they have only tested 13,074.
MB, 40 years ago I would have shared the same sentiments. But here our deer herds are increasing after the slaughter, elk herds are stable or growing where the CPW wants more, nobody is getting sick, game processors don't ask if animals have been tested and they process presumably infected meat alongside everything else. When I give meat away nobody asks if it has been tested.
Last summer I mentioned CWD in moose to a couple non hunter animal watchers while we were watching a bull by my pond. The woman expressed surprise, and said, "I thought CWD had come and gone!"
How long will it take before people stop panicking and accept CWD for what it is? 75 years? 100 years?
I agree, no need to panic. I do think it wise to support testing efforts and take reasonable precautions. Of course what one deems reasonable will not be the same as the next person, we see that in everyday life.
There really seems to be people arguing over two different thought processes.
One, being the fear of impact to our wild game populations and the other, being the fear to human health. My personal concern of CWD is to the impact of human health, not to the population of the wildlife.
My understanding of this disease, even if found in fawns, is that death may not result until three to five years later. While other diseases cause death in a much more quicker fashion (resulting in population decrease), CWD is a long term process and chances are that deer may die from hunters/other diseases/car accidents etc. prior to dying of CWD. I do not believe CWD will create a large reduction in wildlife populations unless "herd thinning" is the answer, i don't know if it is or not.
Unfortunately, no one knows where this disease is going and what the long term impact will be to human health. There are A LOT of rumors, speculation, fear mongering, and discussions about this disease simply because no one knows the facts, yet. Years ago when i first learned about this disease i did a lot of research and it was barely on the east coast and now it is here, after first being found in penned animals. Years ago, there was nothing to worry about with people consuming CWD deer other than do not eat brains, spinal fluid and organs. The prions did not occur in the meat, now we know the prions are in the meat and they can not be destroyed by cooking. We also now know that monkeys and mice have contracted the disease from ingesting affected meat. I do believe this will all be more understood in the future but until then, people are concerned and have a right to be concerned about this impact to humans.
People on here mention that they are sure they have eaten CWD infected meat, but in all reality, that is speculation, unless it was tested prior to consumption. I do believe people have eaten infected game and i actually remember a poster on here saying he had his deer tested then ate it anyway when it came back positive, that is his choice.
I have also read from websites that the CJDv in humans has been on the rise, but again, that is just another internet reading, so I don't know if that is true or not, but like i read above, there are less cases here in the US, but where are the majority of those cases occuring? I don't know, but maybe there is a correlation there, i dont know. And it doesn't sound like anyone knows and in my opinion, that is the concern here, not the impact to wildlife but the impact to humans.
This disease is spreading. If it was always "here" it would have been found through the extensive testing that has already been completed.
FWIW, more testing doesn't arbitrarily result in an increase in percentage; 40 out of 100 is 40% just like 400 out of 1000 is 40%...
You can tell the fanatics when they throw out terms like..."critical thinking"...."ignoring the science" or the classic...."the uneducated".
Those are the folks that can`t prove their point so they try to insinuate YOU are too stupid to see their side of things. True sign of liberal mentality. You MUST think as we do or you`re a troglodyte.....lmao. It is good for a chuckle.
Good post Pyrannah, thank you for the intelligent information.
My hunting land is on the far westerly fringe of what was the CWD "barrier" (NE Crawford CO). Back in 2001/2002 we didn't have any cases of CWD but I sure bought in to the intensive harvest the DNR proposed.
Years later what was to be left of our herd should have been more obvious to me but I was young and was more the type that didn't question people in authority.
Now older and having read a lot and with truely believing the "science" of what it means if it is in the soil I know now the erradication was a mistake. Seems, well I hope they believe, the DNR thinks erradication was a wrong step.
Who can say what is the right next step. There is no cure, perhaps there are genetically resistant deer out there and we should let them thrive and see if nature has a way. I believe man should not intervine any more.
I also don't think we can deny it is here. I have not looked at my county's testing results lately. I know there were some hits to the south I believe. I have not had my deer tested. With that said, it is just me and my wife and I am a very selective hunter so I do not harvest a deer each year.
Am I worried about CWD? No, but I stay aware and would not ever eat an animal I thought was sick. Of course with CWD you won't know by looking until it is an advanced case.
I think as a WI land owner and hunter we must ponder the possibilities, stay informed but as a guy who reacted tothe hype/hysteria once, I won't do that again.
I say this respectfully and with the believe all here have the right to an opinion.
Bill
If you test 25,000 deer and 5000 test positive for CWD, can you say 20% of the entire herd is infected? What if you test two deer and one is infected? Does that mean 50% of the herd is infected? What if you test 2,500 animals and get no positive test? Obviously, the greatest chance of a positive test is in testing the greatest number of animals. To me, that is just plain common sense.
When you test a percentage of the entire population, you cannot say, with any certainty, what percentage of the entire population will test positive. You can only state what percentage of the number tested, test positive.
Recently, in one area of Wyoming, 40% of the animals tested, were positive. So far, I have been unable to find out, how many animals were tested. My latest call to WY, was at 9:40, this morning. So far, it has not been returned. What if they tested 10-animals and four were positive? Is that the same as testing 5,000 and 2,000, were positive?
Be careful. There is going to be an increasing amount of disinformation out there in the next few months/years. This is a six-wheeled vehicle that, is going to be driven until all the wheels fall off
Just over an hour ago, I got an email from a biologist in this state. I cannot post his exact words but they were in effect, "This is the biggest bunch of recycled pasture I have ever seen and they want us to sign off on it." This was in response to a sidebar I ran in today's paper that does not exactly mirror the official state position...if you get my meaning. I feel fairly certain, you all know, my position.
So you are saying 13,000 - 15,000 animals tested in both 2003 and 2018 with prevalence going from .85% to 12% respectively isn't reliable evidence that CWD is spreading?
I feel sorry for readers of your newspaper articles that don't know any better.
"not shooting a sick deer" is a fairly primitive way to avoid CWD exposure. No one knows the time frame from exposure to testing positive to showing symptoms. (Shooting a sick deer might actually be the best thing for the herd. I was tempted on a sick elk this past season.)
I strongly disagree with those who think testing more is not important. The more hard data the biologists have to work with, the more they can learn about the age and sex distribution, the incidence and prevalence of the disease and it's distribution within a state or region. Why is it not found in some areas? The recent soil research may have some clues (higher humic acid in soils, less infectivity).
I'm sure not in a panic about eating deer but I do think it's a worthy topic of further investigation by wildlife biologists. The official stance in Oklahoma by the G&F is "we do not have it" in spite of the fact it's been found in every bordering state, so what have I got to worry about???
No-wiser-Where did I say it wasn't spreading? Find one place I have ever said it wasn't spreading. Of course it is spreading...just as it always has been. And the testing has improved and the sampling methods have improved and sure, yes, it is spreading. And the more you test, the more it will spread. You can bank on that. I feel sure, it is rampant in some parts of Labrador.
I realize, as we all should, that I can only attest to my own perspective. While hunting in wisconsin, I can remember times before the CWD scare. Times in which the state claimed historical highs in deer population and deer population density, while my and most other hunter who entered the woods experienced the contrary. Despite hunter's concerns, we were told the land was beyond its population carrying capacity, and the state implemented an "earn a buck" management system. Countless doe tags were given away with the purchase of a buck tag, and one could not harvest a buck unless they tagged a doe to "earn" a buck tag. This went on for years, and we were still being told that deer numbers were way over carrying capacity. I remember being told this while having a difficult time even seeing a doe during an entire season. I remember the state claiming deer harvest numbers were down not because the population was down, but because of tons of other claims. One year the weather was supposedly too warm, the next year cold weather kept hunters out of the woods, the next was due to heavy fog on opening day, the next was because hunters didn't hunt on Sunday because they were watching a packer game - as if the packers didn't plan on any other year or weekend (yes, this really happened).
I also remember the same state claiming the wolf population wasn't that high. Followed by a brief delisting in which a hunt with a quota was established. Somehow as we were told wolves are extremely difficult to hunt successfully, and that numbers weren't high, the quota was met in just a few days. These are just a few examples of things that made it impossible to at least speculate that there was an agenda at play. In the area where I hunt, I have more than 30 years of boots on the ground hunting experience. I have first hand in the field observations that make it hard to buy the numbers game that was being shoveled down our throats. This is before CWD. My experience is not even from a CWD infected area.
My point is, while witnessing multiple angles to promote the decimation of the deer heard, along with anti-hunting attacks from multiple angles, along with agendas to create a wolf population that could arguably control deer levels without the need for hunting, and a constant barage of propaganda against our right to bear arms, anyone who doesn't think political agendas could possibly be at play has their head in the sand.
I'm not calling anyone or any agency out. I'm not researching and spewing tons of numbers, but I am saying that if you ave been paying any attention to politics in this country, and do not think numbers are twisted to promote agendas, you are living under a rock.
I wonder, where are these higher percentage of positive tests being taken from. And what areas of Wisconsin were the lower percentages taken from in the past. Are these different years of testing taken from the same sample area, or are they now concentrating on areas known to have had positive tests for study and monitoring purposes? No doubt this would greatly skew results. Meaningful comparisons can not be made unless it is known that all variables are equal.
It is well documented that the deer farms have a high percentage of CWD infected deer, and that regulations for those farms are not sufficient to ensure those deer do not escape to infect the wild. I'd be at least a little reassured that there is a serious concern about reducing the spread of CWD if these deer farms were eliminated or at least more regulated. Right now its difficult not to see this as just another convenient excuse to get rid of deer, and indirectly another attack on hunting.
Doorknob....it`s 50 years since CWD was first discovered. That was the year we landed on the moon. Just think about that for a bit.
This is a November article.....it is from the perspective of the Cervid Farm Alliance. The writer does bring up a good point about who spread the diseases to whom. Does this apply to Wisconsin's disease spread? Could free range deer have spread the disease to the farm deer?
More to chronic wasting disease than deer farms Charly Seale, American Cervid Alliance Published 7:54 p.m. CT Nov. 3, 2018 Sick
I’d like to respond to falsehoods in a recent article about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The Missouri Department of Conservation is doing a disservice to all landowners and hunters by obsessively attacking deer farmers over CWD. While CWD was first detected on a deer farm in Missouri before being found in free-ranging deer in the surrounding area, that does not tell us where the disease came from. Was CWD spread to the farm by free-ranging deer, or vice versa?
With the deer farms testing 100% of their mortalities and not finding any more cases, and MDC testing less than 1% of the harvested deer and finding 75 cases, most experts in disease issues will tell you it was more apt to have been transferred from the wild deer to the deer farm.
Arkansas offers a lesson. In 2015, CWD was found for the first time in Arkansas, in a part of the state where there are no deer farms. Subsequent testing found it in scores of free-ranging deer. Some experts believe CWD existed, quietly, for years without being detected, due to the fact that they had stopped testing any significant numbers back in 2002, as had Missouri.
Contrast that with deer farms, which conduct mandatory testing of all eligible animals if they move deer across state lines. Deer farms are the “canary in the coal mine” for CWD moving into an area because they are constantly testing for CWD. But that doesn’t mean they are the source.
Further, the idea that a culling strategy will work is bogus. Wisconsin spent $30 million on an eradication and prevalence reduction strategy in CWD affected areas, and the deer herd grew by 40 percent in those areas in the subsequent years. CWD was found in Wisconsin in 2002, and since then the herd has doubled in two of the most highly infected counties, and there has been no reduction in the prevalence of the disease.
CWD is a slow-acting disease that can incubate for years. CWD has not proven to have any significant impact on the wild cervid populations in CWD endemic states such as Colorado or Wisconsin as stated on record by wildlife agencies. Science has shown that the decline in the mule deer populations over the past few years in these western states have been from urban sprawl, drought, depredation, human environmental intervention and over-hunting.
For years, MDC has failed to prioritize testing of hunter-harvested deer for CWD. The agency needs to conduct more testing so that hunters know exactly where CWD is prevalent. The agency should also strictly enforce a ban on bringing in carcasses from CWD-positive areas, as that is one easy way for CWD to spread from one area to another. But it’s time to stop the politically motivated blame-game against deer farms.
Charly Seale, American Cervid Alliance
CW and JL-Excellent information and excellent questions. Again, I suggest you think logically and long about the financial aspect of CWD. How is research funded and by whom is one aspect. Give some thought to the long-range aspect. Now, consider this. Both EHD and cervid/vehicle collisions kill far more animals each year than CWD. And for sure, collisions kill more humans than CWD. This morning, our TWRA is holding "An Emergency" meeting to discuss possible methods of control. Should be quite interesting.
I've been hunting the WI "CWD area" since long before they found their first case in 2002. The sky isn't falling, and people aren't getting sick from eating venison. Truly much ado over nothing.
Good thing we still have unlimited elk tags so CPW will still be able to make money after they kill all the deer! At least until the wolves show up and kill all the elk...
Wild deer infecting penned deer. I would think all of those game farms would have double fencing to prevent that.