Reduced the 4-point on-a-side antler requirement on the restricted tag of the combination license in the 16-county CWD Management Zone. Under the new regulation, a hunter in the CWD Management Zone can use the restricted tag of the combination license to harvest a buck with antlers as long as it has at least one 3-inch antler. Created a discounted antlerless license opportunity in the CWD Management Zone on private land; if purchased, the license will expire Nov. 4, 2018. Effective immediately, a statewide ban on the use of all natural cervid urine-based lures and attractants, except for lures that are approved by the Archery Trade Association. An immediate ban on baiting and feeding in the 16-county area identified as the CWD Management Zone. This area includes Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Ottawa and Shiawassee counties. A ban on baiting and feeding in the Lower Peninsula, effective Jan. 31, 2019, with an exception to this ban for hunters with disabilities who meet specific requirements. The start date on this regulation is intended to allow bait producers and retailers time to adjust to the new rule. Effective immediately in the CWD Management Zone and four-county bovine tuberculosis area (in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Oscoda counties), hunters with disabilities who meet specific requirements can now use 2 gallons of single-bite bait, such as shelled corn, during the Liberty and Independence hunts. Allowance of all legal firearms to be used in muzzleloader season in the CWD Management Zone. A purchase limit of 10 private-land antlerless licenses per hunter in the CWD Management Zone. Restrictions on deer carcass movement in the five-county CWD Core Area (Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm and Newaygo counties) and the CWD Management Zone. Antlerless options on deer licenses/combo licenses during firearms seasons in the five-county CWD Core Area. Expansion of early and late antlerless seasons in select counties. Changes to regulations regarding wildlife rehabilitators. In addition, the commission asked the DNR to move forward with:
An experimental mandatory antler point restriction regulation in a five-county CWD Core Area, including Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm and Newaygo counties. The restriction would begin in 2019, provided a survey of hunters shows support for the requirement and specific department guidelines are met. This is intended as a tool to evaluate the effects of antler point restrictions on the spread and prevalence of CWD, along with deer population reduction. A hunter-submitted proposal for mandatory antler point restrictions in Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, St. Clair and Lapeer counties. If hunter surveys support this regulation and specific department guidelines are met, it would be implemented in 2019.
I wish MI would allow the combo tags to be used with does in the UP again. I know BIG BEAR has really pushed for this. We have too many does on our land too.
The bait ban is fine in the CWD areas but not banning bait plots too is mind boggling. IMO I don't see a difference between placing bait and growing bait. In fact I would suggest bait plots have a more dire effect because they are around longer allowing deer to congregate for longer periods of time. The prions will have a long time to be spread thru the whole bait plot. The bait ban for all of the LP doesn't make sense. One concern I have is instead of public land folks sitting still at their blinds or tree stands they now maybe more inclined to do deer drives pushing the deer. IMO that is not good for the public land folks who prefer blind/stand hunting.
I can only speak for the areas I hunt around TVC but public land hunting (buck-wise) is horrible. A few small bucks and not many bigger ones. You'll see the occasional nice one on cam but they are the exception and not the rule. The hunting pressure the first week of the firearms opener is horrendous. IMO there are way too many hunters in the woods at once. Quite a few state land campers coming up nowadays. I would like to see (and have suggested to the NRC/DNR) to split the firearms season into two draw seasons to spread the hunters out. We all know...or should know, the majority of deer are killed the first week of the season. I believe if the hunters are spread out, more deer should survive and the hunting experience would be better for the hunters.
The private land I hunt on SE of Cadillac has some decent bucks on it. Quite honestly...and somewhat hypocritically, when baiting is banned, we'll probably keep running bait plots. This will have a negative impact on the nearby public land hunters who can't bait. In fact, I feel the NRC/DNR creates regs (MAPR's, bait ban, etc) that hurt the public land hunter and are biased towards the private land hunter.
I don't understand the MPR test. Doesn't it make sense that the longer a deer lives the more likely he will contract a disease? And the longer he will spread a disease? Is it a coincidence that CWD has come about after MPR's came into vogue?
JL's Link
"" Don't know if you heard, 2 more positives found in Montcalm Co. from summer crop damage permits, 1 was a yearling buck and the other was a 2.5 year old doe. ""
EDIT: I just got word it was announced last Thursday but there may not be any press releases on it.
"...a statewide ban on the use of all natural cervid urine-based lures and attractants, except for lures that are approved by the Archery Trade Association..."
There is no test to determine if a farmed deer (source of pee lures) has CWD. The live tonsular assay only can determine that the CWD prions are below a detectable level. So, we have a commercial oriented group approving the use of specific sponsor lures? I guess a big donation to ATA will allow any cervid farmer to sell his pee as "safe". Like the introduction of the crossbow into the general archery season, money talks.
JL's Link
Who's Taking Action?
SUPPORT the Deer Protection Program and HELP stop the spread of CWD by purchasingscents labeled with the official ATA Seal of Participation. Only scents marked withthe Seal are from manufacturers that have taken the initiative to be part of thisProgram and abide by its requirements.
Participating Manufacturers
Altus Brands
Black Widow Deer Lures
Buck Baits
Buck Bomb
Code Blue
Conquest Scents
Doc’s Deer Scents
Hunter's Edge
Hunter’s Specialities
Jackies Deer Lures LLC
James Valley Scents
LockDown Outdoors
Martine's Deer Scents
Mrs. Doe Pee Buck Lures
Nationwide Scents
Nexus Outdoors
Pure Whitetail
Tink's
Wild Carrot Scents
Wildgame Innovations
Wildlife Research Center
Wyndscent
CWD prions, once introduced into the environment, will remain and not be degraded over time by natural causes (sunshine, rain, snow, cold, etc.). This has been well proven with scrapie positive sheep (a related prionic disease) where land was left fallow, topsoil removed and chemically treated...negative scrapie sheep were reintroduced to land and scrapie reappeared in that flock.
I agree with many game managers that herd reduction, sometimes drastic, is wise in the face of known disease transmissions and potential outbreaks.
JL's Link
Prion diseases (Scrapie, BSE, CWD, CJD, vCJD, etc) are neurological diseases caused by an abnormal prion that causes proteins to mis-fold leading to the symptoms seen. The only way to identify that there is a prion caused disease is through immunostaining of brain tissue...something that cannot be done on a live animal.
Prions are not denatured or destroyed by the environment (sun, cold, rain, snow, etc.), nor are they destroyed by cooking.
The testing done to check the presence of CWD in live cervids can only tell if an animal's level of prions (or not) is below the level of the assay's sensitivity. A negative test does not mean that the animal is free from CWD, only that the level of prions is below the sensitivity of the assay. When harvested deer are tested, any positive tests seen are then sent to Ames lab for verification by immuno-staining.
When it comes to cross species transfer, it had long been held that there is a specie specific barrier. However, this no longer can be held due to the outbreak of BSE (mad cow) seen in Great Britain where downer cattle which suffered from BSE entered the food chain. One factor in transmission there may be linked to dietary differences in the British diet where parts of a cow are more likely part of the diet (blood sausage, marrow, brains). Recent research with laboratory primates have also called into question cross specie transmission.
Transmission of CWD to other species for study is rather routine and urine, saliva, feces have been shown to pass the abnormal prions. Laboratories have the ability to use much more sensitive assays to demonstrate the presence of prions. These assays are specialized, time consuming and not cost effective for any screening.
As far as transmission to humans, the canned warning that CWD has not been seen as transferred t humans does not take into consideration a number of factors. Symptoms (especially early symptoms) of prion disease can be seen in other neurological diseases. Diagnosis is based upon a physician's diagnostic experience and training. MS, Alzheimers, dementia, etc. share a number of similar symptoms.
One of my first jobs was acting as a deiner at autopsies (assistant). Today, autopsies are rare unless there is a medico-legal aspect, suspected crime or institutional inquiry paid by research funds. Ergo, it is rare that a potential CWD death would be identified.
With the presence of CWD in our deer herd, an obviously sick deer should never be eaten. However, a healthy deer can be eaten with minimal fear if certain precautions are taken. Understanding the progression of CWD gives guidance. The abnormal prions begin infection via the gut. They then progress through the lymphatic system and enter the spinal cord. When the brain becomes infected, signs of the disease begin.
Wear gloves.
First, filet/bone out a deer and do not expose the meat to the bone marrow. Then avoid the heavily lympatic organs such as liver and spleen. In separating the muscles while processing, cut away the exposed lymphatics. Never eat the brain.
There is much evidence from BSE in Great Britain that development in humans is dose dependent. Therefore, it is probably wise to wait till one hears from the state as to testing done on deer where heads are collected before consuming.
The ATA certification of urine based scent lures does nothing about the prevention or spread of CWD. Those lure providers are just paying money so that their products can still be promoted and sold. If one really really depends on them to hunt, it might be wise to carry a large syringe and bottle and harvest your own...odds are that there is less chance of spreading CWD than using a farmed commercial urine.
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE, CERVID - USA (12): (MN) RESEARCH ********************************************************* A ProMED-mail post
Date: Thu 16 Aug 2018 Source: MPR News [edited]
Back in March [2018], field biologists caught and collared 109 deer. They've been tracking them ever since, trying to get a sense of where and how quickly chronic wasting disease [CWD] could spread.
The findings are still preliminary at this point, but so far, head researcher Christopher Jennelle said slowing the spread of the disease might be more complicated than biologists thought. "One of our female animals has traveled approximately 80 miles [about 129 km]," he said. "That really blew our minds."
Since the fall of 2016, 17 cases of chronic wasting disease have been found in the wild deer population of southeastern Minnesota. There's no cure and no vaccine, although teams of scientists are working on it. Right now, CWD is 100 percent fatal.
The disease has spread rapidly in other states. In parts of Wisconsin, an estimated 40-50 percent of deer are infected. And that happened in a very short time. In 1999, the 1st year the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources began monitoring the disease, just 3 animals tested positive. By 2017, that number had climbed to 600. [The question here is how many were tested and over what range of distance. It is not stated, but likely this is hunter or road kills. - Mod.TG]
If the same thing happens in Minnesota's deer herds, the effects could be dramatic.
The point of this study is to understand how infected deer could potentially move on the landscape. "When deer reach the 1st year of life," Jennelle said, "they have to make a decision: whether they want to remain in their birth range, or if they want to disperse from it and establish a new adult range elsewhere."
He hoped that since southeastern Minnesota is such a lush habitat for deer, they wouldn't feel the need to spread out, thus isolating the disease in one, more easily managed location. But it doesn't seem to be the case. More young deer than expected choose to disperse, and they're dispersing farther. Jennelle brought up one young doe that walked all the way from Forestville State Park to Cannon Falls, at least 77 miles [about 124 km].
Most deer didn't go that far, but they did go farther than researchers hoped.
"What does that mean for CWD?" Jennelle said. "Well, it doesn't bode well. I'll put it that way."
Another surprise, he said, is which deer are traveling. Up until this point, efforts to slow the disease tended to focus on mature bucks, which are the most likely carriers of CWD.
"We totally expected our juvenile males to be our movers and shakers here," he said.
But in this study, does, on average, traveled twice as far as bucks. So if one is infected, it could spread the disease over a much larger range.
Jennelle pointed out that the sample sizes are still too small to draw sweeping conclusions. And there are a lot of things researchers still don't know about CWD. Infected deer might behave differently than the healthy ones in Jennelle's study. They could, he said, feel sick and run-down and decide to stay in their birth range.
The study will provide better data over the next few years.
Annony Mouse's Link
At present, there are no assays to identify whether or not a deer is CWD positive without immunostaining brain tissue at the Ames lab. The ELIZA assay used to screen for the presence of CWD can only determine if a deer's prion level is BELOW the sensitivity of the test.
ATA certification of deer urine lures is a load of crap...lobbyists paying politicians.
Concur. I do think the cert is to say the supplier is following/running the deer farm IAW USDA/APHIS regs.
