Guys and ladies, I recently picked up a copy of Pennsylvania News, its kinda a statewide paper that talks about hunting. One of the articles in this most recent issue talks about Cronic wasting disease in Pa., and in other state, like Wisconsin, that have had it for a while. One fact that really caught my attention was that in the core areas of Wisconsin for example, up to 25% of the bucks have CWD, up from 3% ten years ago. As many of you know we have CWD in Pa now. So here is my question, what do other hunters do in states with CWD, especially, in the core areas. Do they still hunt? Do they keep their deer and eat them? Do they see sick deer? What is your current philosophy about hunting. As a lifelong Pa hunter I'm trying to come to terms with this problem and need to think about my future in deer hunting. I would especially like to hear from hunters in other states that have had to deal with this concern for years now. Your thoughts would really be appreciated. Charlie.

I hunted the CWD area of WI since before they found CWD (2002) until 2010. I never had a deer tested, never saw one that looked sick, and ate everything I killed. The first few years there was a lot of paranoia going around -- people saying folks would die from eating venison. It was kind of funny in a way, and I had no shortage of places to hunt. Things eventually calmed down.

JRW, thats sooo good to hear. I need to hear more of that.

It's now within one county of where I hunt in IL. When it gets here, if it's not here already, I will stop eating the organs and the neck meat. It's been in CO since the 60's maybe 50's and have heard of nobody being infected.

Hap

Hot Hap what county you in? I think CWD has been around forever and we never noticed it or discussed it. It's is probably around a lot more than we know. I don't eat the neck and not going to worry about it. When the DNR comes out and says don't eat it then there will be something to worry about.

I eat everything I shoot but don't cook with the bone in. I don't eat organs! Except for fresh calf fries if I'm at my friends ranch at the right time!

I live on the Kankakee-Iroquois county line. Hap

Here the DNR solution was to kill everything that moved and issue unlimited doe tags. Most of the deer killed were fawns that didn't even figure into the data base. Needless to say that area is now devoid of deer. EHD has taken care of the rest.

Here in WI the DNR went overboard when CWD was discovered. There was a huge fear campaign going around and people shot and dumped tons of deer. Literally tons. The had semi trailers lined up that were filled with carcasses. The DNR employed there own wardens to sharpshoot piles of deer in key areas. I personally know of one warden who shot over 225 deer in one season at night over bait. And where are we... apparently no further ahead at eliminating CWD than before.

I'm more of the opinion that it's been around and isn't going anywhere. The commonly held opinion is to not eat the organs and glands. Also, avoid the brain and spinal column. If it looks healthy I don't see any reason to avoid eating a deer.

I eaten deer that have tested positive and I will keep eating them! I am 65 yrs old and have been eating them my whole life! No doubt that if and animal looks sick take it out of the herd and contact the DNR! It's Mother Natures way of handling over population in certain area's! As Andrew Zimmerman say's " If it looks GOOD EAT IT"! Good Luck this Fall!

According to biologists the virus can't be transferred to humans. If a deer looks sick or emaciated, then dispatch it and call the DNR, or whoever your local authority is. Most will give you a new tag if you don't want the meat.

This year in our area, they have allotted tags for what they call a Disease Management Area. When you take a deer, you must report your findings about it to the Pa. Game Commission via reply card or internet. They want to see if they can get more usable information in this area where they have had some CWD occurrence.

If a deer looks healthy, I use it. If it displays any kind of sickness, I will turn it over to the commission and get another tag. I have yet to see more than one deer in over 50 years of hunting here in Pa., that looked anything but healthy.

i talked to the W C O this summer from Venango county and she showed me a small video and we talked about c w d at length . she said the only way to know if an animal has C W D is to have the tissue sample done and it does cost the hunter for the test now she also showed me a pic of an animal that was very near death from C W D . and then of a dear that looked fine to me but she went on to say that animal could very well have CWD in the hunter hand book it explains about he C W D .

I live in the middle of Wisconsins CWD eradication I kill and eat any deer I shoot. I personally believe there has been CWD as long as there have been deer. I'm in the woods a lot more than the average guy, whether I'm hunting, scouting, flyfishing or guiding fly anglers. I have NEVER seen a sick deer while in the field. The Wisconsin DNR did so much damage to our deer herd that it will take seasons to recover. I've seen the trucks loaded down with yearling fawns at the registration station. Where once you might take an evening drive and see 50 or more deer in an evening you really are lucky to see 3. Entire public hunting areas have little evidence that deer even live there. Last season, late in the season, I hunted a huge cattail marsh that I waited for freezing weather and snow to still hunt. My intention was to slowly sneak around in the fresh 3 day old snow and hopefully surprise a bedded deer during mid-day. This swamp is maybe 1 mile wide. I still hunted the edge the entire length without cutting a single track. I then walked straight down the middle, all the way back to my truck without cutting a track. A lot of hunters are complaining about the severe lack of deer and they aren't imagining it. We had an "earn-a-buck policy for the last several years. You had to kill a doe to earn a buck tag and there were an unlimited number of doe tags you could acquire, free! Add onto that the "sharp shooters" (grimace) who shot deer at night over bait piles killing scores of pregnant does each during the winter when deer were seeking any forage they could find and you can see how badly the DNR handled this CWD concern. I have had every deer I killed tested for CWD I have never gotten a positive result, nor has anyone I know ever killed a deer which tested positive for CWD. It's a VERY sore spot fore a lot of us here!

hate to say this a lot of people will probably disagree but stop all the food plots ,salt & mineral licks and deer feeders will help slow it down. Why because when deer are grazing in a 100 acres slim chance they all at the same spot. with salt and feeder are food plots deer are all concentrated in a small area day after day way more chance of spreading.

thanks for the perspective guys. Sounds like the DEP/DNR are not necessarily thinking this through.

I worry more about eating fish than eating deer. There are warnings to only eat fish once a week in fish caught in some places. If venison was harmful there would be quite a few of us in trouble.lol

bigdog21 - You might have a point, however it was in Colorado and parts of the west, before coming to Wis, and those areas were void of those practices, I believe.......

If I shoot a deer in Wis, I must have that deer completely boned out, before transporting the deer across the border.

fortunately, by asking around, I found a guy who lets me skin and process in one of his garages, for the price of a case of beer, that is a good deal.....

What simplelife said X2!!

I killed a sick one 3 years ago that was sick outside of the CWD disease area. The DNR wouldn't say what was wrong with it.

I live in Blair County, Central PA. I'm right in the center of the CWD outbreak. Last November we had an obviously sick deer hanging around in our development. He wouldn't even run from people or dogs. PA Game Commission was contacted several times and they did respond. However, they wouldn't put the deer down claiming it didn't have CWD. The deer took up residence in my shrubbery until it passed away outside my window the Friday night before the first Saturday of the rifle season. Game Commission officers came and took him away. I never heard the results of the testing but I'm betting CWD..........the long term effect on our deer herd and hunting are yet unknown. We were already in a "deer poor" situation around here anyway. Trying to find deer sign (or live deer) on the Game Lands located around my home is a tough chore. Might as well go looking for "Bigfoot" who, by the way, has been spotted recently in Central PA.............I'm heading to NYS to hunt this year.

Copperhead. I think the deer I killed had it too. I think it is hushed up.

Pretty clear that CWD does not affect humans in any way...here in Alberta there are a large number of Wildlife Management Units where the heads of all deer taken must be submitted for examination

DDave

Prions can change over time. The biomolecular barrier between CWD prions and plants has already failed. Be careful.

I'm curious if anyone knows if there were any commercial deer farms in the area of the cwd outbreak in PA? I read an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press which included a map of the cwd outbreaks starting in the western states. The one thing that the majority of the outbreaks had in common is that there were commercial deer farms in the area. It was probably ten years ago since I read this and before it was discovered in Wisconsin if my memory serves me correct.

Sorry if my question is a little off the original topic.

guzzi2000; to answer your question YES! There are deer farms in the area of PA where the CWD outbreak is occurring. In fact, it was first discovered in the captive herd and, according to the story, infected deer escaped and are the cause of the problems we're now having.

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