Anyone concerned about cronic wasting disease in the deer family?

Yes. Deer "farms" have spread this disease all over the country now. Nothing seems to help. The way people bait deer together in the East, you can expect unimaginable damage in the near future. So sad. One local lady here swears it is what killed her avid-hunter husband with brain disease . They can't prove it, but still scary. The year I got my moose was the first year a moose had ever contracted the disease on record. A hunter shot it in the same unit I got mine.

So if deer aren't baited in the West why did it originate and spread there

Interesting question 4nolz. Since it was first discovered in 1967, in Colorado.

If you want to get a better understanding of CWD, read this information:

https://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/chronic_wasting_disease/

Well Illinois dnr is testing deer for hunters free of charge, will even come to your home if it's infected to pick it up and destroy it. There are studies that show it maybe transmit table to human, not 100 percent sure but they are thinking it is.

In my mind, deer farms and deer scents need to end, yes I know it's a big money making industry but the spread of CWD seems to jump and the only thing I see the selling of animals and the urines.

CWD was discovered in Wisconsin in 2002. Since then thousands upon thousands of deer have been tested by the WI DNR and it has been discovered in many areas of the state. Highest concentration of CWD positive deer is in southern/central portion of state. Of course, bucks are more likely to contract CWD than does, older bucks most susceptible to contract disease. WI DNR has tried a number of different strategies to combat/eliminate CWD with, to date, minimal or no success. Millions of $$$ have been spent so far and about the only thing that has been learned is that there is no "magic bullet" to eliminate CWD. Live animals cannot be tested for CWD. CWD is 100%, always, fatal for affected cervids.

4nolz, Nobody to the best of my knowledge has ever claimed that baiting is the cause of CWD. THey think it helps spread the disease.

Like you and I shaking hand and I'm in the beginning of getting a severe cold.

Not exactly sure of the rules in WI, but I think that if it's discovered in a county, baiting in that county and all surrounding counties is prohibited.

Just this year it was discovered next to the best county in the world for whitetails. So if the above is true, there'll be no baiting there next year.

Bowmania

I think the Colorado problem began with a deer farm, nothing to do with baiting. Same situation as with cattle.

In response New Mexico Game & Fish set up near-mandatory field testing for a couple of years, finding no examples (I think) from hunts.

I'll never eat venison or elk bought from a grocery store or served in a restaurant because it is always farmed.

I shot a big racked mulie in Gallatin Co. Mt in 1987. It was literally skin and bone. I nonetheless dragged it out four miles and took it to FWP office. They took it, issued me a new tag and refused to let me keep the rack. Now I know why. It probably had CWD but they were not about to tell me or let it get out. The brain is the most likely avenue for CWD transmission so no rack for me. I shot the deer on public land directly adjacent to Ted Turner's Spanish Peaks ranch. I have always wondered since then if any of his herd animals could have had and transmitted CWD to wild ungulates nearby. Then in around the late 90s a guy I knew in HS has some Colorado elk here in CNY, and they ended up transmitting CWD to some local Oneida Co. deer. They were testing deer right on my own land, and all local deer had to be checked in, with heads turned in to DEC for testing for several years in Rome. Only a very few tested positive. But those wlk came from CO. Yes Im concerned.

I looked into CWD several years back and as I recall, there was some thought or evidence it may have originally come from domestic livestock at the university research facility at Ft. Collins, CO and "jumped" to deer, possible at the same research center. My apologies in advance if this is not exactly correct, but that is the best recollection I have and may give a direction for those interested to follow up on. It seemed like it was not widely reported. We had a gentleman die in our county from the human variant of the disease. A moose also tested positive for it on the Idaho/Wyoming border. Hopefully, a researcher or biologist will come on and help us fill in the gaps.

We have CWD here in PA for about 8 eight years. We have it in the central and south central area. And close to my area Northwest, in Jefferson County. The CWD in my area, i believe seems to come from deer farms. We have deer farms in the area. Pa Game Commission is very concerned. We have a nice elk population here in the north central part of the state. I would love to see the deer farms forced to close. Deer farms here are under the control Department of Agriculture. Over the many years just observing this big buck craze, I see that the whitetail deer has made the people greedy.

I had a friend in PA that raised whitetail and elk in the late 90's. They made lamps from sheds

Sold elk antler to the chinese.

He also sold a 26 point double drop tine buck for $25,000 to a ranch in Texas

Not promoting deer farming, just saying he made a good bit of money

I am going to get every deer tested from now on.

It's been illegal to feed deer in Illinois for around ten years because of this concern. Some dumb a.. senator, over the objections of biologist and scientist, has proposed a bill to make it legal to feed deer.

A positive farm buck was allowed to transported across the State to be shot at another farm.

What if? Money talks ta hell with safety.

It's a condition that can't be stopped. The prions can lay in the soil for years and still be lethal. You can't kill it, you can't vaccinate against it. Any attempt at eradicating it by killing off the deer is pointless.

I keep up on cwd pretty closely. The thing that I've always wondered is if Colorado has had cwd for 50 years, what is their deer and elk population like after all these years? It seems like an awful lot of people still go there to hunt each year. Is it contained or have the deer and elk built up an immunity? Any input from Colorado hunters?

After finding out that my hunting unit was undergoing CWD testing/research, I read up on the subject.

My takeaway was that it is here to stay. It's a pretty sobering topic to read about.

The article I read said that CWD originated from sheep scrapies. A research facility had sheep in a pen that were infected, and didn't realize they had it or didn't realize that it would spread to the deer that they then put in the same pen.

I also get the impression that eating CWD deer is most likely not a problem. Deer and sheep are more closely related than humans and deer so it would be harder for the disease to spread to us. That said, a recent study with Macaques showed that they contracted the disease after consuming contaminated meat.

The silver lining is that there are some deer who test positive for the disease, yet appear completely unaffected. My hope is that these deer have some sort of immunity that should hopefully spread throughout the herd.

Disclaimer: I'm not a biologist or educated on the subject.

I'd also like to add (since testing is now going on in my area) that if the deer I were to shoot looked healthy (as they almost always do), I doubt that I'd have one tested. Until a definitive link showing that disease can spread to humans, ignorance is bliss in my book.

This is anecdotal, so...

But I heard the other day that in St Clair, Hickory & Benton counties, MO the MO Dept of Cons. requested slaughter of EVERY deer by local farmers.

These three counties typically report the highest deer kill numbers by hunters annually. High concentrations of deer, high agricultural row crop use (corn & soybeans).

No other info.

As far as I know there is no study and no person who can prove the following:

1.) that the thousands of healthy deer killed in the name of CWD sampling would have even contracted the disease. Quite possibly these healthy deer may either have the DNA to avoid it, or have developed an immunity to it.

2.) that any infected deer lacks the above on an individual basis, i.e. that specific deer.

Most states now prohibit a hunter from transporting a carcass over state lines. Wouldn't the DNR rather have the spinal column thrown out in the domestic trash, as opposed to tossed into a ditch out back. Remember, prions last a long time, quite possibly years, in the soil.

I asked a CWD biologist about this. He said that hunters should bury spinal columns with at least 8" of soil cover. With what - a jackhammer when the ground is frozen solid?

Way too much emotion driving the CWD eradication. Almost a frenzy to shoot as many deer as possible.

Very weak on the fact side of the equation. One thing is for sure - once they find even one deer with it in your area, kiss your quality deer hunting good by. Now THAT is a fact!

As far as I know there is no study and no person who can prove the following:

1.) that the thousands of healthy deer killed in the name of CWD sampling would have even contracted the disease. Quite possibly these healthy deer may either have the DNA to avoid it, or have developed an immunity to it.

2.) that any infected deer lacks the above on an individual basis, i.e. that specific deer.

Most states now prohibit a hunter from transporting a carcass over state lines. Wouldn't the DNR rather have the spinal column thrown out in the domestic trash, as opposed to tossed into a ditch out back. Remember, prions last a long time, quite possibly years, in the soil.

I asked a CWD biologist about this. He said that hunters should bury spinal columns with at least 8" of soil cover. With what - a jackhammer when the ground is frozen solid?

Way too much emotion driving the CWD eradication. Almost a frenzy to shoot as many deer as possible.

Very weak on the fact side of the equation. One thing is for sure - once they find even one deer with it in your area, kiss your quality deer hunting good by. Now THAT is a fact!

Hey maybe that's what I have mad Cat I got from a deer or bird flue since some are doctors and think I have Lymes. LOL

Deny tried to pass off mad cow on Boston legal now did't he.LOL

Got to get something when you been in the bush all your life.

“CWD, any concerns” None. The biologist that are studying and implementing ways to slow the spread of CWD are much more qualified than our average joe with a keyboard. Arkansas game and fish has done a good job addressing CWD and seems to be successful so far at whatever containment may be possible with nature. CWD is here to stay and may have been around a lot longer than we know. To say that once they find one deer with it in your area means your quality deer hunting is over is completely false. It should mean feeding deer and deer scents should be stopped in order to try and slow the spread. It should mean testing every deer killed or found dead. It should mean hunters in that area should be diligent in doing their part to help identify troubled deer but by no means does it mean the end of quality deer hunting. There are several states that prove it can be addressed successfully.

I'm surprised the hunting in CO cwd positive areas, esp with 25% occurrence, is not halted for human safety since it is possible to contract it according to some. Seems to me to be a pretty passive stance on the issue by CO fish and game dept. Why test for it if nothing is going to be done to keep people from contracting it? Another money talks issue? Curious...

There's nothing definitive saying that CWD can transfer to humans. There's just way too much money in hunting to start cutting permits with the lack of hard evidence at this time.

I'd also say that despite the fact that CWD is spreading here in Utah, the quality of hunting in the last 10 years has gone up in my unit.

That's not to say that CWD may not eventually catch up to the herd and do it's damage, but I'm not aware of any significant culling or disease loss.

The fact that it originated here and spread like wildfire, without baiting, is the very reason that it is a timebomb where baiting IS allowed.

The scary thing is the prions have been discovered in plants...consider the implications if it can "infect" crop plants such as wheat, corn, potatoes, beets...what happens when an infected deer's dropping are in crop fields?

I suspect there are numerous studies underway on this, most perhaps secret, by the big ag companies. What's scary is that the stuff could be spread by the dirt on your boots, tires, maybe even by wind? A lot of money needs to be put into reseach NOW to understand the full scope of things, including soil, plant, and deer material from long ago to nail down the history of this.

IMO, a small amount of hunting tag/license dollars should go to help funding, We need a lot of researchers working on this, not just a few.

Hunters can help by urging wildlife agencies and others to get going on this, If it does infect the general food supply separately from game animals, it could be a disaster esp. if the prions are capable of mutating...even that apparently is an unknown.

All of the questions about CWD do have answers....we need those answers NOW.

I will amend my comment that once even one deer is found with CWD in your area, your quality deer hunting is (correction: is likely to be) over. NOT from that one deer per se, but from the ensuing deer killing to follow to "eradicate" CWD. But I guess that it depends on how your DNR responds to it. I did use too broad a brush in that statement. Sorry about that.

I should clarify my experience: at least in the midwest state that I have hunted for over 40 years, once a CWD positive deer is found in the county there is no limit to antlerless bow and gun tags in that specific county, as well as DNR sharpshooters over bait. Buck restrictions are lifted in the county as well. Extra gun season. That course of action goes on for years. The deer population gets pounded year after year. BTW baiting has NEVER been allowed in the state.

If you think that the unrestricted killing of deer in a geographic area does not impact the quality of the deer hunting, then you and I obviously have vastly different deer management and hunting experiences. Maybe your state handles it differently. If so, good for you.

I'm having trouble understanding how CWD can be "eradicated" in a state. The prions are in the soil waiting for the next deer to come in contact with them. At that point, CWD is no longer eradicated. Unless everything that I read from CWD biologists is incorrect. IF unrestricted killing is what's required to stop the spread, then I can accept that. But how can CWD be eradicated once the prions are in the soil?

https://www.agweb.com/article/chronic-wasting-disease-a-time-bomb-for- agriculture-naa-chris-bennett/

If the above link doesn't work, try: https://tinyurl.com/ya9p85gq

Great overall article including agriculture risk plus another map.

Back in 2002 or 2003 one of the guys in our Colorado elk camp shot a nice bull that tested positive for CWD (mandatory testing that year). This was real near where the very first cases in Colorado and Wyoming were found. By the time we found out that it was positive we had already butchered and shared the meat with everyone in camp. All of us ate our share of the meat and never gave it a second thought. There was no evidence then nor is there now that CWD can be transmitted to humans. In any case, the DOW gave him his money back for the tag.

It's amazing how guys blame deer farms and baiting, when one positive dead deer/elk will be scattered all over by predators and birds?

It's a problem that needs to be monitored, there's no other actual info other then that.

Killing everything I'm sure slows it down on the following testing but will get more watered down with time.

David A., that map you posted is not entirely accurate. NY does not have CWD in wild deer herds, and none that I know of in Captive ones. Not any more. Not since '11 or 12. Only 2 or 3 ever deer ever tested positive, and that was way back in the early 2000s. The mandatory head turn in program in CNY is long gone now. As far as Montana goes, I don't believe that is accurate either. I would bet money that some cwd is present there. Just not documented. (I can't be certain of that, I just have a hunch).

Re: Montana, I heard it had been detected there and/or very close to the border this year.

Another truly disturbing thing in the link I gave in CWD has been shown to be transmitted by water to plants....it doesn't take much imagination to contemplate how serious this could be.

Shawn, deer can transmit CWD to other cervids even though tthe infected deer look healty.

Easier and more efficient testing methods needed in known areas.

Read Wyoming regs related to CWD. Very confusing and a logistical nightmare to get something tested especially for non-res hunters. We've been stopped at mandatory check station in known CWD area and G&F never mentioned anything about CWD or testing.

I'm not eating any deer or elk.

I'm not eating any deer or elk.

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