Time To Get Serious About CWD

[Traildust]

Nothing to see here folks....move along ~ TDA

[Backwoods101]

The sky is not falling.
I live and hunt in a CWD endemic area. Our herds are doing fine. Not one person has ever been diagnosed with CWD, variant CJD is the human form, in our state. We manage a ranch that literally borders the WG&F facility where it was brought to study in the 60's. Yes elk and deer are affected , not one domestic animal, cattle etc has ever been diagnosed with CWD. The only way that CWD was infected in primates was through direct injection into their brain. We have lived with it for years, yes you will see some infected animals, but my thought is it has been around forever just lately recognized and studied. I have no doubt we have consumed CWD meat but as of yet no issues. Are area is ground zero for Wyoming, where it was brought to study and has been found to be endemic to our herds. Elk and deer numbers are not tanking, elk are at all time highs right now for population numbers.
Would I eat a noticeably sick animal , no way, but I also don't worry about eating any other animal I harvest.
We have had it for years living in our environment, no- ZERO- human cases of CWD or variant CJD.
If you want to feed brain or spinal matter to your cattle then yes you may need to worry, but to date the research showing a cross over via just eating CWD infected animals does not exist. The primate study has its flaws, look it up and read it.

Thank you for your feedback and good write up.

[Dave]

The sky is not falling.
I live and hunt in a CWD endemic area. Our herds are doing fine. Not one person has ever been diagnosed with CWD, variant CJD is the human form, in our state. We manage a ranch that literally borders the WG&F facility where it was brought to study in the 60's. Yes elk and deer are affected , not one domestic animal, cattle etc has ever been diagnosed with CWD. The only way that CWD was infected in primates was through direct injection into their brain. We have lived with it for years, yes you will see some infected animals, but my thought is it has been around forever just lately recognized and studied. I have no doubt we have consumed CWD meat but as of yet no issues. Are area is ground zero for Wyoming, where it was brought to study and has been found to be endemic to our herds. Elk and deer numbers are not tanking, elk are at all time highs right now for population numbers.
Would I eat a noticeably sick animal , no way, but I also don't worry about eating any other animal I harvest.
We have had it for years living in our environment, no- ZERO- human cases of CWD or variant CJD.
If you want to feed brain or spinal matter to your cattle then yes you may need to worry, but to date the research showing a cross over via just eating CWD infected animals does not exist. The primate study has its flaws, look it up and read it.

Mule deer and elk in Wyoming and whitetail deer in Texas are two completely different things.

[DamonJ]

Mule deer and elk in Wyoming and whitetail deer in Texas are two completely different things.

I am definitely not in the "KNOW" on the CWD, but I do have a good buddy that is from Wisconsin and he said that it was blown way out of proportion.

EHD kills the deer a lot faster......

[wytex]

Yes they are very different. Elk and mule deer use wintering areas that congregate deer and elk. Do your whitetails yard up for winter, probably not. Elk will winter in very large herds of thousands of animals. Don't you think that would be a CWD bomb waiting to happen. Our wintering areas are historically used every year for generations of herds, no massive die off yet due to CWD. Our largest loss of animals is usually due to harsh winter conditions and animals not having access to forage due to hard crusted snow. Mule deer have used the same wintering areas for generations also, no massive die off due to CWD.
What is the different with whitetail deer, the high fence ? Any time animals are congregated due to natural or unnatural circumstances there will be disease and population issues. Texas P&W is just starting to study this disease ,Wyoming has been studying it for decades. Colorado tried the kill every deer in an CWD area, it makes no difference, CWD prions stay in the environment.
Just think , maybe it's been here all along and just now recognized. Where are all the human positives?

[systemnt]

Mule deer and elk in Wyoming and whitetail deer in Texas are two completely different things.

Actually, they are 3 completely different things.

[M.E.B.]

I have said it other places, I have said it here and will say it again.

The state finds CWD.

The state is afraid that ALL the animals will acquire it and die.

So the state attempts to kill ALL the animals. Isn't that we were afraid of in the first place?

At the same time the state acknowledges that the prions will be around for years without any real way to get rid of them in the now deer free area.

So tell me just what did the state accomplish?

[systemnt]

I have said it other places, I have said it here and will say it again.

The state finds CWD.

The state is afraid that ALL the animals will acquire it and die.

So the state attempts to kill ALL the animals. Isn't that we were afraid of in the first place?

At the same time the state acknowledges that the prions will be around for years without any real way to get rid of them in the now deer free area.

So tell me just what did the state accomplish?

Fear = regulation = revenue

[2coolforschool]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4012792/#!po=46.2500

Seems to be a bit of a species barrier for the disease to jump currently, but disease processes are always evolving.

[backwoods]

I am not someone to panic or by into sensationalism but I think this will be the end of hunting in Texas as we know it. Baiting, game ranches, breeding facilities, all of it will eventually have to go away. I know to some that sounds like sensationalism but if half the predictions come to be true that's the road we are heading down.

I don’t think it will be the end of hunting although it will have a huge impact.
The first half of the 1900’s there were few deer around yet hunting survived. People will adapt to bird and small game hunting until the problem is solved. Perhaps this is where the silver lining of hogs is.

So the state attempts to kill ALL the animals. Isn't that we were afraid of in the first place?

I don’t think this is what we are afraid of. I’m afraid of it making the jump to humans or cows and having a significant impact on our quality of life as humans.

[gingib]

hmmmm

[WItoTX]

The sky is not falling.
I live and hunt in a CWD endemic area. Our herds are doing fine. Not one person has ever been diagnosed with CWD, variant CJD is the human form, in our state. ...not one domestic animal, cattle etc has ever been diagnosed with CWD. ... my thought is it has been around forever just lately recognized and studied. ...Elk and deer numbers are not tanking, elk are at all time highs right now for population numbers....
We have had it for years living in our environment, no- ZERO- human cases of CWD or variant CJD.

Wisconsin has had numerous cases of CJD affecting humans. Did it come from deer? No one knows because it takes so long to develop, and I would be willing to bet 100% of 'sconnies have had venison in their lives.

Cows don't get CWD, they get Mad Cow. It's different, but generally transmitted the same. And the implications of that are massive. So it does need to be studied.

Your one point though about all time high numbers. Elk are at all time highs most places, but Mule Deer have been dropping for 20+ years. Part of this is habitat destruction. They are trending very similar to the Sage Grouse. How do we know CWD doesn't have something to do with the dropping Mule Deer population as well?

Personally, I am in your boat and I agree, I think it's been around for hundreds of thousands of years, but we just discovered it now. Makes you wonder what else we haven't discovered yet...but I am not going to dismiss CWD because if we have only studied it for 20 years, we have no idea what it is capable of at this point.

[DTala]

anyone who thinks that CWD has been around for thousands of years needs to read up on the Foothills Wildlife Research Station and the studies done there on scabbie infected sheep and the studies done in the same pens on mule deer fawns in the mid 60's. In the early years of CWD in the 70's and 80's every instance of CWD found in the US could be backtraced to Ft Collins and the research station.

[DTala]

CWD has been being studied ever since researchers found sick deer at the Foothills Wildlife Research Station in the late 60,s. WAY more than 20 years.

[Hawkpuppy 1]

Here we go, again. CWD has been in the wild for FAR longer than it ever has been in a pen, yet everyone always blames the deer breeders for it. You people that say the breeders spread it all over are worse than Democrats. Animals in the wild have it, they migrate, they die, predators eat and carry off parts but you never hear about that. Just that breeders spread it and are the end all, be all. Everyone just calm down, the sky ain't falling yet....