Cwd

[silver_yummies]

Is it still a big concern? I don't hear them talking about it as much anymore.

[OwnMoreBone]

It is just as big of a concern as before. I have been reading quite abit about CWD. So far in the past couple of years it has been not spreading to bad. I seems to be staying pretty much in the area that it was discovered. Don't know if the method that the DNR is using is going to get rid of it or not. But then again, most of the states that have CWD have not been able to eradicate it either. The somewhat recent discovery that it is transmitted by saliva may come up in the future. This could impact baiting in the future. Myself I feel that baiting is doing no more harm than what the deer do to themselves. Stop the baiting and no saliva spreading. Not true....deer lick and preen each other all the time. And one of the areas they lick on is the eyes, a known area of transmission. Alot of it may be put on the back burner soon. The DNR is not going to be able to afford the cost. The rules are so complicated for hunting deer that you need to be lawyer to figure them out. EAB has many up in arms and causes people to do illegal things. To create an EAB in the one state of the U.S. that produces the most record bucks would annoy any hunter. Anyway, I am getting off my soapbox. Sorry for the long winded rant !!!!!!

[Steve]

It sure is a nasty disease to deal with. Bovine TB is one thing but CWD seems to be much harder to totally eradicate. What is Wisconsin doing right now to try and deal with it?

[Bukmastr]

The DNR is atually not doing one damn thing to eradicate CWD... The things they are doing are making things worse. CWD is an excuse for them to finally knock the population down to where THEY want it. In my area that meens 5 deer per square mile... Thats rediculas. Anywho, to stay on track, eradication was tried years ago out west to control CWD and it was found that lowering the population spreads the disease faster because the bucks increase there home ranges in search for does. Bucks have higher percentages of having CWD.
Look at the structure of the DNR... The head person is Gov. Doyle. When he got into office he fired all the top DNR staff... All the people who had bioligy degrees, and built there way up from the bottom learning how to manage Wisconsins wildlife. He replaced these people with his ex-secratary, his Lawyer, and other friends who ran fund raisers for him as pay back. These people who don't even hunt are making our decisions on how to handle Wisconsins wildlife.
SAVE WISCONSINS WHITETAILS ERADICATE THE DNR!!!

[Bukmastr]

THE FACTS:

Here is what Wyoming DNR officials had to say about Wisconsin officials scare tactics about CWD spreading to humans:

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that hunters and others who consume venison containing the proteins that cause the deadly brain ailment chronic wasting disease will get the disease, according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department scientists.

Wyoming officials said the risk of death to humans who eat such meat appear nonexistent.

"Nobody has ever died from CWD and people have been eating (deer meat that could contain prions) for 25 years," said Terry Kreeger, Supervisor of the Game and Fish Department's Veterinary Research Services.

Here is why we cannot "eradicate" CWD from Wisconsin according to UW Scientists:

scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest that certain soil types serve as natural prion repositories in the wild. As animals regularly consume soil to meet their
mineral needs, it's possible that prion-laden soil particles contribute to the
transmission of prion disease such as CWD among animals.

"Prions most likely enter soil via excretion or from the carcasses of infected
animals,"

"We also wanted to determine how difficult it is to remove prions from clay,"
says senior author Joel Pedersen, a UW-Madison assistant professor of soil
science. "It turned out to be extremely difficult."

In fact, prions could be released from clay only when the scientists boiled the
clay-bound proteins in a detergent solution.

State Representative Garey Bies regarding where CWD came from in Wisconsin.:

Also regarding Chronic Wasting Disease, I was quite shocked to learn that the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1988 inoculated live animals with CWD. One type of animal that was inoculated was mule deer. And I find it more than a little suspicious that a mule deer, shot by a hunter in the Mt. Horeb area during that time, was immediately confiscated by the Department of Natural Resources. Why were the Department and the University not forthcoming with this bit of information? Could these mule deer, infected with CWD by the University be the source of the disease in our native whitetail population? I requested the Committee to inquire with the University as to the nature of the CWD experiments and what happened to all of the animals infected.

Statement by Dan Infalt on Rabies VS CWD

30 years of testing to see if they could infect other animals with CWD has resulted in NO test animals getting the disease other than other deer. I would rather eat raw venison off of an infected deer, than handle a rabid Bat. Why not put a big circle on the freakin map and kill all of the bats?? Probably becuase the govener is not getting a kick back from auto insureance companies to reduce the number of Bat / car accidents. Yes freinds... Rabie's is far more dangerous than CWD, and nobody is doing anything to stop it.

Quotes from MATT VERDON DNR CWD Cordinator, in an email response to Dan Infalt:

Simply put, with the size of the infected area and the factors involved, deer eradication is unrealistic as a means to control the disease.

There has been research done that shows the disease can be obtained from the environment

the highest we have seen is 10-12% of the adult population infected.

Matt
Q Matthew Verdon
Chronic Wasting Disease Data Coordinator
Bureau of Wildlife Management
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Dan Infalt on safety issues since CWD regulations went into effect:

I assume the two guys who almost shot me in the last two years probably took a hunter safety coarse. I had one guy draw a bow on me in pitch black darkness as I was heading out of the marsh after tracking a friends wounded deer. I heard the arrow slide back and quickly lit the guy up with my flash light, he was at full draw. He started screaming at me, something about how I am going to get myself shot by walking around at night without a flashlight... Yep, the DNR is right, this guy should have a rifle in his hands and several tags to shoot any deer... After all, he had a hunters Safety coarse right? How about the time I walked out of the marsh and had a bowhunter at full draw aiming at the trail waiting for me to walk out? He just let down his draw and staired at me... Both guys I just walked away, it aint worth it to argue with idiots. Would you take your kid out in the cattail marsh where there are guys jump shooting deer but can't see through the cattails at whats beyond? It is the DNR's responsability to keep hunting safe! I agree, that individules should be held responsible for not following every safety rule. But allowing people to shoot at any deer they see, and encouraging it, is going to cause people to get shot. It could be your son or my kid that gets it. Opening rifles in these same areas is insane. They closed rifles becuase it was too dangerous, now that we can shoot any thing we see it suddenly becomes safe????

Quality Deer Management Association on CWD management
Uplands Branch (QDMA)

The QDMA acknowledges that total herd eradication may appear to be the most effective method to contain and control CWD.

At this time, however, the QDMA considers total herd eradication impossible under most circumstances, unacceptable to many segments of society, and impractical as a long-term CWD management strategy.

Aldo Leopold, on wildlife Eradication way back in 1944:

. . This episode shows that a scientific bureau, confronted with a question of wildlife eradication, may prefer to lose the wildlife than to lose time in scientific research for alternatives. In one sense this is water over the dam, but in another it carries a lesson for the future. At best, the scientific base in this case was sketchy, and no imagination had been used in searching for less destructive alternatives."
"It is time for us to learn caution and restraint in our power to eradicate wild things." --Aldo Leopold, December 5th, 1944

Attorney David Mandell
A Safe & Sane Alternative to the
Wisconsin DNR Deer Slaughter

The DNR’s rush to kill 100% of the deer population in a 361 square mile area in Southwestern Wisconsin
- as soon as possible - is meeting strong resistance from many hunters and landowners. As outlined here,
CAIDS-Wisconsin and these two groups support a more reasoned, balanced approach to successfully
addressing and containing Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin.
Hunter-sportsmen oppose the kill because it is neither for food nor sport. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of
the deer to be killed and incinerated or dumped in the landfill will be healthy animals. The traditions that
mark the sport of deer hunting are being cast aside. What the DNR has proposed is an all-out “War” against the deer, not a sporting deer hunt.
Area landowners opposed granting the DNR the power to abuse private property rights and view the
plan as a threat to the right to live safely and securely in their communities. Conducting a war-like assault
to search and kill all deer will produce “collateral damage” and materially upset the ecological balance of
the area. The DNR rush to judgement – without adequate research, testing and preparation – simply
adds further insecurity and anxiety that accidents and harm are a certainty.

Dr. James Kroll

“My strong opinion is that CWD and other diseases never will be eradicated from wild deer herds. They just become a factor to consider in management.”
Professor James C. Kroll, Founder & Director, Institute for White-tailed Deer Managament & Research

Colorado DNR Scientist speaks about CWD culling

The agency's lead scientist on CWD and an early proponent of culling, Mike Miller, said data collected over the years don't show that thinning herds has had any significant effect on the rate of the disease in the wild.

Colorado Officials comment on there 30+ years of CWD

CWD has never taken down vast numbers of deer as once feared. In fact, in the most infected pockets of the state, the rate of disease among deer is about 10 percent, not much different than it's been for several years.

Professor Charles Southwick comments on culling CWD deer.

One prominent critic of the culling approach has been retired University of Colorado biology professor Charles Southwick, who has argued that culling might actually exacerbate the spread of CWD.

That's based on his view that clearing deer out of a "hot spot" just opens the door for more deer to come in and contract the disease from the environment, where research suggests the agents behind the disease can subsist in soil and feces.

In addition, Southwick has argued, it might be that most deer and elk have a natural resistance to CWD. By killing off mostly healthy populations, the division might be reducing the creatures that have that resistance, under his view.

[Steve]

That's an interesting angle that by decreasing the herd size it would increase the range of the bucks thereby spreading the disease....

[Rancid Crabtree]

As someone who sat on the DNR's CWD stakholder advisory group for many months, I can say that CWD was way overblown and I am glad the hype is over.

[Munsterlndr]

Originally Posted by Steve

That's an interesting angle that by decreasing the herd size it would increase the range of the bucks thereby spreading the disease....

One thing to keep in mind, though, Miller and Southwick are talking about reducing densities in Colorado, where the typical herd density in CWD areas is 5-10 DPSM. That is a totally different situation than we find in Wisconsin and Michigan where average deer densities are in the 30-40 DPSM and in some areas may be as high as 80 DPSM. In low density areas, reducing the herd may cause an increase in bucks range, that might possibly contribute to spreading CWD to areas where it did not previously exist. In high density areas like the midwest, the average buck is not going to have to range very far to find another willing doe, even if populations were reduced by 50%. Apples to oranges comparison given the different types of densities involved.

Reducing population levels down to a reasonable level from the grossly over-populated levels that have been allowed in recent years is the responsible thing to do, both for helping to reduce the potential for the spread of CWD and also for a whole host of other reasons.

[Steve]

From what I've seen so far in Michigan it doesn't seem like our DNR has a real good handle on what's going on yet. Hopefully we can learn from WI.

[birdhunter]

What's sad about the whole mess in Michigan is that so many other things besides deer are going to pay the price...all the healthy wild deer, wild turkeys, heck, even the songbirds. I've heard people are afraid to fill their bird feeders over there.

I do not agree with how the Michigan DNR is handling their ONE case of CWD...!!!!

[mr.mc54]

Mass hysteria is the simple way to describe WI attack on CWD!

[WPGriffon]

Alot of new cases of cwd are found in deer farm deer so the DNR bans baiting around that area.What about all the deer scents that are collected from deer farm raised deer.Did they check to see if this can aide in the disease spreading?

[Feed Man]

People have had enough of the DNR's attempt to ban feeding and baiting. There is a large group of land owners in Price and Taylor county that plan on shutting down the snowmobile trails on their property if the baiting ban takes affect in their area with many more to follow you can bet. I'll make sure I do my part to help.

[brokenarrow]

I wont punish the sledders because of a DNR rule. I did threaten to close my two trails though the year that the wsa was fighting the move fto a late doe season only for the reason that their trails would not open right after deer season. (the trail on my land would not open unless they changed their tune) They asked me to sign a 2 year agreement after that. LOL

[Hunt4Fun]

While I don't support the way the DNR has dealt with CWD, the EAB program has definately given my area the boost it needed from a management standpoint.

In previous years, it was pretty rare to see bucks, let alone any that had above a 6 point rack. Over the past 6 years, I have watched ratios go from 6/5:1 to 3:1 based on late summer scouting in my hunting area. Most of the hunters in my area are accepting to the EAB and hunt as such. But I know many of them wish it was still the way it was. The best thing I have seen is that there are many more mature bucks this year than in previous years, some have heavy racks, drop tines, and/or 10 points typical.

Seeing this improvement in the local deer heard, even in a CWD management zone, shows me that the EAB requirements have helped my hunting experience more than it has hindered it.