I live in AR where CWD was first detected about three years ago. I do not live in the cwd zone. Our state allowed one more doe to be killed and did away with antler restrictions in an effort to lower deer density - allong with suspending supplemental feeding. For those of you who live in the states of wisconsin and illinois - what difference have you seen in deer numbers and buck quality after having cwd in the state for an extended period.
CWD - Your Experience
- Thread starter SwampCat
- Start date
THE LLC
Well-Known Member
I hunt in northwest Nebraska which is ground zero for CWD. It's just part of life now. They tried the increased harvest BS which doesn't help anything. Now, like I said, it is just life. In 20 years I've seen one deer out there with obvious CWD and that was this past Fall--a 5x4 that I called my buddy with Game and Parks to come put down. That was a shame because he was a nice 2 year old. Haven't seen any negative effect on antler size/quality over the years.
sagittarius
Active Member
Hard to tell in Wisconsin. We had some EHD kills a few years ago. Many management changes. Switched from deer management units to County deer management. Changed from in person deer registration to trust you to call it in. Stopped deer age studies at registration stations. Deer population estimates now are now more subjective. In the last 6 years the Republican controlled administration has moved away from scientific deer management and switch over to a "stake holder satisfaction" based management system.
Politicians are still hanging on to baiting in about 1/3 of Wisconsin counties. CWD deer sampling has slowly increased the last few years, but if only 1 of 140, or 1 in 1500 deer are sampled, it is difficult to detect in the 1% or less infection rate. New for this fall, if you harvest a deer in a CWD effected county, you must butcher it yourself in that county, or transport it directly to a certified processor. You can no longer take it home and butcher it yourself in a different county, if the deer was harvested in a CWD effected county.
There was more population info available several years ago in Colorado and Wyoming. Where it took 6-7 years to grow trophy mule deer, some CWD areas saw fewer and fewer quality animals. They were dying of CWD before reaching trophy size. Now States have clamped down on data and information so as not to decrease hunting tourism.
Best we can do is slow the spread. Lower the populations in CWD areas, eliminate baiting, better disposal of carcasses. There is some small indication of some CWD resistance in a small fraction of an elk population. Rather than wait 100-1000's of years for natural immunity to develop, why not selectively breed CWD resistance into wild deer/elk populations. Tap into the genetic research capabilities of our state universities. Speed up the natural selection process rather than let deer and elk populations suffer.
http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2016/09...e-of-white-tailed-deer-declines-from-cwd.html
https://www.wyofile.com/study-chronic-wasting-disease-kills-19-deer-annually/
Politicians are still hanging on to baiting in about 1/3 of Wisconsin counties. CWD deer sampling has slowly increased the last few years, but if only 1 of 140, or 1 in 1500 deer are sampled, it is difficult to detect in the 1% or less infection rate. New for this fall, if you harvest a deer in a CWD effected county, you must butcher it yourself in that county, or transport it directly to a certified processor. You can no longer take it home and butcher it yourself in a different county, if the deer was harvested in a CWD effected county.
There was more population info available several years ago in Colorado and Wyoming. Where it took 6-7 years to grow trophy mule deer, some CWD areas saw fewer and fewer quality animals. They were dying of CWD before reaching trophy size. Now States have clamped down on data and information so as not to decrease hunting tourism.
Best we can do is slow the spread. Lower the populations in CWD areas, eliminate baiting, better disposal of carcasses. There is some small indication of some CWD resistance in a small fraction of an elk population. Rather than wait 100-1000's of years for natural immunity to develop, why not selectively breed CWD resistance into wild deer/elk populations. Tap into the genetic research capabilities of our state universities. Speed up the natural selection process rather than let deer and elk populations suffer.
http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2016/09...e-of-white-tailed-deer-declines-from-cwd.html
https://www.wyofile.com/study-chronic-wasting-disease-kills-19-deer-annually/
Illinois has experienced both EHD and CWD; most deer hunters would probably agree the IL herd is diminished from what it was 20 yrs ago. It seems we are seeing some improvement over the last couple of years. There are folks in IL pushing IDNR to allow feeding. Ex-IDNR Director Manning is opposed (I believe I read that he is in opposition).
bigbluetruck
Active Member
I never figured out the arguement against baiting, but in favor of food plots as a response to CWD/EHD.
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dogghr
Well-Known Member
I agree. Our counties with CWD are the least baited counties in the state guaranteed. They are mostly croplands.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
Joe Rogan did a podcast with some very knowledgeable guests regarding this subject.
http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/doug-duren-bryan-richards
They had some very interesting ideas on how to deal with CWD. One was too not let your deer mature past a few years old because the more mature deer are what get infected and therefore spread the disease throughout the herd.
Another thing they discussed was how they believed that food plots had some ill effects on spreading the disease as well. I’m not sure I’m buying that, but they know a whole lot more about the subject than this dumb old Land Surveyor does.
http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/doug-duren-bryan-richards
They had some very interesting ideas on how to deal with CWD. One was too not let your deer mature past a few years old because the more mature deer are what get infected and therefore spread the disease throughout the herd.
Another thing they discussed was how they believed that food plots had some ill effects on spreading the disease as well. I’m not sure I’m buying that, but they know a whole lot more about the subject than this dumb old Land Surveyor does.
nchunter1989
Active Member
100 Wild/Drury Outdoors did a similar round table, it’s actually on YouTube.
For you guys in CWD areas, are you still eating the meat? Doing a “boneless” debone? I know for years we heard stay away from the CNS, now I’m seeing also stay away from the lymphatic system, which usually gets cut away anyway.
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For you guys in CWD areas, are you still eating the meat? Doing a “boneless” debone? I know for years we heard stay away from the CNS, now I’m seeing also stay away from the lymphatic system, which usually gets cut away anyway.
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weekender21
Well-Known Member
That’s probably the most in depth and informative discussion I’ve heard on the topic. It’s incredible how much we still don’t know. CWD has been a hot topic recently. I have a feeling all the added attention will force state and federal dollars to be applied.
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Deadeye
Well-Known Member
Back in Pa where I grew up and hunted and my Brother still lives and hunts, CWD is becoming more common. There are counties in gthe SW Corner that are affected quite a bit from what he tells me.
Funny how Pa was never allowed to Bait, yet thousands of guys would plant corn or something exclusively for the Deer to eat to draw them to their area and argue that it was NOT the Same as baiting.
To me it doesn't mater if you pour a pile of corn onto the ground from a bag or you grew a small field of it, either way you are doing it to attempt to draw deer to you.
Where I live now in Central Florida we are starting to hear of cases of Deer infected with CWD. Seems to be mostly in the northern sections of the state so far. To date the State allows Baiting for Deer but not for Turkey and only on Private Land.
Funny how Pa was never allowed to Bait, yet thousands of guys would plant corn or something exclusively for the Deer to eat to draw them to their area and argue that it was NOT the Same as baiting.
To me it doesn't mater if you pour a pile of corn onto the ground from a bag or you grew a small field of it, either way you are doing it to attempt to draw deer to you.
Where I live now in Central Florida we are starting to hear of cases of Deer infected with CWD. Seems to be mostly in the northern sections of the state so far. To date the State allows Baiting for Deer but not for Turkey and only on Private Land.
I have heard nothing of cwd in Florida, and I read quite a bit on the subject.
Deadeye
Well-Known Member
Well according to my Brother who lives in NW Pa it's there. Seems to be centered more around the SW Corner west of Pittsburgh. I believe it is talked about on the Pa Game Commision website, if i'm remembering right. I looked into it when I was going up to hunt with him last year.
Deadeye
Well-Known Member
OOPS You said Florida not Pa, Sorry about that.
The only thing I've heard about it in Fl was a very tiny area in the Panhandle, south of Alabama I believe it was. Occasionally I get an email from the FWC and it was mentioned in one of them warning hunters to be careful when transporting deer.
I believe last year was the first mention of it.
Tap
Well-Known Member
I'm near Pgh and unless something has changed, the CWD zones are in the South Central part of the state. Bedford, Altoona region. I haven't heard of CWD being detected SW of Pgh, but maybe I missed it.
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