After helping my friends and my kids get their deer and antelope, and trying to get a bit of work fit into the schedule, I finally connect on a nice whitetail buck this afternoon. One of those perfect afternoons, cool, a bit of snow falling, the wind wasnt blowing....I spot him a long ways off, put a great sneak on him, drop him right in his tracks-just one of those great days! I come home, start peeling the hide, and no external fat on him at all. Little light bulbs come on-CWD! Called the game warden tonight, he will come get what he needs to test him in the morning, but no doubt in either of our minds what it is....What a waste-I hate this! I guess it was better than him dying a slow starving freezing death, but I still hate it!

The damn stuff is all over the place now, last year the first infected deer in Utah was located near the Colorado border and this year they were found in several areas of the state. Its bad news for all of us..

If it tests positive will you get another tag?? And are they charging a fee to test?

Ok, what symptoms should I be looking for.

I doubt I will be able to get another tag. Wyoming doesnt believe in that, although I will try. On things to look for? Its hard to tell when one is alive unless they are fairly well along. But the biggest indicator is lack of external fat, and poor shape. This deer was acting normal, had a girlfriend and everything. But when I started skinning him there was no backfat at all.

[ 11-22-2003, 14:53: Message edited by: Wyoharris ]

If he's been running does hard he could be just
run down.Hope for the best.
Jeff

It may not be CWD. It could be just a skinny deer. Deer and other critters can be big or small, fat or skinny, ugly or beautiful. I shot a mule buck before the rut once and he was a beanpole, skinniest deer I ever shot. It wasn't a sick buck and was one of the best eating deer I ever had.