Living with CWD

For as long as I can remember, fall has been my favorite season of the year. It is probably due to the breadth of outdoor activities I had to choose from: bow hunting, upland game, waterfowl, and squirrel hunting – all solid choices. I was always particularly fond of the gun deer season. I started deer hunting in Wisconsin back in 1975 and the gun deer season was a great way to cap off the fall. A full nine days of fellowship along with intermittent heart palpitations while waiting in my deer stand for “Bullwinkle†to drop by. Then, just over a quarter century later, came CWD.

CWD? Before February 2002, I didn’t really pay much attention to it or care much about it. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a nervous system disorder that infects its victim, in this case Odocoileus virginianus aka whitetail deer, and leads them to a sure death. The nanoscopic offender, a prion, slowly eats away the brain leaving it like hunk of swiss cheese. The infected deer slowly wastes away and dies a horrific death.

The beginning:
It was out west where the symptoms of chronic wasting disease first appearing in mule deer during the late 1960s. By 1978, researchers had isolated and identified the nature of that “thing†causing mulies to wither away. By the mid-1980s, CWD was confirmed within portions of the wild deer population in both Colorado and Wyoming. The genie was out of the bottle.

Fast forward to 1999 in Wisconsin, wildlife biologists begin the process of surveillance testing for CWD in the state’s deer population. A short three years later, they confirmed the first case(s) – CWD had emerged as a real disease in Wisconsin’s deer herd. The 2001 gun deer season produced the first positive cases in the State when the test results were sent back to the DNR from the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa on February 28, 2002. A total of three deer harvested in game management unit 70A (about a mile and a half from the place where I have deer hunted for the last seventeen years) tested positive for CWD! When I heard the news, it felt like someone punched me in the gut. Say it isn’t so Joe!

Moving Fast:
Immediately following the news, the DNR quickly identified a 450 square mile boundary encompassing the focal point around the area where the three CWD positive deer were harvested. They set an immediate goal of collecting an additional 500 animals for more extensive testing to determine the prevalence of CWD in this limited area. Those samples were collected by landowners and DNR “sharpshooters†about a month later.

I participated in that special hunt and was able to harvest a doe for the expanded testing effort. To my surprise, I drove up to the make-shift collection station located at the dog training area near Mazomanie to drop off my deer on that opening day. A readied crew of DNR staff directed me as I backed my pickup to a table they prepared to receive the doe. As I slid the gear shift in park, I glanced back through my side mirror. I could see journalists and photographers from the State media and beyond turning on their floodlights as they mounted video cameras to their shoulders. The videographers meticulously followed the DNR staff with their cameras as they off-loaded the deer and proceeded to remove its head in preparation for shipping it off to Iowa where researchers would begin the process of detecting CWD. As I exited the truck, a DNR staffer met me with a clipboard and began asking a series of questions about the deer and where I had harvested it. He directed me over to a large area map and asked that I pinpoint the location where the animal had been taken. When his interview was complete, I turned to close-up my truck and head home when a reporter from the Fox Valley area intercepted me. He hit me with a barrage of questions about the hunt and my thoughts on CWD. Do I agree with the DNR? Am I concerned about CWD? Will you hunt during the normal deer season? I methodically responded. Of course I supported the DNR’s preliminary plan – that’s why I am here. Was I concerned about CWD - you bet! Will I hunt the regular season – likely, yes. Will I eat deer that are harvested? Too early to tell. That scientific collection period ended quickly and the DNR had a reasonable sample size to open a bigger portal to ascertain CWD’s prevalence in the newly established “hot zone.â€

During this limited “scientific collection periodâ€, more than 516 animals were harvested. From these deer harvested and tested, an additional fifteen more deer were found to be positive bringing the total number of CWD positive deer to eighteen (DNR 2002).

Denial Begins:
Following this experience, it was clear to me that the DNR had their hands full – beginning with the process of trying to develop a thorough understanding of the biology of CWD, putting it into a Wisconsin context, providing factual information to residents and landowners, and developing a plan to eradicate (or at least control) the disease. All this had to be done in the midst of inquiring media and a growing contingent of naysayers. As the shock of finding CWD in Wisconsin lifted, denial began to take over for many of the area’s “outdoorsman.â€

Hypotheses aimed at explaining how the disease got here from the West had to be developed and tested. One hypothesis that seemed to be on the table was determining whether the deer had contracted the disease from contaminated feed (similar to the mad cow disease outbreak in the UK)? Other rumors circulated through the mill. Did someone in the area import a “stud buck†from out west and release it to the wild with the intent of “pumping up the local gene pool?â€

DNR officials scoured the area talking with landowners and gathering any bits of relevant information to test credible hypotheses aimed at explaining how CWD got here. They were particularly interested in gathering information about any landowner baiting they may have been doing the previous fall – the type of feed and its origin. (Wildlife biologists from the west seemed to suggest that high concentrations of deer in close quarters could contribute to the spreading of the prion that causes CWD.) They also requested landowners immediately notify them if any deer were observed with the outright physical state of CWD.

As their plan developed, the DNR held a series of “town hall meetings†to inform citizens in the area of their findings to-date as well as proposed plans for the immediate future. One of the largest gatherings was held at the Mt. Horeb High School on May 1, 2002. This and other meetings were heavily attended and became increasingly “charged.†Many that attended the meetings had basic questions about the disease and its risk to human health. Nearly all were aghast when the DNR revealed their near-term deer population goal for an area of about 450 square miles in western Dane, eastern Iowa, and a portion of Sauk counties – that population goal was zero! Hence, that zone that encompassed the area where the positive deer were identified became known officially as the eradication zone. The map below shows the current CWD management zones with the eradication zone highlighted in the center surrounded by a herd reduction zone all have grown significantly in area since 2002.


Current CWD management zones in South Central Wisconsin (WI DNR 2004).


To kick-start the eradication effort, the DNR organized a series of one-week hunts that would run during the summer of 2002. The DNR issued special scientific collection permits to landowners and approved the following “collection periodsâ€

• June 8-14, 2002
  
• July 13-19, 2002
  
• August 10-16, 2002
  
• September 7-13, 2002

With the plan in place, the stage was set. The plans the DNR’s laid polarized area residents and two camps surfaced: believers/supporters and disbelievers/opponents. Those that supported the DNR-proposed plan to decisively deal with CWD in the State were ready to step up and do what it took to fulfill the plan. The opponents of the plan worked just as hard to poo poo the DNR, the prionic science of CWD, and the biology of whitetails in Wisconsin. They irrationally set out on their own selfish itinerary to convince area landowners to “sign on†and pledge not to hunt deer during the collection periods and beyond; thereby, negating any DNR plans aimed at eradication. These armchair wildlife biologists knew better – after all, they “lived†with the deer. Those were “their†deer and not the DNR’s deer. The arguments they put forth were laughable. Conspiracy theories and the like propagated and they buried their heads deep in the sand.

Summer Deer Season Approaches:
From the outset, I was devastated by the appearance of CWD in Wisconsin but supportive of the DNR’s efforts in gathering information locally and from the west where they have lived with this disease in their wild herd for a quarter century. I knew that complete eradication would be an extremely difficult proposition but I also knew that it was an approach that carried a relatively lower risk for the future whitetail herd in the State. If the deer could be completely eliminated in the eradication zone it wouldn’t be long and their population would rebound – deer are a very renewable resource, that much I was sure. The decision was easy as far as I was concerned, work to eradicate deer from the area. Many others in the area had a similar spirit.

The task was at hand and quickly the first of the special seasons approached: June 8-14. A twist (no pun intended) for these special seasons was that rifles would be permitted, at the landowner’s discretion, in the area (western Dane county) where I hunted. This meant I could trade my shotgun for rifle and use it during these summer collection periods. As an aside, oftentimes in the past, we would exchange stories in deer camp of the big buck that could have been taken “if only I had a rifle rather than a shotgun.†Now it was put up or shut up on those situations.

Time went quickly and June 8 arrived. Everything was unfamiliar as I headed out to the field early that morning – summertime deer hunting in Wisconsin; hunting deer with a rifle in western Dane county; population goal of zero; and short sleeve shirts with my blaze orange. What would be the best way of hunting deer during the summer? Would I see newborn fawns? What I would do if I saw a newborn fawns? These and other thoughts began to cross my mind as I moved slowly through contours of hay and corn looking for brown. Finding a stump on the edge of a hayfield to serve as my lair that opening morning, my thoughts turned to how the face of deer hunting in the area where I hunted and the entire State would change in the future.

If one’s thoughts could get any less pleasant on this subject, mine did. The farm that I hunted on started practicing quality deer management (QDM) principles about seven years ago. Within three or four years, we began to see the bounty of our patience. Our group would usually harvest between two and four really nice bucks after sticking to the practice of more intently harvesting does and letting younger bucks run. The less pleasant part of my thoughts focused on the condition of more than one buck harvested in the past. Some of the bucks we took were, literally, nothing but skin and bones. At the time, we attributed their lack of physical stature to their dominance (as evidenced by their head gear) and the corresponding lack of food intake as these studs serviced their harems during the rut. In retrospect I thought, could those skinny bucks e CWD positive? The fact that scientists have not documented cases of this prion “jumping the species boundary,†did nothing to set my mind at ease. Could we have been eating meat from positive deer? All of these thoughts race through my mind during my time in the field. The June season ended with a few more deer in the bag.

A unique event happened during the July season. One of the landowners, Joe, and I headed out after chores just before dark. It seemed that deer were in every field we infiltrated. We walked across an open hayfield to find a small group of does feeding on early third crop. Joe shot first and then I fired – each taking a doe. Just after shooting, we walked back through the field were we had previously been and three doe and four fawn fed. We picked the biggest two doe, counted to three, and simultaneously fired. Two more deer down. Joe’s gun jammed as I reloaded and took two of the fawns that lingered. (I remembered one of the wildlife biologists at the collection station saying that we should keep track of families taken as they were looking to gather information on the potential for a CWD positive mother to pass along the disease to her young). That was a total of six deer down in the span of about 40 minutes. Although darkness lurked, we walked through the contour of corn separating us from one more hayfield. When we broke through the last row of corn, there stood one more doe at 175 yds not yet noting our presence. Joe dropped to his knees and lined up his shot with shooting sticks in-hand. I watch through my binoculars as he squeezed the trigger. The doe lifted her head after the bullet zinged over her back. A clean miss! I told him “reload you missed.†He sniped back, “I’m out (of ammo), you take her.†He quickly handed me the shooting sticks and I hastily put the cross hairs on the doe as she nervously turned towards the woods and squeezed – dropping her where she stood. Two guys, seven deer in about an hour on an area of property that consisted of less than thirty acres! The truck was squatting when we rolled up to the drop station that evening as the staff leaped into action with the quarry awaiting their hands.

Beginning in August, the DNR informed the public that “earn a buck†rules would be in force for the coming “regular season.†The DNR had softly marketed the August hunt as an opportunity to legally harvest a buck in velvet in the State. I hunted and took does but no bucks. During the August season, I did see some really nice eight and ten point bucks but was unable to connect. For each doe I harvested, I received a buck tag. When September rolled around, it was a repeat of the August hunt: does, does and more does. Each one earning a buck tag.

The gun season opened in October when the State ran their T-zone season. I continued taking doe after doe but no bucks. I wasn’t that I didn’t want a buck, they just weren’t cooperating and I was focused on taking any deer when I had a good shot – regardless of whether it was a buck, doe, or a fawn.

I recall going to the deer drop station on the second day of the October season with yet another doe and having the attendant tell me “Hold on, I forgot to get your buck tag.†The next guy in line couldn’t believe it when I told the attendant that “I didn’t need any more buck tags but I would take a few more doe tags.†All told, I harvested 21 deer in the 2002 season (including one mule deer taken in Wyoming).

The farm that I hunt on had fifteen deer test positive for CWD in the 2003 season alone. The grand total of CWD positive deer taken from that farm is more than 25 deer. That area can be seen by the map of CWD positive deer shown below - you will see a block with 11 shown. That block and the surrounding blocks comprise the area where I hunt.


Frequency of deer testing positive for CWD as of March 1, 2005 (Source: WI DNR).

Conclusion:
The presence of CWD in Wisconsin is tragic. There are a significant number of landowners and sportsmen doing nothing to address the situation. From information assimilated into a Wisconsin context to-date, it seems clear that “doing nothing†is not the prudent path to a long term solution. Cutting the population of deer in the eradication and management zones is the lowest risk option for getting the upper hand on CWD.


Postscript:
For more information on Chronic Wasting Disease, browse the DNR website at:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/whealth/issues/cwd/

That is quite an insight into CWD. I sure hope it never works it way to Mississippi. I would be devestated.

Can you eat a deer that has CWD in the early stages? Or would you even know?

quote:

Originally posted by Monticello:
That is quite an insight into CWD. I sure hope it never works it way to Mississippi. I would be devestated.

Can you eat a deer that has CWD in the early stages? Or would you even know?

Well, CWD has worked its way from west of the Mississippi where it was originally found in Colorado and Wyoming to east of the Mississippi where it has now been confirmed in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota with the latter state's cases being very limited. Apparently, it has also been found now in captive heards in NY.

Can you eat deer with CWD? That is the million dollar question. I can assure you that many people that live and hunt in the area where I do probably have eaten postive deer prior to the first cases being confirmed three years ago. Are there human health risks associated with eating CWD-positive deer? No one (to my knowledge) has clinically linked this to a parallel disease that strikes humans (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). Are there precautions people here have taken to minimize the risks associated with eating venison? Yes. Do not severe the spinal column or disturb brain tissue (using knives, saws, etc that will contact edible meat). Carefully bone out the animal and avoid eating parts such as liver, heart, etc.

Doug

We also lost two of the foremost experts on CWD tragically in a car accident back in December.

*******A special thanks and remembrance to Dr. Beth Williams and her husband Dr. E. Tom Thorne*******

IdahoVandal

^^You posted exactly what I was about to post. We should remember both of the doctors for their contribution albeit incomplete.

So the DNR kills the herd off because they are scared CWD will kill the herd off! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Well...second dumbest. The Colorado division of wildlife was researching CWD in a small herd of elk. They then decided to just let them go back into the wild near Craig, Colorado. So there it spread! And this is not bullshit either, they have aknowledged that it was a bad idea looking back. I cannot remember the time frame, but I want to say it was like 20 years ago.

quote:

June 8-14, 2002 ... July 13-19, 2002 ... August 10-16, 2002 ... September 7-13, 2002

Hey Doug, Nice report that is well written and easy to follow.

I'm a bit surprised at the extremely short time allotted to kill the deer though. Looks like they would have opened an area extending at least 10 miles farther out, or a county wider, than the known infected population area. And had the killing going day and night for at least an entire year.

I sure don't see CWD as something to take "partial measures" with.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcatcher223:
So the DNR kills the herd off because they are scared CWD will kill the herd off! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Kill the herd in the known diseased area so it doesn't spread to uncontaminated areas.

quote:

The Colorado division of wildlife was researching CWD in a small herd of elk. They then decided to just let them go back into the wild near Craig, Colorado. So there it spread!

Makes you want to reassess your first statement, doesn't it?

GV

Hellow the campfire:
Douglast, thank you for your wonderfully written post about CWD. It is heart breaking to hear that the resource that we have worked so hard to protect is being decimated by this desease. I remember when Whitetaile deer were scarce in Alabama. The only places that they were found were in the large cotton/pulp plantations in the black belt area of the state, and a hunter who got his buck was really something. Alabama began a program to increase the deer herad by re-planting deer in areas that had miniscule populations and it worked.
How many of you remember the screw fly? The Screw fly took a terrible toll on both the deer and the cattle herds, until a gov. program wiped it out. Now we find that entire populations of Whitetails will have to be destroyed to protect the rest. Remember the hoof and mouth outbreaks of the fifties? Whole herds of prime beef, shoot, burned and buried? I can still see the scenes in the old Paul Newman (Hudd ?)film where the old man has to shoot his last two longhorns.
It must be a priority to find the cause of the spread of this plague. If it is the feed used to bait deer, then it needs to be outlawed until the feed can be cleaned up. If it is over population, we need to increase out harvest. If it means killing off a buffer xone between the states where CWD is found and the states where it is not found. then so be it. This may distroy our deer hunting, for the present, but maybe we can save the herd for our grandchildren.
My heart breaks for you Douglast, and for the other Wisconson hunters. Any time you want to come to Alabama to hunt, let me know and I will make sure you are in some prime, so far CWD free, Whitetail areas.
Judge Sharpe, a poor widows son.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcatcher223:
So the DNR kills the herd off because they are scared CWD will kill the herd off! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Well...second dumbest. The Colorado division of wildlife was researching CWD in a small herd of elk. They then decided to just let them go back into the wild near Craig, Colorado. So there it spread! And this is not bullshit either, they have aknowledged that it was a bad idea looking back. I cannot remember the time frame, but I want to say it was like 20 years ago.

\
Dogcatcher,

It is attitudes like yours that are part of the problem and not part of the solution. First, the intent is to isolate an intensive zone and attempt to achieve complete eradication within that intensive zone. A buffer is created around the intensive zone where the goal is to significantly reduce the population. This area of Wisconsin is not like Colorado and Wyoming so just leaving the deer alone is not workable. Concentrations in this particular area range from 30 to over 60 deer per square mile. Research has demonstrated that transmission of the prion increases with deer density. Densities in CO and WY are more on the order of 5 deer per square mile so what works there does not translate into a Wisconsin context.

Are you worried that the deer are going to be extinct? In this farm rich area, these animals reproduce like rabbits. In my opinion, complete eradication is a no risk proposition. Doing nothing is not the solution. Let me give you several reasons why a population target of 0 makes sense.

1.) Deer are a renewable resource.
2.) They don't wear stripes or show other outward signs of carrying the prion until they are on their death bed so we cannot tell which are sick and which are healthy. As such, we are not able to only harvest the diseased deer.
3.) No one has been able to conclusively prove that the prion will not jump the species boundary to livestock. They don't call Wisconsin the dairy state for nothing. My cousins run a fairly large dairy operation. If their herd was infected in any way shape or form, they would be out of business and this state would be devastated. It may not matter to you but it matters to people who earn their living from the land. Also, deer regularly share feed with livestock by mooching from feed bags and bunks. They don't live together but they share droppings and spit.
4.) By targeting to eliminate the disease here, hopefully it will be prevented from spreading throughout the State - again, our population densities here make the matter more urgent.

When you show me your wildlife biology degree and your research on CWD, I'll listen. In the absence of that, common sense and solid research by those capable (including very close interaction with experts on this disease from CO and WY) seems like the logical path to follow.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:

I'm a bit surprised at the extremely short time allotted to kill the deer though. Looks like they would have opened an area extending at least 10 miles farther out, or a county wider, than the known infected population area. And had the killing going day and night for at least an entire year.

I sure don't see CWD as something to take "partial measures" with.

Hot Core,

Those were dates established early on. This past year the season extended from the middle of October (2004) to March 31, 2005. The DNR has to really strike a balance with landowners and those that oppose hunting in all its forms. I agree that you could be out there day and night and it will still take years.

Unfortunately, many have not participated at all and the population is not going down.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by dogcatcher223:
The Colorado division of wildlife was researching CWD in a small herd of elk. They then decided to just let them go back into the wild near Craig, Colorado. So there it spread! And this is not bullshit either, they have aknowledged that it was a bad idea looking back. I cannot remember the time frame, but I want to say it was like 20 years ago.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist either.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JudgeSharpe:
Any time you want to come to Alabama to hunt, let me know and I will make sure you are in some prime, so far CWD free, Whitetail areas.
QUOTE]

Thanks for the offer Judge.

Doug

quote:

3.) No one has been able to conclusively prove that the prion will not jump the species boundary to livestock. They don't call Wisconsin the dairy state for nothing. My cousins run a fairly large dairy operation. If their herd was infected in any way shape or form, they would be out of business and this state would be devastated. It may not matter to you but it matters to people who earn their living from the land. Also, deer regularly share feed with livestock by mooching from feed bags and bunks. They don't live together but they share droppings and spit.

Actually douglast, last time I visited the Sybille Wildlife research unit run by the WY Game & Fish, they had two cows that have been living with CWD infected deer and elk for several years. While the deer and elk eventually die and have to be replaced, the two cows look fat and happy. One of the guys who works there said they eat out of the same feed bunk and share the same water source...still the cattle haven't shown any evidence of CWD or BSE. It seems that for now, the jump between cervids and domestic livestock is a big one.

It is unfortunate that the media has played the CWD card, and got a lot of people riled up over nothing. As far as CWD having an influence on deer numbers, EHD can wipe out 80% of a deer herd in a bad year and it doesn't even make the paper! Mortality from CWD is a drop in the bucket.

MG

Douglast, You are assuming that EVERY deer in the contaminated area is going to be killed. You are also assuming the prions are not going to exist in the soil etc after the deer are gone. There is not enough of an understanding of this disease to decide on such a radical notion of wiping out the herd.

Second, I believe that CWD has been here all along, and it is only recently that they really started testing for it. If you never tested for it before, then of course the outcome is going to look like a crisis when you get positive results now that you are testing. I guarantee hunters kill more deer every year than disease and predators combined. You are also assuming that a predator isn't killing off the sick deer. I have never seen a sick deer in the woods of Colorado. I have very rarely even seen a deer limping badly. I see a few after hunting season, then they either die or get better. I used to run a trapline for coyotes so I was in the woods all winter long.

And it is not bullshit about the DOW releasing the test herd of elk with CWD back into the wild. It was documented and there were articles about it in the Denver Post where they interviewed the DOW. It took place near the Mother Well Ranch.

Again, very well written and informative piece. Nebraska found the first documented case of CWD in the west panhandle area that borders Co & Wy. I believe about 4-5yrs ago. Our Game & Parks tried the same thing, eradicate all deer within a specific area surrounding the find. The idea failed miserably and we now have confirmed cases as far east as the Grand Island area 250mi east of the original find. The answer now seems to me to have your deer tested then eat the meat. CWD hasn't reach my area yet, but it will.

All agree there is much left to learn about CWD and living/hunting with it.

I hope Wis. eradication efforts work, but I have my doubts.

Steve

Well, we'll see if any lessons were learned, as NY State just identified two captive deer as having C.W.D. in a county that is just about in the smack center of NY.

It appears that the approach they are taking right now is to be very open and "up front" about the situation, as there has been much information released to the public via two sites:

www.dec.state.ny.us

and

http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/cwd.html

Latest news is that they are going to "depopulate" the two farms where the deer came from, as well as to immediately harvest over 400 wild deer. I assume that they need to collect 400 to get a "representative sample" from the wild in order to assess if CWD stayed on the farms or has made it into the wild population.

We'll see if this is just a precursor to eradication in the affected areas.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcatcher223:
You are assuming that EVERY deer in the contaminated area is going to be killed. You are also assuming the prions are not going to exist in the soil etc after the deer are gone. There is not enough of an understanding of this disease to decide on such a radical notion of wiping out the herd.

Second, I believe that CWD has been here all along, and it is only recently that they really started testing for it. If you never tested for it before, then of course the outcome is going to look like a crisis when you get positive results now that you are testing. I guarantee hunters kill more deer every year than disease and predators combined. You are also assuming that a predator isn't killing off the sick deer. I have never seen a sick deer in the woods of Colorado. I have very rarely even seen a deer limping badly. I see a few after hunting season, then they either die or get better. I used to run a trapline for coyotes so I was in the woods all winter long.

When the Wisconsin DNR announced a population goal of 0 in the area called the "eradication zone," most people gasped. I never assumed or belived that this goal would be achievable hunting them with firearms and bow & arrow. Each time you cut the population in half, the next cut gets harder. The deer get scarce and extremely wary. Nevertheless, every spring, the does drop fawns and you start the entire process over again. With mild winters we have been having here and plenty of crops to eat, most does here now come standard with twins each spring. I agree that not enough is known about the disease but I am back to the fact that deer are a readily renewable resource. At a minimum, we have to get the population well down below where it is now (30-60 deer per square mile).

Also, area food pantries have been accepting meat from deer killed (and testing negative) in the eradication zone here for the past two years. The meat isn't going in the trash - there are just not enough hunters out harvesting animals.

You may be right that CWD has been here all along - read the part in my article where I note that several of the larger bucks we had taken in years prior looked suspiciously thin.

Also, I have seen more than one sick deer here. I have also seen about a half-dozen dead deer that were likely positive (these dead deer were in or near water and their body mass was down to skin-and-bones). It is not a pretty sight.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by erict:
Latest news is that they are going to "depopulate" the two farms where the deer came from, as well as to immediately harvest over 400 wild deer. I assume that they need to collect 400 to get a "representative sample" from the wild in order to assess if CWD stayed on the farms or has made it into the wild population.

We'll see if this is just a precursor to eradication in the affected areas.

erict,

I think the DNR here had a difficult job from the outset. There were open and upfront but that meant they had to be honest and often respond to public questions with "We don't know." All in all, I think they have done a good job.

Also, I would guess they are doing the same thing as was done here - try to collect a representative sample of surrounding wild deer for testing.

Good luck out there and keep us posted,
Doug

BTT