CWD- again and forever.

[brockel]

If your expectation was that culling or increasing pressure on the populations through harvest, was going to eradicate the disease from the landscape, then it would make sense that you feel it is ineffective and “not working”. This has been hammered out ad nauseam. But it’s worth repeating. It’s essentially been established that once you eclipse 1.8% prevalence within an area, culling and population reduction won’t eradicate it. It can slow growth in prevalence or potentially reduce prevalence. It’s not always as effective as we’d like, and certainly culling efforts that took place 20 years ago were not as effective as they are today.

Edit:
I guess what I’m saying is, when someone says “it’s not working”, that seems like a lazy statement to me. Not working compared to what? How would disease prevalence be if it wasn’t done? If none of the best management practices were followed? You have no baseline because in Illinois and MT, we don’t have a control that shows a direct comparison to identical landscapes that shows current management versus no management. We basically only have Saskatchewan, Kansas, and to some degree Texas, though Wisconsin has been incredibly inconsistent in their approach. But those places have it worse by a metric of time. Compare the 20 yr mark of Sask with Wyoming or CO, and it is worse in every measurable metric.

I wish there was an easy answer to fix this. But region 7 mule deer are down 60% from long term averages yet it is still spreading. What other options do we have besides killing more of them?

 

[brocksw]

I wish there was an easy answer to fix this. But region 7 mule deer are down 60% from long term averages yet it is still spreading. What other options do we have besides killing more of them?

It is hard not to get fatalistic in your view point isnt it? I have grave concerns for Mule deer specifically. Between CWD, worsening habitat and forage conditions, weather events, it’s an uphill battle. It makes me appreciate every mule deer hunt that much more. But I don’t have the answers to your question, because I don’t know.

But believe you me, if I found or had evidence of something negligent or irresponsible going on that was harming our resource, you would hear about it from me loud and clear.

 

[JM77]

Could anyone provide some documentation as to where CWD began? Please don't interject without factual, provable information. Thanks.

 

[brocksw]

Could anyone provide some documentation as to where CWD began? Please don't interject without factual, provable information. Thanks.

This is about as close you’re gonna get. There is no “provable” information beyond what’s stated below.

Timeline

Timeline

cwd-info.org

Chronic wasting disease linked to Fort Collins for 50 years

Researchers discovered the wasting disease in deer on the Colorado State University Foothills Campus in 1967.

www.coloradoan.com

 

[DFS]

@brocksw you know as much or more about cwd as anybody. That still isn’t enough. Managing it out of a herd is a pretty tough sell to people that have seen that management their whole lives. Certainly depressing if it is what they say it is.

 

[brocksw]

@brocksw you know as much or more about cwd as anybody. That still isn’t enough. Managing it out of a herd is a pretty tough sell to people that have seen that management their whole lives. Certainly depressing if it is what they say it is.

My “knowledge” is essentially socially acceptable plagiarism and it is dwarfed by the actual wildlife health professionals that are out there working on this stuff. For all intents and purposes, I am just regurgitating information I learn from them. Though something tells me I have to work way harder to absorb it than they did.

But I can appreciate your perspective. It’s a tough situation, indeed. Maybe I’m just stubborn, but throwing my hands up and giving up just doesn’t seem like a logical or productive path forward. Those wildlife health folks are doing the best they can, it will be far more beneficial to work with and help them than it will be to fight against them. But that’s just my .02…

 

[brocksw]

…and I swear on everything holy that I hope they find a therapeutic/vaccine that can be used in bait piles so these overgrown children in ND will quit their damn sniveling…

 

[Nick87]

…and I swear on everything holy that I hope they find a therapeutic/vaccine that can be used in bait piles so these overgrown children in ND will quit their damn sniveling…

Baiting still allowed in ND?

 

[brocksw]

Baiting still allowed in ND?

 

[brockel]

Baiting still allowed in ND?

Can’t kill deer in those flat areas without bait . Or that’s the argument I’ve read about it

 

[Nick87]

Can’t kill deer in those flat areas without bait . Or that’s the argument I’ve read about it

There's always an excuse for laziness.

 

[DFS]

My “knowledge” is essentially socially acceptable plagiarism and it is dwarfed by the actual wildlife health professionals that are out there working on this stuff. For all intents and purposes, I am just regurgitating information I learn from them. Though something tells me I have to work way harder to absorb it than they did.

But I can appreciate your perspective. It’s a tough situation, indeed. Maybe I’m just stubborn, but throwing my hands up and giving up just doesn’t seem like a logical or productive path forward. Those wildlife health folks are doing the best they can, it will be far more beneficial to work with and help them than it will be to fight against them. But that’s just my .02…

I am trying my best to keep an open mind. We had a collared deer from South Dakota on my parents place this year. Probably at least 50 miles from South Dakota I think more. I have buddies that are landowners that have good populations of deer on their place if you go 10 miles or less to public, there is nothing. If we are going to nuke herds to save them than North Dakota better be doing it too. We would need 100% buy in from everyone. That isn’t happening and you will not shoot your way out of it unless everyone is on board. You are advocating for nuking the public or accessible land and that is already happening here. Aerial gunning without regard to land ownership is the only way to prevent cwd spread in my neck of the woods. Might be a hard sell with our populations in the crapper.

 

[brocksw]

I am trying my best to keep an open mind. We had a collared deer from South Dakota on my parents place this year. Probably at least 50 miles from South Dakota I think more. I have buddies that are landowners that have good populations of deer on their place if you go 10 miles or less to public, there is nothing. If we are going to nuke herds to save them than North Dakota better be doing it too. We would need 100% buy in from everyone. That isn’t happening and you will not shoot your way out of it unless everyone is on board. You are advocating for nuking the public or accessible land and that is already happening here. Aerial gunning without regard to land ownership is the only way to prevent cwd spread in my neck of the woods. Might be a hard sell with our populations in the crapper.

I’m not sure it’s that straight forward and “nuking” is an inflammatory take in my opinion. There is a lot of nuance that is specific to each population, ecoregion, etc. and population dynamics is a complicated topic to begin with, much less when you’re trying to apply CWD management amongst all of those variables. But I share your concern and I don’t necessarily like it either. I understand the frustration over lowering deer numbers, culling, and all of those things.

I tell wildlife health professionals all the time, they need to be better communicators of the nuts and bolts of these issues that are going to get emotional reactions from folks. People are understandably upset, and it’s hard watching some of this happen to something you love and have a personal connection too. I feel that too. But what are the other options? Pretend it isn’t there?

 

[JM77]

This is about as close you’re gonna get. There is no “provable” information beyond what’s stated below.

Timeline

Timeline

cwd-info.org

Chronic wasting disease linked to Fort Collins for 50 years

Researchers discovered the wasting disease in deer on the Colorado State University Foothills Campus in 1967.

www.coloradoan.com

"Could anyone provide some documentation as to where CWD began? Please don't interject without factual, provable information."

Get my point?

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

No matter what the origination of CWD, it is spreading and destroys cervid populations. If ignorance is permitted a seat at the table then they will to continue to deny, obfuscate, resist research. Deer hunting overall is far and away the most popular and profitable hunting in USA. Thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue, billions in earned income. To fight CWD by ignoring CWD is just bad business practice.

 

[WIbiggame]

No matter what the origination of CWD, it is spreading and destroys cervid populations.

Can you supply a study that shows CWD is destroying cervid populations?

 

[WIbiggame]

I tell wildlife health professionals all the time, they need to be better communicators of the nuts and bolts of these issues that are going to get emotional reactions from folks. People are understandably upset,

I appreciate all the information you've shared in this thread and others. But, this comment is by far my favorite. States (WI) being the primary example ruined the publics trust with the way they handled CWD.

This has caused the "inconsistencies" in management. They so poisoned the publics trust in them that they have been fighting an up hill battle to earn back trust in whatever treatment plan they come up with.

 

[Nick87]

States (WI) being the primary example ruined the publics trust with the way they handled CWD.

This has caused the "inconsistencies" in management. They so poisoned the publics trust in them that they have been fighting an up hill battle to earn back trust in whatever treatment plan they come up with.

Yup.

 

[WIbiggame]

@brocksw you have compelled me do start reading up again on this. I came across this article from 2019. Is the study they are completing in WI a continuation of this study?

Smith: The annual mortality rate for CWD-positive deer is double that uninfected animals, a new study shows

Data obtained in 2018 from the Southwest Wisconsin CWD, Deer and Predator Study backs up what was seen by the DNR in 2017, the first of five years of monitoring.

www.jsonline.com

 

[WildWill]

No matter what the origination of CWD, it is spreading and destroys cervid populations. If ignorance is permitted a seat at the table then they will to continue to deny, obfuscate, resist research. Deer hunting overall is far and away the most popular and profitable hunting in USA. Thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue, billions in earned income. To fight CWD by ignoring CWD is just bad business practice.

Turning CWD into a business is worse IMO.