CWD found in 2 more Upper Green River elk

[WesternWyoming]

For those who hunt elk in the Gros Ventre, Wind River and Wyoming ranges of Wyoming, this is very troubling news from the WGFD:

PINEDALE - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in two adult female elk from Elk Hunt Area 87. The first elk was found dead in January, followed by the second in early February. Both elk were discovered at the Dell Creek feedground. Department personnel have investigated the sites, collected samples and removed the carcasses.

Elk Hunt Area 87 is located in the Pinedale Region. It is bordered by two CWD-positive elk hunt areas: 84 and 92. This marks the first recorded cases of CWD in Hunt Area 87 and is the first detection of the disease within the Upper Green River Elk Herd. This is the second confirmed instance of elk testing positive at a feedground, following a previous detection of CWD at the Scab Creek feedground in December.

 

[wytex]

While not good news certainly not the sky is falling.
We have cwd and large elk herds over here and still plenty of elk, too many in fact.
Might make for better arguments on closing the feedgrounds though.

 

[POk3s]

Any time I see “CWD” anymore I just roll my eyes. They’ve known about CWD since the 60s and it has never led to a mass die off. As mentioned above, they’ve been warning us about CWD for 20+ years now and how it’s going to decimate herds. Our elk herds, in Wyoming, are as strong as ever.

I guess I’m not smart enough to know if a mass die off will EVER happen. But comparing Wyoming’s elk herd with the herds in other states, it sure appears that taking away the feed grounds will kill more elk than CWD ever will.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

Any time I see “CWD” anymore I just roll my eyes. They’ve known about CWD since the 60s and it has never led to a mass die off.

That’s not verifiable because the populations haven’t ever been stable for scientific analysis. Ungulate populations were low and concerted effort across the continent brought them back to a point where needs now exceed natural forage in some areas like Wyoming. Since wolves were bad, they weren’t encouraged when repopulating game nor bears or mountain lions either. Now we have unsustainable numbers of deer and elk and natural predation is still lacking.
You’re right, for now, that nobody can provide evidence to suggest CWD decimated a population anywhere. It is spreading and scrapie was thought to be the origination for interspecies crossover mutation. There is a remedy for suspected scrapie diseased sheep. Should the same remedy be applied to ungulates? Maybe, worked alright in NY.

 

[WesternWyoming]

Any time I see “CWD” anymore I just roll my eyes. They’ve known about CWD since the 60s and it has never led to a mass die off. As mentioned above, they’ve been warning us about CWD for 20+ years now and how it’s going to decimate herds. Our elk herds, in Wyoming, are as strong as ever.

I guess I’m not smart enough to know if a mass die off will EVER happen. But comparing Wyoming’s elk herd with the herds in other states, it sure appears that taking away the feed grounds will kill more elk than CWD ever will.

It must be easy to remain unconcerned about ungulate diseases in Wyoming if your "home" herd is healthy. (Assuming it is.)

Each disease begins somewhere, and the lethal results are compounded by deadly winters and loss of habitat. These are the first cases of CWD in my home herds, and they follow other sudden die-offs in our ungulates here.

For example, in March 2023:

"To date, it is estimated that over 500 pronghorn have died due to .... Mycoplasma bovis ... the pathogen infecting the pronghorn with most of those animals ultimately dying of pneumonia." (WGFD)

And, from the Cowboy State Daily of the same year: "Wyoming Range Winterkill Far Worse Than Thought: 80% Of Adult Deer & Nearly All Fawns Dead"

Yes, our elk herds are doing well today. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about CWD getting a lethal foothold in the near future. We didn't see Mycoplasma bovis coming either.

 

[POk3s]

It must be easy to remain unconcerned about ungulate diseases in Wyoming if your "home" herd is healthy. (Assuming it is.)

Each disease begins somewhere, and the lethal results are compounded by deadly winters and loss of habitat. These are the first cases of CWD in my home herds, and they follow other sudden die-offs in our ungulates here.

For example, in March 2023:

"To date, it is estimated that over 500 pronghorn have died due to .... Mycoplasma bovis ... the pathogen infecting the pronghorn with most of those animals ultimately dying of pneumonia." (WGFD)

And, from the Cowboy State Daily of the same year: "Wyoming Range Winterkill Far Worse Than Thought: 80% Of Adult Deer & Nearly All Fawns Dead"

Yes, our elk herds are doing well today. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about CWD getting a lethal foothold in the near future. We didn't see Mycoplasma bovis coming either.

I’m assuming that since I hunt in Western Wyoming, and your name is “Western Wyoming” that we both hunt the same, “home” elk herd.

You’re right…each disease starts somewhere and this disease, again, was dirt discovered in tgr 60s. We are 60+ years from known origination at this point.

I’ve tried to remain open minded about the whole thing and the more I learn about it, the more it seems this narrative is pushed by those who don’t want hunting. “Let’s take away all these things that keep our herds healthy so that CWD doesn’t kill them…

I think most outdoorsmen are starting to get real tired of the CWD boogeyman.

Plus…if anybody really cared about CWD as much as they said they did, don’t you think all the roadkill deer and elk would be scooped up from the side of the highway immediately? Instead they sit there all summer and really forever, leaching all of those prions into the soil. Are they ever picked up? No.

Regardless it’s not that I don’t care about it, it’s that I used to care about it and now all it looks like is a tool used to take away opportunity for hunters.

 

[ccc23454]

CWD is Covid for ungulates to me

 

[WIbiggame]

You’re right, for now, that nobody can provide evidence to suggest CWD decimated a population anywhere.

But you can find evidence that it doesn't decimate population.


That herd growth is while hunter harvests have stayed the same all with 88% of WI counties having deer that have tested positive for CWD.

 

[Treeshark]

CWD is Covid for ungulates to me

I feel the same way.

 

[ccc23454]

I feel the same way.

Well sh@t, I guess I need to change my opinion...lol

 

[POk3s]

I was going to throw out the C word in my response but I figured I had said enough

CWD is Covid for ungulates to me

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

But you can find evidence that it doesn't decimate population.
View attachment 361253

That herd growth is while hunter harvests have stayed the same all with 88% of WI counties having deer that have tested positive for CWD.

CWD Stifles Deer Herds in Wisconsin’s ‘Ground-Zero’ Counties

Whether you study deer-kill data or taxidermists’ work orders from the lands west of Madison, the long-predicted plunge in the region’s deer herd from chronic wasting disease appears under way. The impact of this always-fatal disease seems especially obvious in Iowa County, where hunters...

www.patrickdurkinoutdoors.com

Iowa County recorded 916 bucks killed as of late December last year. Last time Iowa County had <1,000 bucks killed was 1971.

“…Wisconsin has sold 553,652 gun-deer licenses so far this year [2024] or 44,205 more than the 509,447 it sold in 1971…”

Now the counties of Dane, Sauk, Iowa and Richland have an estimated 30% infected in doe populations and 50% infected in buck populations. Voluntary CWD testing submissions in these counties range between 15-26% of total harvest ‘22-‘24. Of those submissions, 19-33% are infected.

CWD resistant DNA does exist and it is my hope that’s one answer to CWD populations. Survival of the fittest and resistant animals mate, make super resistant progeny and it’ll all work itself out naturally. But until that time ever comes, CWD should be treated like deer AIDS because we can no longer deny that seriously impacts game populations.

 

[appaloosa]

I’m assuming that since I hunt in Western Wyoming, and your name is “Western Wyoming” that we both hunt the same, “home” elk herd.

You’re right…each disease starts somewhere and this disease, again, was dirt discovered in tgr 60s. We are 60+ years from known origination at this point.

I’ve tried to remain open minded about the whole thing and the more I learn about it, the more it seems this narrative is pushed by those who don’t want hunting. “Let’s take away all these things that keep our herds healthy so that CWD doesn’t kill them…

I think most outdoorsmen are starting to get real tired of the CWD boogeyman.

Plus…if anybody really cared about CWD as much as they said they did, don’t you think all the roadkill deer and elk would be scooped up from the side of the highway immediately? Instead they sit there all summer and really forever, leaching all of those prions into the soil. Are they ever picked up? No.

Regardless it’s not that I don’t care about it, it’s that I used to care about it and now all it looks like is a tool used to take away opportunity for hunters.

If wolves had killed two elk on a feedground, sportsmen would be losing their minds, but since its a disease, its got to just be a boogeyman or a conspiracy.
Honestly, I have become numb to the conspiracy theories and eye rolls that this issue generates from sportsmen. I assisted with CWD surveillance surveys in Jackson 20 years ago. At the time, there had never been a documented case west of the continental divide. When the risk to feedgrounds was mentioned then, the conspiracy theorists would say that it would never cross the continental divide and that it was all a hoax. Now, elk are dying on feedgrounds and it is still just a hoax.
Dell Creek is the smallest feedground and has the longest feeding season of any of the feedgrounds. 600 elk spend 6 months together on an area the size of a football field. We are about to witness something that has never been documented before in the field of CWD research. Mark my words, bookmark this thread and lets revisit it in 5 years, the results are going to be catastrophic.
Regardless, it is pointless to continue arguing about it. The sportsmen have their head in the sand and the political forces have the backs of the Ag industry. Nothing will change, it is simply going to be a fascinating experiment in disease ecology.

 

[WesternWyoming]

Thank you Appaloosa, you paint a vivid picture of the situation. I was wondering what CWD in Wisconsin white tails has anything to do with Wyoming elk.
The issue around Wyoming feedgrounds involves ranching traditions, fencing, lost winter range and community values. It’s difficult to explain and almost impossible to solve. You are right about the coming crash I think, but I doubt it will take 20 years.
I can only hope there is a middle ground somewhere between ranchers, hunters, WGFD and all those who choose to wander into the fray.