Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

More Discounted Non-residents licenses for Montana

Nevermind. Not worth it
Here is the prevalence graph for southwest core area in WI where CWD was initially found.


And here is the herd density map for the same area .
Screenshot_20230130_192231_Drive.jpg
So between 51 & 80 deer per square mile most in the state.

Here is a cwd prevalence map to better see.

Screenshot_20230130_192425_Google.jpg

So I don't think CWD is decimating the herd.
 
Do most people in SW WI eat their CWD positive deer?
All of the people I know who hunt do yes. I personally test every deer I shoot. Tests take a bit to get back. Have had 1 come back positive and had eaten a fair amount of it. Didn't bother me personally and finished the rest.

Edit: these are all healthy looking deer showing no sign of disease. If you didn't test them you wouldn't have known. Guessing people are eating positive deer in every state and not knowing any different.
 
All of the people I know who hunt do yes. I personally test every deer I shoot. Tests take a bit to get back. Have had 1 come back positive and had eaten a fair amount of it. Didn't bother me personally and finished the rest.

Edit: these are all healthy looking deer showing no sign of disease. If you didn't test them you wouldn't have known. Guessing people are eating positive deer in every state and not knowing any different.

Good on you. I might have eaten positive deer in the past but I think i need to get a better handle on things before i knowingly eat one. The issues ive read about Creutzfeldt-Jakob and the crazy long incubation period and possible misdiagnosis of alzheimers or dementia, no thanks. I'm not feeding CWD positive meat to my wife and daughters even if i'm almost certain there is no risk until i learn a lot more about it.

Even if we have abundant deer populations, they lose a lot of luster if I end up treating half of them like a biohazard and throwing them away.
 
Good on you. I might have eaten positive deer in the past but I think i need to get a better handle on things before i knowingly eat one. The issues ive read about Creutzfeldt-Jakob and the crazy long incubation period and possible misdiagnosis of alzheimers or dementia, no thanks. I'm not feeding CWD positive meat to my wife and daughters even if i'm almost certain there is no risk until i learn a lot more about it.

Even if we have abundant deer populations, they lose a lot of luster if I end up treating half of them like a biohazard and throwing them away.
Because I will forever be a firm believer in people having the necessary information to make informed decisions for themselves and their families…




Most prion diseases (scrapie, BSE, CJD, CWD) have been detected in skeletal muscle at this point. There are enough CWD prions in skeletal muscle that researchers are attempting to develop an ante-mortem test or a rapid test that hunters could use in the field, that uses muscle biopsies.

 
Because I will forever be a firm believer in people having the necessary information to make informed decisions for themselves and their families…




Most prion diseases (scrapie, BSE, CJD, CWD) have been detected in skeletal muscle at this point. There are enough CWD prions in skeletal muscle that researchers are attempting to develop an ante-mortem test or a rapid test that hunters could use in the field, that uses muscle biopsies.

Thanks for posting I deleted my last post after reading your information. I was not aware of the new tests that could be used in detection of prion diseases in skeletal muscles. Will have some reading to do today.
 
I still have a few questions after reading up on some of this is:
1. What does cooking the meat do to the prions, don't they degrade around 140-150 degrees?
2. What does stomach acid do to the prions when it's consumed?

Maybe I missed it, but when I was reading the studies, it felt like they were testing raw meat.
 
I still have a few questions after reading up on some of this is:
1. What does cooking the meat do to the prions, don't they degrade around 140-150 degrees?
2. What does stomach acid do to the prions when it's consumed?

Maybe I missed it, but when I was reading the studies, it felt like they were testing raw meat.

Going off a foggy memory here but I thought I saw something like temperatures of 900+ being required to destroy prions. At least far beyond temps you'd cook meat to.
 
I'm debated out.... But I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts. It is an interesting perspective that I had not considered regarding MT CWD management.
FWP and Biologists are very good at the X's and O's of managing wildlife. Where they lack is economics. (remember economics is not about money, economics is about the choices people make and the value they place on those choices, money is just a convenient way to measure the value of those choices)
A good example is the doe tags in Region 7. I have confidence that FWP biologists try to get the right number doe tags for region 7. The problem with the doe tags is not the number, but the where the hunters choose to fill them. The same is going to happen with CWD management. Right now I see the strategy as more opportunity so more bucks are killed. The result is going to be as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. Hunters are going to pound public land to the dirt and landowners are going to find someone other than FWP to manage wildlife on their property.
 
I still have a few questions after reading up on some of this is:
1. What does cooking the meat do to the prions, don't they degrade around 140-150 degrees?
2. What does stomach acid do to the prions when it's consumed?

Maybe I missed it, but when I was reading the studies, it felt like they were testing raw meat.
I remember asking questions as a kid and getting the "look it up in the encyclopedia or dictionary". That sucked.

Now it takes three seconds to find the answers to the questions above.

Now get the hell off my lawn.:confused:
 
FWP and Biologists are very good at the X's and O's of managing wildlife. Where they lack is economics. (remember economics is not about money, economics is about the choices people make and the value they place on those choices, money is just a convenient way to measure the value of those choices)
A good example is the doe tags in Region 7. I have confidence that FWP biologists try to get the right number doe tags for region 7. The problem with the doe tags is not the number, but the where the hunters choose to fill them. The same is going to happen with CWD management. Right now I see the strategy as more opportunity so more bucks are killed. The result is going to be as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. Hunters are going to pound public land to the dirt and landowners are going to find someone other than FWP to manage wildlife on their property.
Fast track to the privatization of wildlife. We’ve already seen it, it’s going to get worse.
 
Back
Top