What I learned about CWD after 17 years of direct involvement

but when we get back to the heart of this thread it boils down to those 2 points.


Woulda been great had you just stuck to that from the beginning. Everyone than could have responded "no chit, welcome to the forum" and moved on. Seeing as you just joined this forum recently, and immediately decided to run your mouth, i would say "stupid mode" was always your intention.
 
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And now we are back to full stupid and personal attacks. It was nice while it lasted when the adults were actually talking about CWD.
 
Since a common question is "Can Humans get a TSE (VCJD) from eating CWD infected deer, elk, etc?" It should be noted that for the 50+ years that CWD infected cervids have been known to be in the USA, no cases of VCJD have been discovered in people that ate CWD infected meat. In WI, I dont know anybody that gets their deer tested after the 17 years of know CWD infected deer. Most did at first but not so much any more. If I was not mandated to submit the heads from the 10 bow killed deer I took for the city, I would not bother. I dont have any of my deer killed under my personal tags tested. I expect Ive eaten CWD positive venisons as have perhaps millions of people over the last 50 years.

There is currently a 14 year in the making, ongoing study of a group of people from NY that have consumed CWD infected meat that are being monitored as part of a long term study. I expect them all to die of something over time but not VCJD.

 
The spider monkey research was flawed and not validated but another group used another species of monkey that is closer to humans to conduct a trial once again challenging the species barrier. The primates were both fed (orally) infected mater and as well as CWD infected matter injected directly into their Brians (trying to bypass any digestive tract nullifying. ) and after 6 years, still no species barrier jump in our closest primate relatives.

 
So here is a question for you. I shot a deer in a mandatory testing area in CO. I called to get the meat tested but didn't have the lymph nodes. I thought I could have the meat itself tested and was wrong. So I have a deer I am unsure if it tests positive for CWD. Would you eat it?
 
In a heart beat and with no reservations whatsoever. Ive been eating deer that I expect had CWD and so has all of my family and extended family. I dont know any hunters in my circle that bother to test any more.
 
I've been following CWD for years as well, not with all the same information you have available. One thing I never understood as states like WI and IL had mass break outs, why didn't the states with positive CWD cases work together, or why hasn't the feds gotten involved.

I have also never understood when there was a severe case in a deer farm, they would condemn the property stating the prion can't be removed from the soil, but yet they think that CWD can be stopped by killing all the deer in the infected area.

Hopefully a cure becomes available soon, depending on what report you read it sounds like some are close.
 
IMO CWD is the classic the more you know the more you know you don't know. Scrapie in sheep has been around a few hundred years that we know of maybe longer or most likely longer! Think of the millions of scrapie infected sheep that have been eaten by humans.

My questions>
1. In deer/Elk> Is there conclusive proof that CWD started at the Colorado research station? What was the research that was taking place there? What can we learn from that situation and research?
2. Did the seeds of infection all come from that research facility? Is CWD man made?

I think we will either change the way we think about the disease ( not worry about a species jump to humans) primarily focus on the host animal or the potential cures/solutions will come from the Lab.
I know the list of reasons of Mule deer decline is very long and possibly a little different from herd units to herd units but CWD has to be one of the reasons in many of the herds.
3. Insect CWD vectors? I remember one of the scrapie articles I read mites were considered a vector.
4. Is there a pesticide that has been sprayed on pastures that causes the misfolding of the protein in cervids?
 
" the more we know, the more we know we dont know"

Now that is the true path to learning about the Disease and how we react to it. Compare that line of thinking to all to often typical blow hard know it all responses that comes from the hunting community.
 
IMO CWD is the classic the more you know the more you know you don't know. Scrapie in sheep has been around a few hundred years that we know of maybe longer or most likely longer! Think of the millions of scrapie infected sheep that have been eaten by humans.

Scrapies has been around since the 18th century.

My questions>
1. In deer/Elk> Is there conclusive proof that CWD started at the Colorado research station? What was the research that was taking place there? What can we learn from that situation and research?

Since there is not documentation of it prior to that, that is the widely held origins and there is nothing counter to that that has been documented.

2. Did the seeds of infection all come from that research facility? Is CWD man made?

It naturally occurring but very rare.

3. Insect CWD vectors? I remember one of the scrapie articles I read mites were considered a vector.

If you were to search on "insects as a vector in the transmission of CWD" You could spend a lot of time reading the research establishing a link. Like this.


4. Is there a pesticide that has been sprayed on pastures that causes the misfolding of the protein in cervids?

In all my years of involvement with CWD Ive never heard of anybody suggesting such a thing more any research that looked at pesticides or herbicides as a cause.[/QUOTE]
 
Our lead biologist in Arkansas told me that CWD is here to stay. All we can do is try to manage it. I don't think any agency thinks they can stop it unless some magic cure is found someday. It's about mitigating the spread. Arkansas is and has been working very closely with other states. The University of Arkansas has a couple of world renowned geneticists that are doing some interesting work on CWD here. They have found a genetic strain of whitetail in AR that is resistant to CWD. That sounds good but actually they still contract it but it takes longer to manifest symptoms and death which allows them to shed prions and spread the disease longer than the less resistant strain in the Northern part of the state.
 
Your lead biologists is correct (albeit late to the party as this is not new and was the tenant of this thread from the start)

I suggest that the "strain" of resistant whitetail is not new or even specific to Arizona and has been known about for more than a decade due to research conducted on deer in WI and IL.


And Mule deer


Story about the WI research from back in 2016.

 
This article attributed to the lead member of our science and research team when I was commissioned to the CWD sTakeholder Advisory Group was written back in 2003 (almost 17 years ago when he was advising us)

This was back when they still talked of killing ALL the deer, to eradicate CWD.

 
Yeah, it's Arkansas not Arizona. I didn't say any of it was new. Just offering some info from my particular state's take on the subject. The 2 strains are geographically separated here and will probably be managed a little differently because of it. I am not trying to prove anything or impress anyone. I just love animals, care about this subject and thought I could participate in the conversation. Sorry for wasting space on your thread.
 
Yeah, it's Arkansas not Arizona. I didn't say any of it was new. Just offering some info from my particular state's take on the subject. The 2 strains are geographically separated here and will probably be managed a little differently because of it. I am not trying to prove anything or impress anyone. I just love animals, care about this subject and thought I could participate in the conversation. Sorry for wasting space on your thread.

contributions from different areas of the country are welcome on subjects like this. Some people just have an inflated ego and think they are very important
 
Mature bucks have proven to have the highest prevalence rates of CWD. Here is some recent CWD news

 
Mature bucks have proven to have the highest prevalence rates of CWD. Here is some recent CWD news


yea, I've seen this. Makes you wonder if the whole QDM thing that guys love to run with and constantly giving mature bucks another year is really a good thing in regards to slowing spread of CWD, seeing as they are the most likely to have it
 
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