Wisconsin using taxpayer $ to compensate deer farms with CWD issues.

[PrairieHunter]

More than 300 deer will be killed at a Wisconsin farm found to have chronic wasting disease,

State agriculture officials ordered the depopulation at Maple Hill Farms after chronic wasting disease was discovered there in August 2021.

www.jsonline.com

Wisconsin has 301 registered deer farms and 38 are CWD-positive, according to state data. Twenty, or 54%, have been found to be CWD-positive in the last three years. Twenty of the 38 have been depopulated and indemnity paid to the owners.

More:The 2022 Wisconsin deer season will feature slightly more late hunts and a small drop in antlerless permits

The disease was found at eight Wisconsin captive deer facilities – in Eau Claire, Langlade, Outagamie, Portage, Sauk, Taylor, Vilas and Waukesha counties – in 2021 alone, according to DATCP reports. Two more, in Walworth and Waukesha counties, were added this year.

The disease also has continued to spread, slowly but unrelentingly, among Wisconsin's wild deer.

Regulations, enforcement and technology are failing to prevent the spread of CWD in both the deer farming industry and the wild deer herd.

And the ramifications of the disease, including closing down businesses, tying up agriculture and wildlife officials and costs to taxpayers, continue to mount.

 

[Treeshark]

Yuck. I would love to see these deer farms go away permanently. Nothing but problems.

 

[PrairieHunter]

I'd love to know how much as if taxpayers are on the hook for as the value of those deer could be 10k+ quite easily.

 

[Northwoods Labs]

I would love to see the game farms gone as well, unfortunately the politicians regularly elected in northern Wisconsin won't let that happen. That and DATCP, not the DNR, is in charge of most of the regs for these farms causes problems as they are going to be more sympathetic towards deer farming.

Whitetails are wildlife, not farm animals. They should be treated as such

 

[Northwoods Labs]

I'd love to know how much as if taxpayers are on the hook for as the value of those deer could be 10k+ quite easily.

Article says about 3,000 per animal is the maximum and is coming from federal funds

 

[PrairieHunter]

Article says about 3,000 per animal is the maximum and is coming from federal funds

Yikes, so we are all paying to bail out deer farms with CWD. My goodness what a mess.

 

[Hammsolo]

I have an in-law that does taxidermy, and he just finished a monstrous whitetail from Iowa. The story is not of hunting, but manufacturing. The shooter is VERY wealthy, and paid 12 1/2 K to go sit in a blind to shoot this buck over a feeder. He was able to shoot another lesser buck because it came into the feeder gored by another buck. The “guide” told him to shoot it because the other bucks would just kill it anyway due to their roid rage.

This is a problem…

 

[Stocker]

I have an in-law that does taxidermy, and he just finished a monstrous whitetail from Iowa. The story is not of hunting, but manufacturing. The shooter is VERY wealthy, and paid 12 1/2 K to go sit in a blind to shoot this buck over a feeder. He was able to shoot another lesser buck because it came into the feeder gored by another buck. The “guide” told him to shoot it because the other bucks would just kill it anyway due to their roid rage.

This is a problem…

That would be less than 0 fun. Having a buck like that on the wall is the equivalent to buying the biggest “toy” in the adult store and proclaiming yourself to be the most “well endowed”. And yes I use that analogy because it takes a huge douche for either scenario.


From the starting point to the kill there is 0 that has to do with hunting. Genetically engineering deer and using drugs on them just for antlers is insane.

 

[seeth07]

Whitetails are wildlife, not farm animals. They should be treated as such

While I for the most part agree with you, its not that simple or fair. Disclaimer: I own a game farm myself (I raise pheasants for profit and personal self use). Where do you draw the line? Pigs are wild animals yet they were domesticated and are raised on farms. Horses are wild animals yet they are domesticated and used for a large variety of purposes. Mink, pheasants, quail, turkeys, deer, elk, bear, you name it - its on a farm somewhere. Any animal can be farmed for its meat, fur, bones, antlers, horns, etc. and if kept in a farming atmosphere long enough you can consider its gene pool domesticated. I have a buddy who has a small fenced in property (its about 5 acres) and he has a total of 5 deer right now. You can walk right up to them and pet them. They have been in his family on that property for over 30 years and I don't know how long those genes go but they are for sure domesticated. For him, its mostly just a hobby and pets but he does fetch some good money off of his one buck right now selling his rack every year while the other buck he currently has is only 1.5 years old.

 

[Hammsolo]

That would be less than 0 fun. Having a buck like that on the wall is the equivalent to buying the biggest “toy” in the adult store and proclaiming yourself to be the most “well endowed”. And yes I use that analogy because it takes a huge douche for either scenario.


From the starting point to the kill there is 0 that has to do with hunting. Genetically engineering deer and using drugs on them just for antlers is insane.

Preach! I agree!

 

[Stocker]

While I for the most part agree with you, its not that simple or fair. Disclaimer: I own a game farm myself (I raise pheasants for profit and personal self use). Where do you draw the line? Pigs are wild animals yet they were domesticated and are raised on farms. Horses are wild animals yet they are domesticated and used for a large variety of purposes. Mink, pheasants, quail, turkeys, deer, elk, bear, you name it - its on a farm somewhere. Any animal can be farmed for its meat, fur, bones, antlers, horns, etc. and if kept in a farming atmosphere long enough you can consider its gene pool domesticated. I have a buddy who has a small fenced in property (its about 5 acres) and he has a total of 5 deer right now. You can walk right up to them and pet them. They have been in his family on that property for over 30 years and I don't know how long those genes go but they are for sure domesticated. For him, its mostly just a hobby and pets but he does fetch some good money off of his one buck right now selling his rack every year while the other buck he currently has is only 1.5 years old.

I don’t have a huge problem with the farms themselves. For me it’s the intention. There’s lots of people who raise pheasants around here, I used to as well. I’m not very familiar with big game farms but I know there’s several places somewhat close to me to hunt buffalo, elk, etc. “hunting” those animals in a fence is not something I want to do, but that’s just me.

Now using hormones and modifying a deer strictly for the sole purpose of making it grow huge antlers is just odd to me.

If you start roiding up your roosters until they have 4’ tail feathers and 6” spurs then I’ll be on your case too.

 

[seeth07]

Now using hormones and modifying a deer strictly for the sole purpose of making it grow huge antlers is just odd to me.

How is that any different than what goes into chicken and cattle feed to make them grow fast? Broiler chickens can go from chicken to butcher in 4 weeks - that isn't anywhere near "normal"...

How is it any different than corn fields that grow 12 feet tall and produce cobs 16" long? That isn't anywhere near "normal"...

Its the world we live in. How can we modify the natural world to make a better profit.

 

[Hammsolo]

While I for the most part agree with you, its not that simple or fair. Disclaimer: I own a game farm myself (I raise pheasants for profit and personal self use). Where do you draw the line? Pigs are wild animals yet they were domesticated and are raised on farms. Horses are wild animals yet they are domesticated and used for a large variety of purposes. Mink, pheasants, quail, turkeys, deer, elk, bear, you name it - its on a farm somewhere. Any animal can be farmed for its meat, fur, bones, antlers, horns, etc. and if kept in a farming atmosphere long enough you can consider its gene pool domesticated. I have a buddy who has a small fenced in property (its about 5 acres) and he has a total of 5 deer right now. You can walk right up to them and pet them. They have been in his family on that property for over 30 years and I don't know how long those genes go but they are for sure domesticated. For him, its mostly just a hobby and pets but he does fetch some good money off of his one buck right now selling his rack every year while the other buck he currently has is only 1.5 years old.

Great question. Where do we draw the line? One of the greatest challenges in life is creating boundaries in life and sticking to them. To all, where are your boundaries?

I am pondering currently. I learned a great deal from your post. Each state is SO different.

The example that jumps out to me is sheep. Domesticated sheep, and the raising of them, have indirectly eradicated, or nearly eradicated everything from wild sheep to grizzly bears.

Should we be able to domesticate any wild thing? Is it worth the risks? I will abstain for now.

As a citizen I am part owner of my state’s wildlife. I also own a dog. If my neighbor’s pit bull escapes his yard and kills my cowardly golden doodle Leo what happens legally? Who should pay if a farmed animal spreads disease to wild animals. Who pays when they start a wildfire?

As I once heard, we have less control than we think. The more control we think we have, the less we see what we can and can’t control.

Trying to prompt thinking. I am learning.

 

[Stocker]

How is that any different than what goes into chicken and cattle feed to make them grow fast? Broiler chickens can go from chicken to butcher in 4 weeks - that isn't anywhere near "normal"...

How is it any different than corn fields that grow 12 feet tall and produce cobs 16" long? That isn't anywhere near "normal"...

Its the world we live in. How can we modify the natural world to make a better profit.

I understand your point. The evil of GMO’s in food production is somewhat necessary. I don’t like hormones, GMO’s, antibiotics in animal production.

BUT

The majority of the planet and to a large degree this country necessitates the increased production in order to keep people from starving. You, I and the majority of people on this forum have the luxury of affording to buy or harvest the food we WANT to eat. There’s a lot of people that that can only afford the bare minimums, if we take the increased production away that goes from chicken/pork to rice and beans.

Using them to grow antlers for a big Johnson contest doesn’t seem right.

 

[Jorgy]

I'd love to know how much as if taxpayers are on the hook for as the value of those deer could be 10k+ quite easily.

The federal fund allows a maximum payment of $3,000 per animal

 

[chiplu10]

CWD is not real