Dnr confirmed cwd in one deer head sampled this past fall right next to our farm. Meeting is Monday with DNR and it sounds like they will be looking for input as to shoot some deer this spring or not. Please give me info on people that have dealt with this in the past. I want factual information.....not opinions. I want to make sure my voice is heard, but I'm not very informed at the moment. Thanks in advance. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My personal opinion isn't a popular one with the hunters, but the facts show that the IL DNR's efforts to reduce deer population via more/longer firearm seasons and sharpshooting has slowed the spread of CWD compared to areas where nothing is done. We've been dealing with CWD for 15 years now and infection rates in tested animals, while slowly increasing, have remained around the 1% mark for all tested animals. In CWD "hot spots" where sharpshooting is happening those rates are closer to 4-5%. By contrast, some areas of WI where populations are being left purely unchecked are seeing skyrocketing prevalence rates. See this chart here - http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/nwiowa.pdf In portions of Iowa County they are seeing 40% infection rates in tested adult male deer. Unfortunately once you have CWD you will never get rid of it. There is no cure, and it will only spread. The question is how fast and how far. 15 years into this thing here in IL it's still growing, but it's far from as wide spread and prevalent as it is in WI. So you can draw your own conclusions on which method of "control" is most effective.
Sorry Justin but the CWD data in WI is and has been grossly misrepresented and any comparison between IL and WI isn't valid because the sampling is completely different. WI positive results are higher because we don't test as randomly. 2016 WI tested a total of 5963 deer with 433 being positive. IL about 98,000 animals with 610 positives. What does that show? Well that if you test more healthy animals, it makes the percentage of positive results go down. Since testing, only 18 deer have tested positive for CWD in WI outside of the Southern Farmland region and those have been pretty much all captive deer on farms. That shows that while CWD is still present, it is still isolated to the same general areas it has been. Now as for what to do. that is the 10million dollar question with CWD. From all the research I've read, it can't be stopped. Having 1 case, you definitely want to start monitoring the area where the deer was killed going forward, looking for sickly deer, dead deer. But don't want to start overreacting.
OK I misunderstood the IL report. My point though was the numbers in WI are not running out of control like has been portrayed. They say 43 CWD-affected counties, but that is only because of dumb laws. They added Oneida, Forrest and Vilas counties because a deer farm that had one captive deer test positive, was within 10 miles of two other counties. CWD is definitely something we need to work to try and limit its impact, and continue research to find a way to kill the prions or inoculate the deer themselves. But how they are portraying the status in WI is way overblown in attempt to garner more money.
Is it really though? This is direct from the WI DNR. In that same 14 year period infection rates in IL have risen at a drastically slower pace. Even in CWD hot zones here where they are sharpshooting in very specific areas and testing animals we're only seeing infection rates of 4-5%. I think 10% is the highest they've seen anywhere, and that's in a preserve that was until very recently closed to hunting. One thing I will agree on is that we as hunters should be more concerned about CWD than we are. Infection rates are increasing with each passing year - specifically in adult males. Big bucks make the deer hunting world go around. Without the vast amount of money pumped into hunting from the pursuit of these animals specifically, it puts the future of deer hunting in jeopardy. It may not be in our lifetime, but it will happen eventually.
The real information though is in what they don't tell you. Yes the prevalence rates in testing have gone up, but how have they gone up. by saying 8-10% over 14 years, it is natural to think it has been a slow and steady rise, but that isn't the case. Now what if I tell you, that in the WI hot zone, prior to 2011, the testing prevalence was 1-3% every year, in 2011 it increased and has been stable through 2014 (6%, 6%, 6%, 7%) and in 2015 it again jumped to 12% followed by 2016 11%. To me that shows a completely different situation, what could have happened to the herd to cause a marked increase in 2011, and again in 2015? 2011 Scott Walker in office changes the CWD testing Plan. 2015 WI starts electronic registration. Won't know for another year, but I lay odds, that in 2017 the prevalence will again be around 11 or 12%.
I am dealing with this in SE MN right now as well. They found 2 positive bucks out of close to 8000 tested. They extended the season and wanted more shot. 4 more were found for 6 total out of 10000 deer. They then started a landowner hunt and are bringing in sharp shooters now. From what I understand the sharp shooters can only go on private land that they get permission on.
Thanks for all the thoughts and the numbers provided. Does anyone know if sharp shooters are brought in just to shoot numbers or are targeting certain deer? Also, when a deer gets cwd...how long until you can tell it has CWD by human eye. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've personally shot 5 deer with cwd, 3 being mature bucks 4.5 or older, and none of the deer presented signs of having cwd. All deer appeared healthy and well nourished. I also ate every one of them. Still feeling great. My farm is in the hot zone right on the Dane/Iowa county border here in Wisconsin, and I've personally never seen, gotten a picture of, or found a deceased,sick looking deer. This has created a lot of confusion for me, because I know there are a lot of deer in my area that have contracted the disease. On our 270 acre farm, 16 positive deer have been shot over the last 14 years since testing began, and none appeared sick. I'm not quite sure what to believe.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A ton of people showed up to the meeting. DNR is taking a progressive approach to this by issuing 300 tags to hopefully "get lucky" if more CWD exists. So hard to pin point it and you can't look for it in a deer until they are dead and tested. These are free tags and high powered rifles can be used. Almost all of the area open to this is private land so it really is up landowners if this happens or not. Half of the people were split between shooting and leaving it be. The positive I took out of the meeting was they aren't trying to massacre the deer herd where the positive test came from which is close to our farm. I'm going to try to help them get some deer to sample and hopefully try to hunt the area where the CWD more than likely came from. My thought is....we have a lot of deer in our area that it isn't going to hurt to take a few more out to test. I understand the does can have twins right now and that can count for 3. In our area I could go for a drive and see 100-200 deer towards night. They are trying for 3 deer per 1 square mile which in my opinion won't hurt anything for population. Again, I believe they are hoping to get lucky by catching some other family members of the deer that was infected. With our proximity I believe we have the best chance of helping this situation. A similar hunt was opened up in a neighboring county that saw 1 CWD in 2014. 3 in 2015. 2 in 2016. They opened up a season similar to what I just described. Main difference is this area has a big piece of public land so people came from all over. 263 deer were shot. 60 of the deer were yearlings and couldn't be tested. One deer was shot in the head. So they tested 202 deer and found one positive deer. The positive deer wasn't in the same direct area as before. Unfortunately it sounds like this stuff is here and won't be gone anytime soon. I'll let people know how the testing results go. I have friends in other areas that think I'm lucky that I get to hunt deer now with high powered rifle. I would much rather not have CWD and not hunt. Weird how people don't always think about the whole situation. I'm worried about my 10 month old son having to deal with this the rest of his life and would like to be proactive on slowing it down. I'm not sure we can actively do that in a measured or scientific way. Main thing DNR said was.....if you do nothing they can guarantee it will spread faster. I'm sure they don't like dealing with it anymore than I do.
