Chronic Wasting Disease in Missouri deer herd...

[chain]

Siix north-central counties in Missouri now under special "containment zone" to control the spread of CWD.

Is the end near?  For wildlife managers, foresters, hunters, landowners, etc. are you concerned?

What concerns me is a few contradictory remarks in MDC's deer hunting booklet for 2012:

The booklet states: "The Missouri Department of Health and 'Senior Services' says there is NO evidence that CWD can infect people."

Yet, on the very same page there's a 8 point paragraph of warnings finally stating, "Avoid consuming meat from any animal that tests positive for CWD!"

One begs for answers. Question is, if you were to hunt deer in Missouri, would you choose the containment zone, would you want your children/family/friends to consume venison fron this area?

[Magicman]

Most game managers feel that CWD will eventually follow the Mississippi River South to all of the bordering states and then spread East and West.  Controlling this spread is questionable.

[chain]

Not good news at all MM. On one hand, they want to assure everyone deer can be safe for human consumption, but ...well... here are the eight points of warnings from MDC:

1. Do not handle or consume any deer  that is acting abnormal or appears to be sick.

2. Contact the MDC if you see or harvest an animal that appears sick.

3. Wear latex or rubber gloves when field dressing deer.

4. Bone out meat from animal. Don't saw through bone, and avoid cutting through the brain or spinal cord [backbone].

5. Minimze handling of brain and spinal tissues.

6. Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.

7. Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, and lymph nodes of harvested deer. Normal field dressing coupled with boning-out carcass will remove most, if not all, of these body parts. Cutting away all fatty tissue will remove remaining lymph nodes.

8. Avoid consuming meat from any animal that tests positive for CWD.

Someone is concerned of the danger of CWD infected venison for human consumption!

[beenthere]

Been known around here for 10 years.
Just get the deer tested and don't eat it if positive.
About 1% of our deer tested are positive.

Fear is a powerful thing.

Warnings run rampant because of everyone trying to cover their rear end. (my opinion).

Up to you if you want to be afraid of the venison in your CWD area.  I am not.

[chain]

Well, the MDC & CWD Alliance have raised the red flag over the issue. Usually when controversial issues are unresolved, politics and money have entered the fray. Deer hunting now a billion dollar business in Missouri. Our Commission and Directors do a wonderful job of self-promotion and back patting.   ;)


As when our families, our children are involved in the sport of deer hunting there should be clear, concise, decisions concerning  safety of CWD contamination. I say, all harvested deer must be tested for CWD.

[davch00]

Chain you left out a important part of what MDC said "The Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance recommends the following common-sense precautions when pursuing or handling deer or other cervids that may have been exposed to CWD:"
I think what the MDC means is while there is no evidence of CWD infecting people , its still a pretty good idea to take steps to protect yourself from it or any other disease wild game might have.

[beenthere]

Very well said Dave.  !!

In WI, they will test the deer we harvest if we ask them to, or take them the deer.

And their is considerable information on the web that goes into detail about the research done on CWD. Very extensive attempts to get the disease to transmit to any other animal other than the cervids. And along with the CWD discovery, will be millions of Gov't funding poured into this for yet more research.

The WI DNR bailed itself out with that extra money. Now our state Gov. is reeling that Dept. back in a bit. And about time, IMO.  ;)

[chain]

The 'Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' said, " there is no evidence that CWD can infect people." As far as I know, the MDHSS is not associated with the MDC [Missouri Department of Conservation]

Now who is the "Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance" I have no idea, but all the info is printed in 2012 Fall Deer & Turkey hunting regs, MDC.

How many youngsters out deer hunting for the first time and a large Buck steps into an opening, what's the kid gonna do? He'll shoot it.... and not wait to judge to see if the deer appears sickly. One enity says one thing, another says to heed all warnings of CWD, confusing to me.

[beenthere]

chain
You likely cannot tell if a deer is looking sickly from CWD. That is one mystery in WI, that no one sees sick deer. The deer that end up testing positive look just like any other deer be they buck or doe.
So the young hunter and the old ones, need not worry before they shoot.

[chain]

Very true, unless observing deer in a pasture or field could a person possibly spot a sick deer. In item one [1] I quoted accurately from the warnings, "Do not handle or consume any deer that is acting abnormal or appears to be sick." .

The Alliance's last warning [8]  "Avoid consuming meat from any animal that tests positive for CWD." This is telling me something and the reason I asked the question in my first message...my answer, no, I would not choose the containment area [six counties] for my family to hunt deer unless deer were tested for CWD..

[beenthere]

And it is too bad that live deer cannot be tested for CWD. Have to have the head.

It is an unfortunate disease, but I don't expect it will have a bad effect on the white tail population in the long haul. Those that don't hunt the CWD zone leave that many more deer for the hunters that do.

[Bibbyman]

I had a real odd confrontation with a humongous buck Saturday afternoon. 

I had the trail cam at other places on the farm but decided to take it back to the spring.   I was setting it up when my dowg started barking at something in a small brush patch close by.   I walked over to see what she had barked at. I didn't see anything at first.   I was looking for a possum or something like that.   But then a huge buck came out and crossed past me within 20'.  It continued up the hillside about 50 yards and stopped. The dowg had followed it.   The buck made some defensive moves at the dowg but did not charge.  It could have done some real damage.

I moved closer but the buck paid no attention to me.   Finally it walked slowly to the top of the ridge, stopping a couple of times.

Real odd behavior for a large buck.   It didn't appear injured or in bad health.   But I was wondering if it was in an early stage of CWD.

[beenthere]

Not behaviour I've heard of for CWD.
But could be the other disease that deer have been getting, of which a bulletin the other day said one of the warning signs was a deer not having the usual wild fear.

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/breakingnews_lookup.asp?id=2509

[Bibbyman]

I was talking with a neighbor this evening and told my buck acting strange story.   He mentioned a "blue tongue" disease.  I'd never heard of it.   But looking it up, it does exist and deer in Missouri have been killed by it.  Two characteristics are acting lethargic and hanging out near water.   That fits the buck I came across.   It says the infected deer die within 8 to 36 hours.   I'm going to watch around for a dead buck.

[beenthere]

Blue tongue is similar to the EDH mentioned in the last link I posted.

The two diseases are antigenically different.

Another source for info...
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150-26647--,00.html

[Bibbyman]

Blue tongue fits the discretion of how this buck acted. The night after I had the run in with this buck, I heard a pack of coyotes yelping. I was in the house in bed so there wasn't a good way to get a fix on direction.

I was out this evening but didn't spot anything.

[Larry]

Nephew has a farm in NW Missouri.  He called a few days ago concerned about CWD as he has noticed dead deer on his farm.  He is west of the current area of concern for CWD.

By coincidence this article appeared in our morning paper today.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Conservation Department said it has been getting reports of hundreds of dead deer around the state.
The agency said the deer appear to have fallen victim to hemorrhagic disease, which is spread by the bites of the small midge fly.
As of mid-September, the department had received reports of about 2,800 dead deer, with the disease being the suspected cause.
The department said outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease tend to increase during droughts, when deer and flies both congregate near the diminished number of watering spots.
People don't get the disease. So the department said handling and eating meet from deer that have recovered from the disease poses no health hazard.

[chain]

With the admittance of 2800 deer that have died from the disease I have to believe there must be a considerable number more that will never be counted. Perhaps 20,000- 30,000 or more ?

I'm thinking...gonna be lots of coyotes, buzzards happy. :-\

[Bibbyman]

I'd been up to my folk's house and had a call to come to town on business.  I had driven the Mule and the dowg had followed me up there.  I ran back to the house and got into the Durango to make the run to town.  Got up the road and met the dowg with two joints of a deer leg in her mouth.  The bones were still attached and some skin was dried on them so the deer probably hadn't been dead long.  But was far too gone to be from the buck I'd seen last week.  I've spent some time out looking for the buck but not found it.

[red oaks lumber]

about 6 months ago a deer up here was tested posative for cwd. the first thing the dnr did was put a ban on feeding deer,salt licks, mineral sites in  4county area.
i have my doubdts that the problem is a big or dangerous as the "experts" say. to me the underlying motave is putting a pemiate ban on feeding and or baiting deer.
has cwd been here for a long time and only now they have the means to test for it?
just my thoughts

[beenthere]

red oaks
I think you have the "problem" pretty well sorted out and have identified the "knee jerk" reaction by the DNR pretty accurately. It has to do with the Gov't wanting to show that they are doing "something" regardless of how significant it is.
Much like the "don't move firewood" reaction to the EAB.  Feels good, looks good, and seems good.
So why not do it so it doesn't look like we are really doing nothing.
They will quarantine an area after the "horse is out of the barn" so to speak.
Just my opinion here....

A CWD test that works on live animals would be a real help to tracking down where this disease moves and how it is moved. Seems game farms trading animals around the country is likely a main cause of the disease movement. Similar to ash nursery stock being moved long distances. But these farms fall under the USDA jurisdiction, and are separate from the states DNR's. USDA doesn't care.

And how did the large snakes find their way to the FL everglades?  Import to pet stores, sold to people that then let them go because they couldn't care for them?

[doctorb]

beenthere-

I read somewhere that a large wholesale warehouse for imported reptiles got whacked by one of Florida's hurricanes and many exotics escaped.  Certainly, importation is a problem unto itself, pet owners are another problem, but my recollection is that hundreds of snakes were unaccounted for after this storm.  I'll see if I can find any info.

[Bibbyman]

 

 

The trail cam picked up four pictures of this fawn.  It don't look so good.

[chain]

I look for lots of deer to be  struggling from the drought's aftermath.  Small mast crop this year here, not much undergrowth for deer to nibble on, vines all dried up on my place. I think they'll be in the pastures and roadways feeding on grasses. There'll be a big roadkill, no doubt.

[Bibbyman]

I had a real odd confrontation with a humongous buck Saturday afternoon. 

I had the trail cam at other places on the farm but decided to take it back to the spring.   I was setting it up when my dowg started barking at something in a small brush patch close by.   I walked over to see what she had barked at. I didn't see anything at first.   I was looking for a possum or something like that.   But then a huge buck came out and crossed past me within 20'.  It continued up the hillside about 50 yards and stopped. The dowg had followed it.   The buck made some defensive moves at the dowg but did not charge.  It could have done some real damage.

I moved closer but the buck paid no attention to me.   Finally it walked slowly to the top of the ridge, stopping a couple of times.

Real odd behavior for a large buck.   It didn't appear injured or in bad health.   But I was wondering if it was in an early stage of CWD.

 

Well,  I found him this evening.  About 100 yards from the mill.  Farmer was over checking fence and came across a strong smell.  I followed my nose.   It had 15 points.  Non-typical but a nice one.

We ran across another strong smell but not found the deer.  They said they ran across a strong smell about a month ago on another part of the farm but didn't look for it.



 

Here is what he looked like on September 11 when I first jumped him.  He hung around long enough for me to get my I-Phone out and take pictures!

[chain]

Guess I'll have to stop reading anything. But now, I've read that Missouri's young Elk herd may be infested with 'brain worm' disease.

You know, I don't make this stuff up [however, my drill sargeant always said we recruits had brain worms] :D

Biologist said he didn't know if the worms would infect whitetails or not ?  :-\

The commission said they've lost several elk from stress-drought related issues.

And, what about  they were going to contain the imported elk on Peck Ranch? A elk cow was destroyed near the Arkansas state line because it would not return to the ranch.

Authorities now say Missouri's elk herd would be held to 400-500 animals with only 20-40 hunting permits issued.

Question is, can Elk be happy & healthy in the Ozarks, good luck!

[SwampDonkey]

Deer have not test positive here yet. We also have illegal deer farms here, deer from outside NB. The Fish and Wildlife Act spells this out as illegal activity. A year ago a man was killed by a buck on his farm. Right then, there was to be a clamp down on the farms and the deer had to be destroyed. A few months later DNR backed off and the farms continue. The provincial DNR biologist is not very happy with that reversal. I was told by a friend whom this biologist is also a friend that he took leave. He has not been very happy with the higher ups for some time on a few issues. To be quite honest, management is based on politics and has been for a long time.

[Magicman]

It is sad to see nature's wrath, but I am glad that you found him Bibby.  He carried antlers that would have made someone happy.

[Bibbyman]

They farmers that run heffers on our property also rent crop ground from the land owner just south of us. They said he'd found an 8 pointer dead.

I got a second Moultrie L50 on Friday and set it up at the edge of the pasture.   I pulled the card yesterday (Sunday) and had a lot of deer pictures.  Many were just bright eyes in the dark but got a good late day picture of a young 8 pointer.



 

Got around to uploading the picture.  Good pose.  Could have used more light.

P.S.  I got the year set wrong.

[Bibbyman]

  



I went by where I found the dead 15 point buck back in late September.  I couldn't find hide nor hair or even bone of it.  I had to get my iPhone out and find the picture I'd taken to make sure I found the same tree.  No evidence left.

[SwampDonkey]

It's one of the reasons why caged deer herds are not allowed in NB. The think about it, is they are deer imported in, not local deer. Thus the worry of such diseases. The government knows of these caged herds and yet don't act on the law. They were going to this past spring, but the got "yellow belly fever" and backed down. The NB biologist went on leave because politics trumps the law up here.