About Time

https://www.startribune.com/soaring-cwd-numbers-in-southeastern-minnesota-prompt-dnr-to-stop-culling-deer/601200950

That’s interesting and actually, a little scary at the same time.
I never agreed with the attempt to wipe out the whole herd in a given area.

So now CWD will go unchecked and I’m guessing, the 5% would grow every year.
Until what end?
And it just keeps spreading to what end?

What’s the other one out there? EHD or something like that?

This is far from over.
I’m having a hard time seeing what the future brings but I can’t see many positives…

haleysgold wrote:

What’s the other one out there? EHD or something like that?

Yes, EHD from what I understand is extremely rare in MN. The actual only outbreak that I am aware of was when they drew down the Mississippi River to “help” Little Rock Lake. The exposed muddy bottom allowed a tremendous midge hatch of some sort just North of my house and a bunch of deer were found dead. Not sure if it was officially labeled as that, but that is what the locals were all blaming it on anyway.

haleysgold wrote:

Until what end?
And it just keeps spreading to what end?

Until nature finds a balance. You can look at the counties that CWD was first discovered in, still have pretty healthy deer herds decades later. In Wisconsin Iowa, Dane, Richland and Sauk counties were some of the first counties infected. Or even further back to Converse County, WY or Fort Collins, CO where it was first found in 1967.

Here’s the WI DNR deer herd estimates for the 4 counties cited above.

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In the early 1900’s, whitetail deer populations were hardly a fraction of what they are today. At that time there were no regulations and virtually everyone was a “hunter” as it fed their family.

Today some areas have crazy high population densities and thus, issues like CWD that can spread easily. If we don’t want people to be able to have a ton of tags or thin the herd with large hunts…then nature will do so on its own. CWD isn’t going away.

The people posting here have lived through a period of probably the highest deer populations in the Midwest post-Westward Expansion. Being able to see deer on every hunt or in every field is likely not the statistical norm if you go back a century or two. When people talk about their hunting experiences – that likely spans a few decades which is just a snapshot.

I love hunting, seeing deer, and eating venison. But I don’t love seeing crops and trees destroyed, car kills, and CWD either. The affected areas have populations that are out of balance.

I think this is also an important example despite the millions spent by the DNR, basically open season for years on the herd there, that they still didn’t stop it from spreading. So at the minimum let’s look at herd decimation by man/regulation as not a viable means of mitigating CWD spread.

buckybadger wrote:

In the early 1900’s, whitetail deer populations were hardly a fraction of what they are today. At that time there were no regulations and virtually everyone was a “hunter” as it fed their family.

Today some areas have crazy high population densities and thus, issues like CWD that can spread easily. If we don’t want people to be able to have a ton of tags or thin the herd with large hunts…then nature will do so on its own. CWD isn’t going away.

The people posting here have lived through a period of probably the highest deer populations in the Midwest post-Westward Expansion. Being able to see deer on every hunt or in every field is likely not the statistical norm if you go back a century or two. When people talk about their hunting experiences – that likely spans a few decades which is just a snapshot.

I love hunting, seeing deer, and eating venison. But I don’t love seeing crops and trees destroyed, car kills, and CWD either. The affected areas have populations that are out of balance.

Maybe the dnr should introduce some wolves

That’d likely do the trick in those areas. A “relocation” project!

BigWerm wrote:

I think this is also an important example despite the millions spent by the DNR, basically open season for years on the herd there, that they still didn’t stop it from spreading. So at the minimum let’s look at herd decimation by man/regulation as not a viable means of mitigating CWD spread.

I found it a little funny that they blamed the lack of success on private land owners not allowing them to kill more deer on their land, as the primary reason why it was not more successful.

fishthumper wrote:

I found it a little funny that they blamed the lack of success on private land owners not allowing them to kill more deer on their land, as the primary reason why it was not more successful.

Well yeah, if they admitted it was beyond their capabilities to control, like it actually is, there wouldn’t be a need for all that funding and CWD positions within the DNR.

It probably could have been controlled or managed in any other portion of the state, there’s just too much private land and such small parcels relatively speaking. Nothing will really change in those areas in the way tags are given. We’ll still get cheap tags, with multiple bucks per year, we just won’t be required to test the first weekend every year, it’ll be every 3-5 years instead.

There was usually only around 500 deer culled from very specific areas of the management zones, and that helped keep the rate lower by targeting the specific hotspots. Without that targeted culling, the infection rates will climb faster. Contrary to the armchair scientists on here and other social media, it had very little effect on the population in those hunt areas, some of which have doubled or even tripled in population in the last 10-20 years.

There’s just not enough hunters in the southeast who are willing to take more than a single deer per year, with too many worried about “their buck”.

Can fauci start working on a cwd for wolves…

I can see why MN worries about CWD when there are deer that have tested positive in MN.

I have been lucky enough to hunt most of the Midwest and about half of the west for the past 37 years. In that time I have seen one deer that showed signs of CWD and it was in MN back in the early 2000’s. I shot the deer and had it tested. The test came back negative.

Now when it comes to EHD that is no joke. It can affect the herd in a huge way and quickly. In 2012/2013 there was a major outbreak. The losses in NE ranged from 1/3 to 2/3 of the herd gone in a couple months time. I remember seeing big numbers coming from Iowa as well. I know KS and the Dakotas have taken a big hit as well in the last 10 to 12 years.

So when it comes to CWD and EHD. I worry a lot more about EHD than CWD.
The good news is that deer are starting to gain an immunity to EHD.

Full draw wrote:

The good news is that deer are starting to gain an immunity to EHD.

Interesting you say that and good news if true. I had a guy tell me that personally knows a deer breeder here in MN and the breeder told him he can breed them to be immune to CWD. I was like, well, he better patent that because I am sure it is a money making proposition. I dont buy it for a second however.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Full draw wrote:</div>
The good news is that deer are starting to gain an immunity to EHD.

Interesting you say that and good news if true. I had a guy tell me that personally knows a deer breeder here in MN and the breeder told him he can breed them to be immune to CWD. I was like, well, he better patent that because I am sure it is a money making proposition. I dont buy it for a second however.

The bad news to the deer gaining an immunity to EHD is there are possibly 7 different strands of the disease.
I can see a natural immunity being gained over time.
I don’t know if it’s true or not but I heard on an Exodus podcast that that the midge originated down south of the border and has moved north through cattle. Not sure if it’s true or not but I know farther south has dealt with EHD long before the upper Midwest ever had to.

Yeah when I hear deer breeder in a sentence the first thing that comes to mind is “money.”

Full draw wrote:

Yeah when I hear deer breeder in a sentence the first thing that comes to mind is “money.”

100%

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Full draw wrote:</div>
The good news is that deer are starting to gain an immunity to EHD.

Interesting you say that and good news if true. I had a guy tell me that personally knows a deer breeder here in MN and the breeder told him he can breed them to be immune to CWD. I was like, well, he better patent that because I am sure it is a money making proposition. I dont buy it for a second however.

someone has been believing notable deer “farmer” and all around grifter Steve Porter.

M F wrote:

someone has been believing notable deer “farmer” and all around grifter Steve Porter.

IDK who that person is, but now I am intrigued and will have to look him up. I just did a quick google search and he is from MN so it wouldnt surprise me if it were him LOL.

Unfortunately there is no immunity to CWD since it’s a prion disease.