Thoughts on Eatable CWD Deer??

[longcruise]

The only way to "kill" the prions is to burn them. Two thousand degrees is recommended. So cleaning up your butchering area, using hot water and Clorox will not protect you.

In Colorado the test results will say either "detected" or "not detected". No such thing as "negative". They will tell you that just because it wasn't detected, doesn't mean it's not there.

I only test in mandatory units. In Colorado if your animal tests detected they will dispose of it for you.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

So...just wondering, after consumption, and should you develop any unusual symptoms, does your wife have to submit your head for testing?

 

[kingsax26]

Consider this, "Best known prion diseases are mad cow disease of cattle and humans, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease of humans, chronic wasting disease of deer and elk, and scrapie of sheep." Prions are pure protien that have adapted to behave like bacteria and viruses. They cannot be killed with heat or cold, they can persist in an environment for years and are transmissible through contact. you would ahve to be the one to decide if it is safe to eat. remember there is no effective treatment and certainly no cure or way to stop them if you are infected...

 

[kingsax26]

http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/academics/mip/prion-research-center/Pages/Prion-Basics.aspx

 

[Juice Jaws]

Long story short, if it was me I would not eat the meat.

 

[brewer12345]

I have my deer tested. Since I mostly shoot smaller does, I have yet to get a positive result. When I do, I will not be eating the meat.

 

[kemart17]

Ok, got a nice mullie this year in early November, quite a decent 5x4 meat buck. Large body and very healthy looking. This was taken in a mandatory CWD head submission area, and my results just came back positive. I process all my own meat, boneless with the only exception being ribs. My understanding is there has never been a confirmed case of a transfer to humans. With a positive test comes a choice of eating or properly disposing of the meat. CWD is not nearly as common up here as it is in many states, so I ask. Do you worry about eating it?
Walk

no way would i eat that. friend went to a meeting on cwd in pa, even the game warden said no way, would hr eat it. i get mine tested!!!!!!

 

[Spikebuck]

Walking...20% is a pretty high infection rate. Right now in Minnesota's SE corner, our DNR is being extremely aggressive. Basically unlimited antlerless tags, added buck opportunities, added special hunts, and paid federal sharpshooters in key hotspots over bait at night. After four years, the infection rate from mandatory testing samples from hunters, roadkills, dead deer just found in the woods, etc. is only around 7/10's of 1%. Unfortunately, even though the % is small, it is spreading slowly.

The aggressive measures are meant to try to keep this as contained as possible but I fear it will continue to spread, albeit more slowly than if they did nothing. All antler point restrictions and making it illegal to fill tags for others (party hunting) have been removed. Feeding bans (like to watch deer or supplement in the winter...Minnesota has never allowed baiting for hunting deer) are in place. It is also illegal to use any animal-based scents/lures or mineral licks (which were previously allowed).

Wisconsin did virtually nothing for quite some time after it was found there and from my reading I understand that some areas there are now in excess of 50% infection rate. Our DNR vowed to not repeat that mistake.

 

[rushlake1]

"Do you worry about eating it?"----------------

Yes I would worry.. and I would not knowingly consume it ..

Hunted the CWD zone in Minnesota with mandatory testing with a 3-4 day wait--I processed my own deer on the date of the kill and crossed my fingers for a negative result...lots of effort for a 50-50 chance. If the deer was positive it would have ended up in the dumpster all wrapped up for the freezer. Got lucky with negative result..

I hunt-live in the state of Wisconsin with CWD spreading..Our deer hunting future does not look bright.
can fore see it ending in the next 10-15 years..Ill bail out when it reaches the counties I hunt.
will miss hunting deer here.(flintlock& recurve bow)
Thank goodness for small game seasons.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Walking Eagle, there is a processor in my area that I stop by from time to time during hunting season for white tails, to check on the local harvest from hunters whom use their services, every once in a while there will be a game biologist there collecting test samples, it is interesting to watch the process, he will collect spinal, Brian tissue as well as glands from the animal. Some discussion with him let me know that these are random samples and no effort is put into the issues of connecting the animal tested to the hunter whom harvested it. I personally closely observe the deer I hunt before pulling the trigger, the area I hunt has no pressure from other hunters and even late in the seasons the animals are rather relaxed. If I was to see a deer whom I would suspect is sick I would let it walk, may seem silly but why take a chance, never harvested a deer that would appear to be infected, but who knows for sure. If I was to harvest one and have doubts about its health, laws be dammed let it there. As to your situation it is completely your decision what to do with the meat. Personally I would speak to your game department and ask them how or where to dispose of it. I know for sure the western states have recovery laws as this was stated this past October when I hunted Wyoming for antelope. As to my state of Maryland I never checked but would bet we also have recovery laws. I guess other than some rudimentary observation of the animal prior to harvesting it and a fly by knight testing system by the different game agencies perhaps Ignorance is bliss on behalf of the hunters. What ever your decision it is yours.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

So...just wondering, after consumption, and should you develop any unusual symptoms, does your wife have to submit your head for testing?

Pretty much. I believe a definitive diagnosis has to wait until an autopsy is performed.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I must apologize as I must had misunderstood the information relayed to myself from the biologist. The infection percentage from head submissions is 7.4%. Do not know now where the 20% came from. She was giving me lots of information. Below is attached two photos taken from our 2019 regulation booklet for those interested on CWD. Anyhow, my better half has flat out stated her and the youngster (13 yr old) will not be eating it, and really hopes I do not as well. I think its headed for the landfill.
Walk

 

[Okie Hog]

i won't be eating any deer with CWD.

Raising deer in crowded pens spreads CWD. Deer farm owners refuse to put up two fences to prevent wild and domestic deer from licking each either through the fence.

Well heeled "hunters" willingly pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill a pen raised buck with monster antlers.

In the past ten years at least two people from my line of descent have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. One was descended from three lines leading to 4th great grandfather. i received a call from a lady inquiring about that distant cousin. Told her he died of CJD. She said: "OMG, my dad died of that awful disease".

 

[sawyer04]

Well heeled "hunters" willingly pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill a pen raised buck with monster antlers

Yep, real rough and tough hunters. Gotta love them. Then they have their kill professionally processed.

 

[longcruise]

Baiting is a prime source of transmission. They pass it via saliva and also leave it on the ground at bait sites. This includes feeding deer just to bring them to areas for the sake of watching deer. Not uncommon around resort areas.

I wonder how much CWD was transported out of "hotspots" by non res hunters who dumped the remains of their kill in their home state?

 

[Patocazador]

I wonder how much CWD was transported out of "hotspots" by non res hunters who dumped the remains of their kill in their home state?

Florida and (I think) Mississippi now have laws prohibiting the importation of any ungulate parts that contain tissue from the CNS (central nervous system). Trophy heads have to be caped and the skull plate has to be free of any brain material before it is allowed in the state.
All meat has to be boned out.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

I wonder how much CWD was transported out of "hotspots" by non res hunters who dumped the remains of their kill in their home state?

I believe that most of the spreading of this has been from moving deer/elk from farm to farm, although I’m sure the deer farming industry would dispute that. The other possibilities are largely hypothetical.

 

[Okie Hog]

Yep, folks love to blame baiting for the CWD problem. Baiting is legal here in Oklahoma, millions of pounds of corn are fed yearly. We don't have a CWD problem here. Deer in the wild simply don't congregate in the densities found at deer farms. One deer farm kept over 200 deer in about 20 acres.

CWD is primarily spread by transporting deer from infected deer farms to new herds. This infected deer was transferred to another herd:

https://www.twincities.com/2020/01/10/cwd-infected-douglas-county-deer-traced-to-pine-county-farm/

Hunting preserves and deer farms are big business and both contribute disproportionately to the CWD problem.

http://www.startribune.com/hunting-...-minnesota-s-wild-deer-populations/563287612/

 

[poker]

Yup, and just try shutting it down. Too many lobbyists and politicians on the take for that to happen. Several years ago they had fenced elk herds being bought and destroyed by the state to try prevent spread of cwd disease. I knew a few of the “elk farmers” and they were praying the vet would find the disease in their herds so they could cash in. The state was paying 2-3 times the market price per animal.

 

[Sparkitoff]

This brings up some observations and a dilemma on my part. First, if you look at Texas confirmed CWD the State lists whether the deer was free range, deer farm or deer breeding facility. Next they list County, Sex and Age and Date. Interesting to me is that the Counties with deer farm or deer breeding facility positive deer are also the only one's with free range positive deer. That applies to Whitetail Deer. However, the Counties with Mule Deer that are CWD positive are all free range and there are no Whitetail Deer positive cases documented. How did that happen? The whitetail makes some sense - the deer either got out or had contact with one of the "farms" with a positive test. How'd the Mule Deer get it? My personal dilemma is that TWO of the deer I shot this year are in one of the Counties that has had confirmed CWD in two free range deer in the past 3-years. Mine did not require testing and its too late. Do I eat my deer?