Should I or Shouldn't I submit a head.

[Bohica]

I got the following in my e-mail:

Bowhunters in Williston Area Asked to Help with CWD SurveillanceThe North Dakota Game and Fish Department is asking bowhunters who harvest a deer in gun hunting units 3A1 and 3B1 to help the department’s chronic wasting disease surveillance efforts by submitting the head of their animal for testing.Heads may be dropped off in freezers located at the Game and Fish district office in Williston, and at the Divide County sheriff’s office in Crosby (north side of building). Hunters wishing to keep the head may have it sampled at the Williston office during business hours. Taxidermists in Williston are also assisting in the effort by saving heads throughout the season.Instructions and information are posted at the drop-off sites. Test results will be provided to hunters within 2-3 weeks. Additional drop-off sites will be available throughout the region during the deer gun season in November.CWD is a fatal disease of deer, moose and elk that can cause long-term population declines if left unchecked. Annual surveillance for CWD is critical for determining the spread of the disease and if management actions have been effective.


If they find out it is ineffective, then what it next? Do they shoot all the deer like Peoples Republic of Minnesota? Nothing I have read shows that they can control it.

Your thoughts?
Bohica​

 

[guywhofishes]

seems useless to me

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“management actions”

 

[dukgnfsn]

I guess it is how you look at, I have hunted in the southern units in the state with CWD and turn in the heads to get checked and have had one come up positive. There has been CWD in the state for probably well over 10 years and they never did any non hunting herd reduction in mass to my knowledge. The only thing they have implemented is maintaining a slightly lower deer population thru hunting and disallowed baiting. I feel it is good to know if the disease is in a area I hunt but that is my feelings. There are things the G&F do that I don't agree with but overall I support them the best I can and feel they do a pretty good job as a whole. So yes I do turn in the heads for the surveillance programs. It is a decision to be make by each individual sportsman. dukgnfsn

 

[Coyote Hunter]

I guess it is how you look at, I have hunted in the southern units in the state with CWD and turn in the heads to get checked and have had one come up positive. There has been CWD in the state for probably well over 10 years and they never did any non hunting herd reduction in mass to my knowledge. The only thing they have implemented is maintaining a slightly lower deer population thru hunting and disallowed baiting. I feel it is good to know if the disease is in a area I hunt but that is my feelings. There are things the G&F do that I don't agree with but overall I support them the best I can and feel they do a pretty good job as a whole. So yes I do turn in the heads for the surveillance programs. It is a decision to be make by each individual sportsman. dukgnfsn

No kidding? You had one of the few deer shot that tested positive? Did you notice anything wrong with it?

Did you eat it? I hunt in the southern unit that is in the CWD area as well.

 

[dukgnfsn]

No kidding? You had one of the few deer shot that tested positive? Did you notice anything wrong with it?

Did you eat it? I hunt in the southern unit that is in the CWD area as well.

I did not eat it after some research on the subject. The deer showed no direct signals of the disease but did some things that actually made me joke to the person hunting with me that the deer probably has CWD. The deer came straight at me from down wind for a fair distance before cutting off the trail. I've had other deer do that also in the past and I am sure not all of them had it. I am guessing that there have been more deer consumed that had CWD then we would know, since a lot of people don't get them checked. There has never been any transmission to humans yet but I decided to not take the chance to be the first. The test results don't come back until spring and I had the steaks and grind meat unconsumed yet because I was eating off my bow kills and was waiting for the results. I also don't make my sausage until late spring so it all worked out. Again it was just a personal decision I made at the time and talking to some local biologists and a lot of research. Any specific questions feel free tp PM me.

 

[duckman1302]

If it were me, I would submit. This is one of them things where the Game and Fish really relies on hunter participation to learn more about CWD.

 

[guywhofishes]

Learning is one thing - using what is learned to implement rules/regulations never scientifically proven to be effective is another.

 

[Duckslayer100]

Learning is one thing - using what is learned to implement rules/regulations never scientifically proven to be effective is another.

The flipside is nobody does anything. Then CWD runs rampant and everyone is crying and moaning because nobody did anything. Catch 22?

 

[guywhofishes]

Baiting deer and hauling carcasses is going to go from a non-measurable contribution to causing rampant spreading?

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The scientist in me wants to see some shred of evidence as to causation, positive impact from new rules/limits, etc. But with something this spooky/creepy I recognize I’m pushing rope to argue against an abundance of caution by well-meaning experts so I think I’ll agree to disagree and move on.

 

[Meelosh]

The scientist in me wants to see some shred of evidence as to causation, positive impact from new rules/limits, etc. But with something this spooky/creepy I recognize I’m pushing rope to argue against an abundance of caution by well-meaning experts so I think I’ll agree to disagree and move on.

To do that you need to start with data, yes? Like having a good idea about the scope of the problem maybe?

 

[Sum1]

Funny how many perfectly healthy deer have CWD then one sick one is found and they start killing off the herd. How does this make sense? CWD is a non issue

 

[Meelosh]

CWD is NOT a non-issue. It’s just an issue we don’t have enough info on and because we don’t, we can’t make good decisions.

 

[guywhofishes]

I’d be perfectly fine with submitting a head solely to determine prevalence. But it goes beyond that. They initiate non-trivial regulations based on that data. Sorry - but “at least they’re doing something” doesn’t hold merit for me when it comes to more regulations.

And no, I’d be the last guy to bitch and blame the govt later if they didn’t initiate something if they don’t know how this crap works. And they don’t. It’s almost a complete mystery to this day.

 

[WormWiggler]

CWD is NOT a non-issue. It’s just an issue we don’t have enough info on and because we don’t, we can’t make good decisions.

and the real reason to take CWD seriously is not the threat to the deer herd and your hunting opportunities.... if CWD makes the jump to human population and the science with mice has shown the potential then you have a modern day bubonic plague. Some sciency guys on Joe Rogan gave a pretty good explanation.

 

[Captain Ahab]

What's really amazing is the stuff has been a headline issue for 20 years and nobody knows much more about it than they did two decades ago.

 

[Meelosh]

and the real reason to take CWD seriously is not the threat to the deer herd and your hunting opportunities.... if CWD makes the jump to human population and the science with mice has shown the potential then you have a modern day bubonic plague. Some sciency guys on Joe Rogan gave a pretty good explanation.

Thats not likely either. A jump to humans, possibly. We already have our own version that infects about 1 in a million. It’s probably not an existence worth living for long. But, as humans, we could put controls in to prevent a spread of it were to jump. Prions require a little more work to spread than an uncovered cough. The next ‘plague’ will likely be airborne viral or bacterial in nature.

 

[KDM]

CWD is a Non Issue to me until evidence surfaces to the contrary. Wild deer and elk don't live 20 years normally and yet Wyoming has had CWD across much of the state for more than 20 years and still remains one of THE BEST TROPHY BIG GAME DESTINATIONS!!!!! Where is this deer/elk Armageddon I keep hearing about?? Wisconsin has one of the highest deer hunter numbers as well as deer numbers and has had CWD for years. Yet there lacks a single case of human infection, a single case of illness, or even a single case of a hunter being uncomfortable from eating CWD infected venison. Additionally, they have one of the highest deer populations in the entire country and it's growing even with CWD and their scorched earth "We need to kill all the deer so they don't die of CWD" stupidity. Fascinating. I find these FACTS infinitely more valid than the emotional outcries for a bunch of "the sky is falling" fear mongers. In response to the OP, I would not submit a head for the simple fact that if and when CWD is detected anywhere in ND the Mighty Game and Fish Ban Hammer comes crashing down almost immediately despite the COMPLETE LACK OF SCIENTIFIC DATA showing that CWD is any threat to humans or the deer and elk populations as a whole. Show me the data that any CWD countermeasure implemented by anyone, anywhere, has reduced, helped, aided, or positively impacted CWD infection rates. If not, we're done here.

 

[rodcontrol]

CWD rules and ANS rules are in the same boat. Horseshit laws for good public relations.

 

[ND58201]

People that bait deer want the game and fish to stay away from unproven cwd kill offs but the same ones want every boat checked for zebra mussels. I bow hunt without bait and fish the same lake all year so I really don’t have an opinion for or against.. sounds like a bunch of unknowns for both

 

[KDM]

CWD and Zebs are in no way similiar. It is known that Zebs are spread by boats. Therefore checking boats has been shown to reduce the number of boats transporting Zebs. Baiting has NOT been shown to be the cause of CWD spread. Wyoming has had a statewide ban on baiting big game for over 20 years and yet CWD is spreading in that state by 2.1 million acres per year. These are real numbers that you can look up. Apples and Oranges.