CWD Developments

IronNoggin

IronNoggin

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Alberta deer populations could drop due to Chronic Wasting Disease

“One of the big concerns about the travel of it to the west is we’re getting very close to the national parks and of course, it’s going to be a real issue if it gets into the national parks,” said Rudyk. “Right now we’ve had Alberta cases in mule deer, whitetail moose and elk. If it gets into the national parks, we could see transfer that also into the caribou, which is already a pretty precarious population to begin with.”

https://calgarysun.com/news/local-news/experts-fear-chronic-wasting-disease-could-lower-deer-populations-in-alberta/wcm/24e0d9bf-d961-4d39-be1b-29441c5d78db

Going to be some bad news for BC is this stuff ends up in the National Parks!
Not a far leap to here!

Nog
 
The "knee jerk" reactions by governments is to "cull" - Sask did so in Zone 46 when the CWD first appeared in that province in that area - 1990's (?) - same year or next, Alberta did same on their side of the border. Did not work in either case to contain the spread of the disease. So last fall, a first case of CWD officially discovered in Manitoba - and same government reaction here. We saw the helicopters and heard the gun shots across lake and on this side - to North and to South were we live - in Fall and during Winter. Last week on drive home from couple hours away, we saw dozens of white tail and mule deers from the pavement - about NADA done, that I know of, about the actual prion that causes the disease in either Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta.

I do not believe that the prion spontaneously developed in the Montana / Wyoming mountains in the 1960's or 1970's - has likely been present for at least centuries - and with the multiple big predators that would have immediately taken out any infected animals. But same governments use bounties, poisoning programs to rid the area of those same predators - wolves, cougar, etc. Can not win when government thinks they know better than Mother Nature ...
 
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Deer aren't growing big and old in eastern Alberta as much as they used to. Still lots of deer, most guys wont shoot does and therefore the cull is ineffective
 
Buckmastr said:
Deer aren't growing big and old in eastern Alberta as much as they used to. Still lots of deer, most guys wont shoot does and therefore the cull is ineffective
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Dunno who you hang with, but about EVERYONE I knew was as happy to have a fat doe as anything else.

Culls are a whole different thing. There were Wildlife Contractors shooting deer out of helo's while I was living up in Cold Lake. That, is a cull. The deer were recovered, and buried in bulldozed trenches.
 
Nobody I hunt with has shot an antler less deer in over 25 years. Especially with cwd being prevalent. This is the new normal.
 
Buckmastr said:
Nobody I hunt with has shot an antler less deer in over 25 years. Especially with cwd being prevalent. This is the new normal.
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I think that depends who you hunt with.
We get our tags every year and fill them. Take a few by the house. It sure beats running jnto them with the vehicle.
 
Cwd results aren’t back often until March. So if you want to know what your eating, you process it, freeze it and wait. Then throw it out.
 
trevj said:
Dunno who you hang with, but about EVERYONE I knew was as happy to have a fat doe as anything else.

Culls are a whole different thing. There were Wildlife Contractors shooting deer out of helo's while I was living up in Cold Lake. That, is a cull. The deer were recovered, and buried in bulldozed trenches.
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The "cull" done here on West side Manitoba this past Fall and over Winter had a twist - we saw "convoys" of 4x4 trucks pulling trailers with snowmobiles, etc. during winter - was Manitoba DNR marked trucks and contractor "recovery teams" - claimed they would skid out to test every deer that was shot by the helo guys. A local landowner was "gifted" two deer carcasses from DNR in return for his permission to "cull" on his 1/2 section of land about 5 miles from here. The land owner and family ate them - he could not tell me whether they had already been tested for CWD or not. He is not normally a deer hunter, and had not kept "up" about CWD in Manitoba - was apparently all news to him ...
 
Buckmastr said:
Nobody I hunt with has shot an antler less deer in over 25 years. Especially with cwd being prevalent. This is the new normal.
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Likewise for myself. I haven't shot any female ungulate for the past 25 to 30 years. I embrace hunters to hunt females, I have nothing against it, however, it is not for me, especially if they may have CWD. I love chasing nasty old bucks, most challenging, and they win most of the time!
 
I hunt deer to eat deer.I shoot does on special tags and bucks where general season for either ### overlap. Have lots of antlers can't afford more taxidermy so I bleach skulls.
 
I'm confused by the people who say they don't shoot does on account of cwd? If does in an area might have it wouldn't bucks in the same area run the same risk?


As for the OP, for BC I think the biggest concern is cwd coming up from Montana, they've already instituted checks for cwd in the southeast corner of the province as a cwd deer was found like 50 miles across the line in Montana.
 
Information given out by Sask DNR in 1990's (?) - we used to hunt most every year in Zone 46 where the syndrome was first identified in Saskatchewan - the prion that causes CWD is a deformed protein - in NOT a living thing like a virus or bacteria - can not be killed or disinfected - was only found in clear fluids in cervids - not in blood or in red meat, but in snot, eye secretions, and fluid around brain, spinal cord and joints. I think the prion remains viable for years - I believe that I read that pen at University of Wyoming or Montana where syndrome first observed - pen left empty 6 or 8 years - then herd of elk introduced there - all contracted the disease - that prion had to be in the soil, etc. Oddly, gov'ts wanted head submitted for testing - I know of no way to sever head from carcass unless cutting through neck vertebra - across spinal cord - meaning knives or saws used are exposed to clear fluid - and no way mentioned how to de-contaminate the tools.

That information changed our way of processing deer - we no longer cut across bones or separate joints - is all filleted now.

Evidence at the time was that the prion was brought into Sask by infected game farm stock - was not a "spontaneous" natural development. So perhaps the great leaps that CWD occurrences have made - might want to look at game farming, versus natural wandering movements of infected wild animals ... Apparently good evidence that infected farmed cervids do pass along the prion to wild cervids - nosing or nuzzling through fence, etc. - game farms near Llyominster, near Saint Brieux, etc.
 
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Suther said:
I'm confused by the people who say they don't shoot does on account of cwd? If does in an area might have it wouldn't bucks in the same area run the same risk?
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If you hunt for horns instead of meat, it makes a lot of sense. Because if they come back with a positive and you have to send all the meat to the dump, you still have the Trophy!
 
Taking does depends how many tags a person has available to them & how often they may be able to go hunting too, CWD concern or not.
I spend a lot of days out hunting and will take a doe or two for their meat when the opportunity arises, especially when bow hunting, while still playing with the bucks trying to be picky.

I use trail cameras to sort the bucks all out, name them and try to trick the chosen ones.
At the reverse of that are people who can spend a limited amount of time hunting and take a doe for their meat when presented.
All good, and all the power to them.
 
A more recent article, below
I had a chat and heard about the Prions.
With the long dormancy its possible I could have it and my brain goes soft at 90 years old, Big deal.
but my 13 year old kid maybe done before 50? that's unacceptable


Fatal brain disease in deer, elk, moose spreading; Danger for humans?

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2019...n-deer-elk-moose-spreading-danger-for-humans/

Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans, is among a family of brain diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). In these diseases, holes develop in the brain, causing the brain to become spongy.

Symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans include psychiatric and behavioral changes, trouble walking, loss of weight, and problems with memory and thinking.

There is no vaccine for it, and it is always fatal.

“I don’t want to scare people,” he said, “but these CWD prions are accumulating, and prions have a long incubation period — sometimes as much as 30 to 40 years in humans.”

Much smaller than bacteria, prions are single proteins that can’t be destroyed by typical “kill strategies” such as extreme heat or ultraviolet light.
 
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