Where it makes no sense to me is in the testing requirements based on management zones. I live on the AB/SK border(AB side). Hwy 17 runs north-south separating the two provinces in this area. Hwy 16 runs east-west through both provinces. South of 16 on AB side in my area is WMZ 236 and it is mandatory testing for both Whitetail and Mulies. North of 16 is WMZ and two years ago it was mandatory testiing too. As of last year it's no longer mandatory for either species. You can submit both species though from WMZ 256 if you want at no cost. It's not mandatory in SK either and if memory serves SK hunters can have theirs tested at a cost of $50? To me the kicker is I watch deer cross both highways in and out of WMZ 236, the mandatory test zone. Makes no sense bordering zones do not require testing? Realistically if one area is mandatory shouldn't the entire province be? I have submitted all my mulies for testing and they were shot in 236(mandatory zone). All have tested negative and all were antlerless. Until this year I also submitted heads from whitetails we shot in 256 and all returned negative and all of them have been antlered. If the problem seems to be prevalent in antlered Mule deer then I'll skip applying for antlered mulies.
Is a lot about government response to CWD that does not make a lot of sense to me. We used to hunt Sask Zone 46 - so South of Highway 16, North of Highway 14, against West Sask border with Alberta - so generally South and East from Lloyd. As per most information, the CWD outbreak in Canada started from a game farm near Neilburg, Sask - and that Zone 46 seemed to get it first, in the wild mule deer and white tails. As I recall, was much information sent out by Sask authorities - at the time stating that the "prion" was found in more or less clear fluids in the animals - so like tears, saliva, snot, urine, spine fluid, joint fluid - and was NOT found to exist in blood or red meat - I see the link above now states that the prion has also now been found in blood, meat and fat.
So we changed the way that we processed deer - no longer any saw cuts across bone. Did not separate joints. Basically "filleted" the red meat from the deer carcass. It was always a curiosity to me that the authorities wanted us to sever the head from the carcass and submit the head for testing - I do not know how to do that without cutting through the spine? And I see a video by Sask DNR showing how to open up the skull and remove a portion of the brain for their testing - instead of submitting the entire head - so at that point, you do not know if the thing is infected or not - so whatcha going to do with the knives and saws that were used to do that, until you get results back? Going to use them on a second or third deer? And what if it comes back to be positive - now you know your tools are contaminated - again - whatcha going to do with them - can not kill that prion, can not "sterilize" it, and is known to remain viable at least six years.
Is interesting to read what is a "prion" - can not kill it, can not sterilize it, can not make it quit - it is NOT a living thing. So "cooking temperatures" have about no affect on it. Wiping down your knife or saw with Javex to dis-infect, will not kill it. It is my understanding that when a deer or elk "pees" on the ground, or drips some snot or tears or "spit" or "drool" - those prions stay viable - for sure for at least six years laying in the dirt - picked up by plants, etc. - ready to infect whatever next cervid eats that plant.
What I find particularly bizarre is that Saskatchewan and Alberta both paid for extensive "culls" of cervids in that initial outbreak area. Accomplished about nothing to stop the spread of that disease - from current maps, appears that infected animals were moved from one game farm to another - likely by semi truck - all over. I found it to be curious that, for a while - known outbreaks were in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec - as if an infected Cervid hiked across Manitoba and then Ontario, to start a new outbreak in Quebec - not likely - I suspect that prion cluster was transported on a truck - in a farmed game animal.
So, since that "cull" did not work to control the spread of CWD in 1990's in Alberta or Saskatchewan - and one mule deer was identified with CWD here in Western Manitoba - in October (?) 2021 - what was government response? Since the "cull" did not work then and there, let us do it again, here, in late 2021 and early 2022. We could see the black helicopters working the bush across the valley and passing over our house - when we were out in the yard with our dog, we could hear the shots. And we met "convoys" of DNR "recovery teams" that would go into the bush and skid out the shot deer, moose, elk and other cervids - apparently for "testing".
A local guy - not a hunter at all - owns two quarters of land in Manitoba just North and West of here - against the Sask border - he gave permission for Manitoba DNR to access his land for that "cull" - some months later was invited to an area near Shell Mouth, MB - was given two deer carcasses by Manitoba DNR - for free - in thanks for allowing that "cull" on his land. I asked him if the deers had been tested - he had no clue - did not know what is CWD - told me that he and his family ate the two deers.
To your point about those "artificial boundaries" - I think within two days after the helicopters left, was about 20 deer out feeding in a nearby grain field - we are like 4 miles (?) from Saskatchewan - this area has VERY GOOD habitat and feed if you are a deer. So, is no doubt to many of us - if Manitoba actually did clear out all the deer with that "cull", then Saskatchewan deer wandered over and re-populated the area within a few days. I saw several does with fawns this past Spring - so the herd is rebuilding itself here. And all of that gov't effort and taxpayer money did NOT ONE THING about the prion that was left in the dirt by that infected deer - likely now taken up by various plants, so is predictable that the whole cycle will repeat.
Not sure if this CWD is "new" or not - back in the day - this area would have had multiple large predators - coyotes, timber wolves, cougar, grizzly - and I suspect any deer that was even only 2% impaired would have been taken that night - so was not very likely for a disease like CWD to spread. So same government has dutifully had bounties on the predators, for years - to make the wilderness "safe" for farmed livestock. Now that predators mostly gone, same government is responding with "culls" of ALL cervids - and no good reason, known to me, why that will work, either.
