some of us don't have our heads so buried in the sand that we can see what's going in areas that's dealt with it far longer than Tn has.
New Article on CWD by Dr. Alan Houston, Ames Plantation
- Thread starter fairchaser
- Start date
Jcalder beat me to it. You guys in west TN can keep your head buried in the sand and give up deer hunting all together if you choose as for me my friends and family we will keep enjoying our family traditions despite all the doom and gloom just like many other hunters have been doing for years in CWD states. Some of you guys have already made your mind up deer hunting as a sport and tradition are dead
And yes, lots of people plan trips to cwd positive areas every year. Thankfully, their state didn't kill the deer heard like Tn has.
Yes…
The only head in the sand is by those that refuse to see what's coming….CWD drastically changes the deer hunting experience.
Omega
Well-Known Member
No, reactions to CWD do that, CO, where I grew up has had it for decades and the hunting is better than ever according to friends and family still out there. The same for many other States where CWD has been there for many years, the hunting is good enough to draw many out of state hunters, even with high cost non resident licenses.
Please explain what's coming. Wisconsin and Illinois seem fine. Colorado. Who else all has it. Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas? They're doing just fine. So yeah, stay buried up.
I do not think Ames's biologist "response" to CWD had much of anything to do with what the Plantation is experiencing today. CWD was first detected in the area December 2018 at the end of the season (we all know now it had been there several years due to prevalence rate), members instantly starting fleeing the club and CWD "ground zero" area, and as fairchaser mentioned above, even with more liberal limits and incentives to kill deer (free licenses, etc), fewer deer have been killed last three years at Ames and surrounding farms than a decade ago. A lot fewer. To put it in perspective, our annual doe goal at Ames was typically 180 does, and in our heyday around 2010, we killed 230 does and 30-40 bucks. Deer herd was healthy then, and we hunted 13k acres out of 18k acres pretty hard out, especially in November and December. This graphic shows you how few deer were killed last year, mainly due to lack of sightings, lack of interest and lack of excitement about pulling the trigger and likely dealing with a CWD positive deer when you do see one. Notice the CWD positive rates. I stay in touch with numerous members year around, and their drive and excitement to deer hunt (and all things that go with it) seems so dismal compared to where we were 2010-2015. It's disheartening to say the least.
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^^^^ The positivity rates above debunk one theory that SO MANY average joe deer hunters claim. They will go on and on about how CWD only affects the older mature bucks, and that they are the only ones that spread it. I hear that story told far too often. When we started having positives in yearlings (1.5 y/o) and fawns (0.5 y/o), it was eye opening and another testament that CWD was "environmental" in our parts, just as Dr. Bronson Strickland had discussed with us and warned us about at our annual deer supper in September 2018 (just 3 months before our first positive).
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
Any club in the hot zone will have the same issues. If I gave the impression that I don't love Ames, I do. There is nothing like it and no better people in the world. They have just gotten a bad break with being ground zero for CWD. I will probably stay as long as they will have me or until I end my hunting career.
Ok I was under the impression you felt just the opposite. Have a good season then!
Okay none of those areas are anything like west Tennessee…AR would be a closer argument. Or now Alabama…
So what's coming…from my experience, on a farm where it was normal to see on average 100 deer a sitting ( not all in kills or range) to 50 the following year, to 20 the next, to 6 the third year, to maybe seeing six a week…supported by trail cam photos.
Finding 30 3.5 yr old bucks and older by the farmers.
Are there still deer, yes. Are they still huntable? Sure but not the e Perrin e I want ( or many others). The ones you do kill are positive… the farm I mention above has only killed two. On positive deer in the last four years.
It's just a matter of time before the disease crosses species to humans.
Now it may not affect herd of lesser densities the same, But it it will affect them.
Yeah I just watched a real tree video, the guy was bow hunting but he was bragging he could be velvet hunting with a rifle.
So your saying cwd is going to jump species now?
It will eventually…it may not anytime soon. It may take 50 more years…it may have already happened undetected… but yes, it will eventually.
Is west Tennessee that much better than east Tn, or even Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa lol. No. I really don't think it is. But keep up with the doom and gloom.
Not better, but different. No doom and gloom just simple observations.
Observations is correct. Drive thru any of those states and their herd is fine. Look at their numbers. Look at their license sales and kill data. The response has hurt you way more than the disease itself.
Once again, comparing apple to oranges.
But how.
