CWD a hoax?

kaizen leader

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If the state is doing more damage to the herd than CWD, why are the harvest numbers down now for several years? This is in spite of the more liberal limits and longer seasons.
A friend of mine up there doesn't even talk about CWD. He said the wolves are a big problem. He sees them frequently.
 

Jcalder

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If the state is doing more damage to the herd than CWD, why are the harvest numbers down now for several years? This is in spite of the more liberal limits and longer seasons.
If cwd is killing all these deer as you claim, why aren't you finding dead deer on scouting trips. Why are other states herds thriving, while dealing with cwd? I'm certainly not of the opinion that cwd is good for the herd, but it's not what's wiped your herd out.
 

BigAl

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If cwd is killing all these deer as you claim, why aren't you finding dead deer on scouting trips. Why are other states herds thriving, while dealing with cwd? I'm certainly not of the opinion that cwd is good for the herd, but it's not what's wiped your herd out.
I've seen this argument made multiple times. If CWD isn't killing them, what is? Even if it isn't CWD, the harvest numbers are way down, and sightings are way down, and have been trending that way for several years.
 

Jcalder

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I've seen this argument made multiple times. If CWD isn't killing them, what is? Even if it isn't CWD, the harvest numbers are way down, and sightings are way down, and have been trending that way for several years.
I don't know what's killing them, but explain to me how areas that's had cwd for 40 years still have a high population. Take southern Wisconsin, they've had cwd 20 years, but the herd is doing just fine. If a disease is killing them that fast and hard you'd being remains regularly.
 

BigAl

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I don't know what's killing them, but explain to me how areas that's had cwd for 40 years still have a high population. Take southern Wisconsin, they've had cwd 20 years, but the herd is doing just fine. If a disease is killing them that fast and hard you'd being remains regular
You can kill a deer (or any animal) where I live and hunt and the gut pile and most of the remains will be gone by the end of the day. Finding evidence isn't very easy.
 

DoubleRidge

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A video I saw somewhere else questioning CWD. Lots more people feel like it is more of a Covid hoax to stop hunting than I realized. Judge for yourself!

@BSK have you watched this video? Its long and they make some bold claims...and I'm not saying CWD is a hoax...but the video does bring up questions about what CWD actually is? and if its as contagious as advertised?...just curious what someone with your experience thinks about this information? To me some of the information makes sense while some of it seems questionable? When time allows I would be curious to hear your opinion...Thanks.
 

fairchaser

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If cwd is killing all these deer as you claim, why aren't you finding dead deer on scouting trips. Why are other states herds thriving, while dealing with cwd? I'm certainly not of the opinion that cwd is good for the herd, but it's not what's wiped your herd out.
Ok, I'll bite. If a herd has 60 deer per square mile and a 50% infection rate. Both of these would be real high, to prove a point. So 30 deer are sick. They don't all die at once or even in the fall when hunters are present. They die throughout the year. It takes, 12-18 months for a deer to succumb to CWD. Let's say one deer a month dies on the landscape vs on the road or in a pond etc. They just fall over in the woods. So, now you have to find that deer in a square mile of habitat. That's before critters get a hold of it or most of it. That deer can be anywhere in that square mile. In high weeds or anywhere. My guess if someone paid us $1000 to find that deer, we'd be hard pressed to come up with it.
 

Omega

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covid hoax??? How many do you know that died from covid??!!! Very disrepectful!
From or with? Facts have yet to be sorted out, but many died due to the treatment (or lack thereof) rather than the virus itself. Sure, the virus put them in that situation, but many could have been saved if the medical and science community had acted on good faith in the interest of the patient and not the politicians and the pharm companies.
 

Jcalder

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Ok, I'll bite. If a herd has 60 deer per square mile and a 50% infection rate. Both of these would be real high, to prove a point. So 30 deer are sick. They don't all die at once or even in the fall when hunters are present. They die throughout the year. It takes, 12-18 months for a deer to succumb to CWD. Let's say one deer a month dies on the landscape vs on the road or in a pond etc. They just fall over in the woods. So, now you have to find that deer in a square mile of habitat. That's before critters get a hold of it or most of it. That deer can be anywhere in that square mile. In high weeds or anywhere. My guess if someone paid us $1000 to find that deer, we'd be hard pressed to come up with it.
And of those 60 deer, how many are actually gonna test positive? And of those positives, how many actually die because of the disease, not because they become roadkill, shot by a hunter, die of ehd, ran thru a hay mower, bushhog, some other disease or sickness.
 

megalomaniac

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I've seen this argument made multiple times. If CWD isn't killing them, what is? Even if it isn't CWD, the harvest numbers are way down, and sightings are way down, and have been trending that way for several years.
Has TWRA published kill numbers from their post season eradication efforts? It's possible the culling going on now after hunting season is closed is contributing to next seasons decline in harvest numbers and sighting numbers???? Deer being culled now don't show up in harvest numbers.
 

megalomaniac

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It takes, 12-18 months for a deer to succumb to CWD.
I suspect it's more like 2 to 3 years before a deer actually dies from CWD from the time they contract it.

It takes a LONG time for the prion to propagate in the brain to actually cause recognizable symptoms due to vacuoles... in the human variant it's usually 20 to 30 years.
 

MickThompson

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And of those 60 deer, how many are actually gonna test positive? And of those positives, how many actually die because of the disease, not because they become roadkill, shot by a hunter, die of ehd, ran thru a hay mower, bushhog, some other disease or sickness.
Except for EHD, CWD predisposes deer to getting killed by all those things listed.

Saying CWD doesn't kill deer is the same as saying nobody ever died of AIDS because they get a secondary infection their body would've normally fended off. The infection killed them, not AIDS
 

Jcalder

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Except for EHD, CWD predisposes deer to getting killed by all those things listed.

Saying CWD doesn't kill deer is the same as saying nobody ever died of AIDS because they get a secondary infection their body would've normally fended off. The infection killed them, not AIDS
I'm not saying it doesn't kill deer. What I am saying is it's not killing deer at the rate that's being claimed. I would guess most of them die before any side effects of cwd are shown.
 

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