CWD spreading

[chris1976]

The way I understand it is that this disease is similar to dimentia in that it affects the brain. That would mean that the animal infected would eventually suffer severe cognitive decline. Now if the disease is truly the cause of the drastic reduction in herd size, wouldn't at least a couple people you know see these "zombie" deer in the late stages? Surely with the brain impairment they would wonder into towns, yards, fields and be seen dying? I see folks blaming this sudden and drastic decline on CWD, where are the corpses? That's alot of animals in a relatively short period. EHD kills a lot but the evidence is ALWAYS there to confirm. I admit I'm not very scientific minded but the common sense part of me says something is off.

 

[mike243]

Its amazing how quickly a animal can be consumed, have seen gut piles go in a hour of hitting the ground from vultures, a pack of yote will drag deer off when they get a chance and suspect they go to thickets or dens

 

[Deer Assassin]

Someone answer me this


If I kill a deer in Houston county non cwd
And I have to drive home to Cheatham non cwd

But I drive through Dickson county now cwd positive

How is the dead deer in bed of truck going to spread cwd ?

 

[Andy S.]

That's been going on for at least a couple years.

Yes, seems like I first saw a letter of this nature around 2019 or so.

 

[Andy S.]

Hey Fayette and Hardeman county hunters, CWD is not wiping out your deer herd, .gov and your neighbors are.

You need to look at harvest data 2005-2025 and you'll see that hunter harvested "checked in deer" has been on the decline for 5-10 years in Fayette/Hardeman, thus negating the theory/rumor that hunters/neighbors are wiping out the deer herd during statewide deer season. We smashed the deer 2005-2010 in these counties, way before CWD was ever a thought.

 

[Griswold]

Someone answer me this


If I kill a deer in Houston county non cwd
And I have to drive home to Cheatham non cwd

But I drive through Dickson county now cwd positive

How is the dead deer in bed of truck going to spread cwd ?

Supposedly its how you dispose of the carcass

 

[gamehog]

We did a thermal scan of my farm yesterday with a drone, 451 acres. The drone picked up turkeys just fine. We did the farm in a grid to make sure we covered it all. We saw a total of 4 deer! I have 80 acres of creek bottoms in wheat, same as last year. The hills and hollers are mostly mature white oaks, full of acorns this year but not last year. Last year, we would count 100 deer in those 3 wheat fields an hour before dark. Something dramatic has happened. Less than a mile away the way the crow flies, a similar scan was done on 1,000 acres. They detected 18 deer! You can talk acorns and early rut all you want, but something is amiss big time.

Same here in Williamson co, fields around my place this time of year usually have twenty at least in them every evening,this year nothing an I've lived on my farm my whole life And it's NEVER been so few deer around here

 

[Deer Assassin]

Supposedly its how you dispose of the carcass

It shouldn't matter

Killed in non cwd
Transported to non cwd
Just drove through a county


No my drive from lease went 1 hr one way to 2.5 one way

For no reason


I get if I kill in cwd county

 

[DoubleRidge]

Someone answer me this


If I kill a deer in Houston county non cwd
And I have to drive home to Cheatham non cwd

But I drive through Dickson county now cwd positive.

I may be wrong....but I think the intent of the transport rule would be to prevent a deer from a CWD positive county from being transported to a county that doesnt have CWD yet.....so in your example of Houston to Cheatham, being both are non CWD...I think you'd be ok.

 

[timberjack86]

Hey Fayette and Hardeman county hunters, CWD is not wiping out your deer herd, .gov and your neighbors are.

Coming to a county near you

 

[Griswold]

It shouldn't matter

Killed in non cwd
Transported to non cwd
Just drove through a county


No my drive from lease went 1 hr one way to 2.5 one way

For no reason


I get if I kill in cwd county

Sorry missed that non part

 

[Deer Assassin]

I may be wrong....but I think the intent of the transport rule would be to prevent a deer from a CWD positive county from being transported to a county that doesnt have CWD yet.....so in your example of Houston to Cheatham, being both are non CWD...I think you'd be ok.

You may be right
I could be misunderstanding the transportation regs

 

[Mcboom]

We did a thermal scan of my farm yesterday with a drone, 451 acres. The drone picked up turkeys just fine. We did the farm in a grid to make sure we covered it all. We saw a total of 4 deer! I have 80 acres of creek bottoms in wheat, same as last year. The hills and hollers are mostly mature white oaks, full of acorns this year but not last year. Last year, we would count 100 deer in those 3 wheat fields an hour before dark. Something dramatic has happened. Less than a mile away the way the crow flies, a similar scan was done on 1,000 acres. They detected 18 deer! You can talk acorns and early rut all you want, but something is amiss big time.

100% agree with this. I've seen the least amount of deer on camera at my Hickman county farm than ever before. It's like they all left overnight.

 

[JW01]

In some areas I don't think they even care. Had a deer acting like a zombie last year in January. Called twra, thought they may want to test it, they had an officer call me and he said ah we might try to come by tomorrow and look at it. I was like wow they aren't concerned so why should I be. Never heard another word. Go figure.

 

[gun nut]

I just got this notice this morning. I pray you never get one. Even though it's happens more often than not. It's still a gut punch reminder.

I just got this notice this morning. I pray you never get one. Even though it's happens more often than not. It's still a gut punch reminder.

What county

 

[Antler Daddy]

A sudden decrease in deer numbers seems more EHD related to me. But, I don't have any cameras out this year in middle TN.

 

[iowavf]

EHD has killed a lot of deer in Iowa. Regs were changed last year and carried over this year due to population decreases in a lot of counties hit harder than others. It doesn't take long to kill a deer and it seems to affect the mature deer versus others. The deer will head to water, go into ponds and rivers, then die or drown.

 

[CBU93]

A sudden decrease in deer numbers seems more EHD related to me. But, I don't have any cameras out this year in middle TN.

The issue is perceived decrease in deer sightings. Here is an experience to consider…first year, less deer seen explained as bumper crop of acorns, deer in thickets not in fields. Second year, fewer deer seen due to hot weather as the reason. Third year, decent acorn but very few deer seen…weird year, but man there are always a ton of deer on this very large farm with limited pressure. Fourth year, where are the dang deer? Something ain't right, for a while now. Announcement in late season of finding CWD…makes a little more sense now.

 

[Gravey]

It shouldn't matter

Killed in non cwd
Transported to non cwd
Just drove through a county


No my drive from lease went 1 hr one way to 2.5 one way

For no reason


I get if I kill in cwd county

You may be right
I could be misunderstanding the transportation regs

I haven't looked at the cwd transportation rules but going from non cwd county to non cwd county I'm not going out of my way an hour and a half to avoid driving through a cwd county.

 

[Andy S.]

I haven't looked at the cwd transportation rules but going from non cwd county to non cwd county I'm not going out of my way an hour and a half to avoid driving through a cwd county.

Understood your train of thought, as I had that same frustrating view back in 2018, but TWRA does not agree. Here is their transportation rule that caused many of us A LOT of headache for a few years back around 2018-2020.

" Once a carcass is brought into the CWD Management Zone, it cannot be moved out of the zone."

With that said, once all of the counties around you pop positive for CWD, it becomes a non-issue, as all are included in CWD Management Zone.

 

[Gravey]

Understood your train of thought, as I had that same frustrating view back in 2018, but TWRA does not agree. Here is their transportation rule that caused many of us A LOT of headache for a few years back around 2018-2020.

" Once a carcass is brought into the CWD Management Zone, it cannot be moved out of the zone."

With that said, once all of the counties around you pop positive for CWD, it becomes a non-issue, as all are included in CWD Management Zone.

I hunt Hickman, live in Rutherford and drive through Dickson and Williamson on the interstate to get home. Haven't tried to map it out but there wouldn't be an easy way to get from A to B.

 

[TheLBLman]

. . . . their transportation rule that caused many of us A LOT of headache . . . .

It's also a driving force behind a lot less deer hunting by Tennesseans.

TWRA is going to bleed lots and lots more revenue due to fewer people buying licenses to deer hunt. TWRA's CWD edicts were also a driving force behind the closing of so many deer processors across West TN, adding another reason there is so much less "enthusiasm" about going deer hunting.

Just the fear of violating any of so many rules has greatly stifled the interest in many hunters' desires to travel very far from their homes for deer hunting. If you have to travel across TN, perhaps instead just go to some other state to hunt?

TWRA's CWD edicts have also been a driving force behind the mass shift of so many former deer hunters to waterfowl hunting? But with so few ducks in TN, what's next? Just a steady decline of sport hunters?

 

[Trapper John]

I was going to complain about the transportation rules but felt like I was being whiny about it. I hunt Decatur and live in Rutherford. Long story short...it's a damn pain. I'm doing my absolute best to follow the rules, but it's a pain.

 

[ronnycl]

west tn herd numbers are suffering due to liberal limits so beware of the kill all approach to combat cwd. you will regret it when you go from seeing 15 deer a sit to 1-2

 

[fairchaser]

What county

Fayette. Ames tests every deer and so far we are at 73% of bucks are positive!

 

[gun nut]

Fayette. Ames tests every deer and so far we are at 73% of bucks are positive!

Dang that's a lot

 

[TNCharlie]

Looks like it's going to get a little easier to transport our deer. Two more counties have just been added to the CWD list. Positives have been found in Williamson and Dickson counties. Now if the adjoining counties are added... Won't be long until most of the state is CWD positive.

 

[Andy S.]

Fayette. Ames tests every deer and so far we are at 73% of bucks are positive!

To make the 73% have more of a shock factor, I'd like to see the age distribution of the bucks tested that account for the 73% positive. I suspect the age of bucks tested is not as old as some on here might think.

 

[fairchaser]

To make the 73% have more of a shock factor, I'd like to see the age distribution of the bucks tested that account for the 73% positive. I suspect the age of bucks tested is not as old as some on here might think.

Idk that data to that level. However, very few if any were 1.5 yo bucks and only a few 4.5 yo bucks. Most were 3.5 yo bucks and I'd say that's probably a good average age. The rate for bucks has been creeping higher with the last couple years being 60% or so. The body weights were also down this year. Even the older bucks dressed under 130 lbs. this is in spite of abundance of food.

 

[tellico4x4]

Where are the deer that CWD kills, every test is from a deer a weapon killed

Wayne Co positive doe a couple weeks ago was a road kill