Hunting in a CWD world

[fairchaser]

I was fortunate to harvest a doe opening day. It was around 6:00 pm and I had some work to do before dark. The doe dropped within 50 yards and I jumped down immediately. With fading light, I went directly to her. She was dead. No fawn nearby, she was also dry. I was thankful to have earned my buck tag. We must kill a doe first at Ames.

I took my climber down and carried it to the bike, got my cart and went back to get my deer. She was a good sized 2.5 year old and was heavy not dressed. I needed my gloves, scalpel and zip lock bags before I dressed her. Once back at the truck, I had to open her up and find the large and small intestine. They needed sections of those for research. I then called the researcher to meet me at the check station.

Once there we weighed, aged by removing the jaw bone, and removed the pharyngeal glands for CWD analysis. After completing all the paperwork, finally I had a deer to deal with. No processors were open, it was too warm to hang it for the night and no place to refrigerate it so I cut the backstraps out and dumped the deer in a hole dug specifically for this. I felt bad about this but no other real choice.

Some 2.5 hours after I killed my doe, I was headed home. Now to wait on my results. After 2.5 weeks, I finally got the news this week that my doe was CWD positive.

This is the new paradigm we hunt in now. I want to be part of the solution, but this is hard.

 

[Remington700]

I hunt not far from you in Williston. We have seen the signs of CWD. Found dead bucks (skulls with horns attached), see less large bucks, etc. So far we have only had one buck test positive. Unfortunately several bucks we have turned in for testing have not been tested. I do not know if this is the processor or TWRA's fault. It has definitely changed our way of deer hunting.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I'm not far from you and certainly understand Ames has rules so applaud you for the compliance. The first year we jumped through all the testing hoops but no longer. The recognition that CWD is here, it's not going anywhere, and we're simply not going to waste the meat which is safe to consume drove the decision. For us hunting in a CWD world isn't a whole lot different than a non-CWD world.

 

[AT Hiker]

Kinda like covid, I feel like the best hind sight scenario would be…to leave us hunters mostly in the dark about the issue.
It's here, it's not going anywhere and even the brightest minds don't have a full grasp on it yet.
It all went down hill fast when the media got ahold of it and released the "zombie deer" headline.

 

[fairchaser]

I'm not far from you and certainly understand Ames has rules so applaud you for the compliance. The first year we jumped through all the testing hoops but no longer. The recognition that CWD is here, it's not going anywhere, and we're simply not going to waste the meat which is safe to consume drove the decision. For us hunting in a CWD world isn't a whole lot different than a non-CWD world.

While I admire your stance Bo Weevil, how do you know it's safe to consume? I'm sure I've consumed some CWD venison in the past, it's just not possible for me to eat it now with a clear conscience.,

 

[Omega]

?? Knowing that is the procedure, I would do like I do now, except instead of quartering, I would debone. Before the hunt, I fill a cooler with ice. Once a deer is down, I get it up on the gambrel, now permanent, but have a portable one too, as quick as I can. I gut and quarter the deer, removing the backstraps, tenderloins, and heart for quicker processing (usually eat the heart for dinner that day). I place the quartered deer in game bags then on top of the grate I have in the cooler and place the ice on top. I leave it in the cooler for a week, emptying the water and replacing the ice as necessary, whereupon I begin processing for the freezer. Seeing as some would like to wait on results, the aging timeline can be stretched some if need be. Seeing as Ames makes some decent money off of hunters, you would think they would build a place to do all this.

When I was stationed at Ft Bragg, (for mil members, yea I know.. "Back at Bragg") McKeller's Lodge had a walk-in cooler for members to store the deer for 4 days (skin on), the check station had a kill shack with gambrels, hoses, saws, clippers etc, and a hole outback (moved yearly) for the carcasses, which would be treated with lime daily. While the tools would be an issue with CWD, there has to be something like this that would work there, at least to keep members from wasting good venison.

 

[Boll Weevil]

While I admire your stance Bo Weevil, how do you know it's safe to consume?

Mostly because people have consumed untold numbers of deer and elk with CWD in the US for at least the last 60 years (whether they knew it or not) and to date there have been no reported cases of CWD in humans. None. Does that mean there will never be a case? Of course not...never say never.

Personally, my conscience could scarcely rest easy killing deer and then discarding the meat.

 

[knightrider]

While I admire your stance Bo Weevil, how do you know it's safe to consume? I'm sure I've consumed some CWD venison in the past, it's just not possible for me to eat it now with a clear conscience.,

You know its safe because everyone is still alive after eating it for years. Wasting deer is a poor decision of being scared of something that isnt an issue, if your afraid to eat em stop killing them.

 

[Headhunter]

Mostly because people have consumed untold numbers of deer and elk with CWD in the US for at least the last 60 years (whether they knew it or not) and to date there have been no reported cases of CWD in humans. None. Does that mean there will never be a case? Of course not...never say never.

Personally, my conscience could scarcely rest easy killing deer and then discarding the meat.

Yep, CWD has been here since the 1960's. In several states with CWD, they do not test for it at all. Hunting goes about like it always has. Most everything TWRA is doing to try to combat CWD has already been tried and failed. Don't understand why they can't learn from other states, especially the "kill as many deer" as possible in CWD areas.

I do not want to be the test case for a human getting CWD from a deer, but for now, I am not going to worry about it.

 

[BSK]

Would I eat a CWD deer? Probably. But I'm not going to make that decision for my family, so I would most likely discard the meat from any deer that tested positive for CWD. But I think the chances of being harmed by it are infinitesimally small. Even Mad Cow Disease, which was known to be transmissible to humans, only infected a tiny, tiny percentage of the people who ate infected meat. Last time I saw the numbers, it is estimated 35+ million people ate MCD infected beef in Europe. Yet only 206 people got the disease from eating tainted meat. That's an infection rate of 0.0006%

 

[fairchaser]

You know its safe because everyone is still alive after eating it for years. Wasting deer is a poor decision of being scared of something that isnt an issue, if your afraid to eat em stop killing them.

I do understand this position. I was raised that way. But, it's also short sighted. I wouldn't eat a coyote, crow or many other things I've killed. There's a conservation component and I do care about the future of whitetail deer. I don't see how walking away from it would be beneficial for the cause.

 

[mike243]

When i no longer have a place to hunt deer thats not got it or a chance of it I am done, small game and more fishing from there on out. I'm not much of a gambler with certain things

 

[backyardtndeer]

Will be a bit of an inconvenience here getting deer tested, unless they are going to a taxidermist. We kill them on our farm, and they never leave our property before going in the freezer. I spend a good amount of time processing and package everything in food saver bags. Would hate to kill one and spend all that time, only to have the deer come back positive and be told not to eat it.

 

[MR Yote]

While I admire your stance Bo Weevil, how do you know it's safe to consume? I'm sure I've consumed some CWD venison in the past, it's just not possible for me to eat it now with a clear conscience.,

You cut the backstraps out for a reason...

 

[knightrider]

I do understand this position. I was raised that way. But, it's also short sighted. I wouldn't eat a coyote, crow or many other things I've killed. There's a conservation component and I do care about the future of whitetail deer. I don't see how walking away from it would be beneficial for the cause.

Wasting all of one but the backstraps isnt very beneficial for the deers future either

 

[fairchaser]

You cut the backstraps out for a reason...

Had the meat come back negative I would be happy to consume it. Unfortunately it didn't and while i don't think it would harm me, the idea of it does not make it very palatable.

 

[TheLBLman]

Many deer hunters are simply quitting deer hunting,
not because of CWD, but because of the regulatory requirement edicts.

This may be one of those cases where the cure is worse than the disease.

 

[fairchaser]

Many deer hunters are simply quitting deer hunting,
not because of CWD, but because of the regulatory requirement edicts.

This may be one of those cases where the cure is worse than the disease.

The new rules don't bother me as much as the impact to the deer herd. I've considered quitting and may yet even though I've built a lifestyle around hunting especially deer hunting. It's very disappointing and I feel for the future generations of deer hunters. I generally just roll with the punches but it's gonna be hard to convince my grandsons that we are going to kill these deer and dump them in a hole.

 

[gatodoc]

We kill skin and quarter our deer in the CWD zone. Freeze the quarters in west TN. If come back negativ, all have, debone and process quarters. If positive would dispose as directed. Have they built the incinerator yet?

 

[fairchaser]

Wasting all of one but the backstraps isnt very beneficial for the deers future either

When possible KR, I donate the meat to HFTH. But there are fewer and fewer places to do this anymore. At least I saved one deer from a horrible death from starvation.

 

[rstodd]

I would try and hunt farther away from Hardeman county. Leave Ames behind, before I gave up hunting all together.

 

[timberjack86]

You know its safe because everyone is still alive after eating it for years. Wasting deer is a poor decision of being scared of something that isnt an issue, if your afraid to eat em stop killing them.

This x1000! If y'all are having to dump them in a hole! Wasting animals just to hunt them is ethically and morally wrong! It wouldn't take much time at all to quarter it and put it on ice in a cooler. Then freeze it and wait on test results. Here's the way I read it. You dumped the deer in a hole before you had the test results. It didn't matter by then whether it was negative or positive you threw 90 percent of the deer away.

 

[timberjack86]

Here's the cold hard truth, with cwd and all the other things going on we are going to have to learn how to process our deer ourselves. Or practice trigger restraint. The only time a whole deer should be wasted is after they test positive and the hunter doesn't want to eat it. IMO

 

[muddyboots]

It just stinks. I just hope twra does not make it worse. I kind of wish we were still unaware but I see there is a problem with eating positive deer. Deer numbers in my area seem down this year. I'm wondering if it is all related. Just stinks.

 

[timberjack86]

Had the meat come back negative I would be happy to consume it. Unfortunately it didn't and while i don't think it would harm me, the idea of it does not make it very palatable.

Hard to do that when it's rotting in a hole in the ground. Unless I read it wrong you cut the backstraps out and dumped the rest before the test results came back? I'm not picking on you and if it comes across this way I apologize. Just trying to understand.

 

[mike243]

How many folks are going to travel 20-100 miles to drop deer at a processor or incinerator or dig a hole to bury it in? I see this spreading faster and faster ,

 

[fairchaser]

Hard to do that when it's rotting in a hole in the ground. Unless I read it wrong you cut the backstraps out and dumped the rest before the test results came back? I'm not picking on you and if it comes across this way I apologize. Just trying to understand.

There were no processors open to take the deer. The one that takes deer for donations would not be open for several weeks. I had no place to store the meat in the interim. My fault.

 

[Hduke86]

I'm hoping the spread is a long ways off for East Tennessee and especially in my area. This is my "theory" of why I tell my wife that it may be a while or it may never get to our area. First are deer density is NO WHERE near that of west Tennessee. Secondly I'm on a mountain and the areas I hunt are not so easily traveled for human or deer. There's not herds of deer that travel together. That's all out the window if someone hauls a positive deer and dumps it's carcass out but natural spread I hope is decades out from this area.

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

I'm on the outside looking in so dont stone me...on hot days, debone and put in ice cooler, drain and repeat for a few days ( wet age). As for cwd I'm in east tn. Not an issue here yet but I say kill what you want, eat what you want. If it has cwd wasnt it going to die a gruesome suffering death. I'm not offended if you take a deer with all intent of eating but discard due to illness. Now if your just killin to be killin, I hope you take up golf.

 

[timberjack86]

There were no processors open to take the deer. The one that takes deer for donations would not be open for several weeks. I had no place to store the meat in the interim. My fault.

There's a lesson in all this and hopefully someone reading can learn from it. There's more hunters and less processors than there was 5 years ago. IMO. Learn how to process your game or call your processor ahead of hunting to make sure he can take your deer. There's been a few times I've had a deer in my sights but decided against it because I really didn't have the time to deal with it