Is this for real? TWRA vs CWD
- Thread starter megalomaniac
- Start date
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
Not only a dumb idea but ineffective as well.
Looks legit as I checked it on the official TWRA Facebook website. Not a fan of this idea.
Gronk
Well-Known Member
Not sure why this is a bad thing?
TNGunsmoke
Well-Known Member
It is legit, and it's better than last years incentive was.
philsanchez76
Well-Known Member
Why do y'all think this is bad?
Buzzard Breath
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No, you're not the only one who thinks this is a bad thing. CWD is here to stay, so unless TWRA is getting special grant money that can only be used to help stop the spread of it, this is a waste of money.
Buzzard Breath
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I could actually see it backfiring and helping to spread CWD. It could draw in more people from outside the CWD zone to hunt and possibly get their free license. It's crazy to think that everyone will follow the processing requirements for deer killed in the zone without taking it home for processing and in essence spread it more. They're already dumping deer at the parking spots on Yanahli. Who's to say some of these aren't infected deer.
Last years incentive program had very very few participants.
Definitely a bad idea.
TNGunsmoke
Well-Known Member
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Something about this seems similar to the government pushing covid vaccinations with "free" stuff?
UTGrad
Well-Known Member
Question is has CWD truly been eradicated where it has existed for decades i.e. Wisconsin and Michigan?
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
It's ridiculous. The government's solution to everything is just to throw money at a problem. Who is making these decisions and who requested this is what I want to know.
I don't understand. Please explain why you think it is bad?
To prevent CWD form spreading to unaffected areas it is critical to try and reduce the number of infected deer. This is simply a way to try and encourage more people to kill more infected deer - people who might otherwise avoid hunting a CWD area.
Whether it works or not is a reasonable question, but I sure don't see any effort to reduce the spread of CWD as a "bad thing."
Change my mind.
To prevent CWD form spreading to unaffected areas it is critical to try and reduce the number of infected deer. This is simply a way to try and encourage more people to kill more infected deer - people who might otherwise avoid hunting a CWD area.
Whether it works or not is a reasonable question, but I sure don't see any effort to reduce the spread of CWD as a "bad thing."
Change my mind.
I wonder if this includes nonresidents? I do not like the government giving us all this "free" stuff, but if someone out of state kills a CWD deer then they get a free sportsman for the following year. I agree that it could cause an influx in out of state people. If I shot one it would save me the 360 dollars on licenses, I would not complain. I don't think it will have a good affect, this is coming from an out of state hunter.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
Because the approach of "kill ALL the deer" has been tried many times. Has not worked, NOT AT ALL! Only thing the approach of "kill more deer to stop CWD" has accomplished is MANY dead deer. That approach has had ZERO effect on CWD everywhere it has been tried. It never helped in any way at all.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
The more I think about it maybe the incentives are focused more on encouraging testing than simply killing. Read the language:
- "Hunters who harvest a positive deer..."
- "Residents who kill 2 or more CWD-positive deer..."
The only way to know with certainty if a deer is positive or not is to have it tested...a hunter didn't know they were killing a positive deer when they pulled the trigger.
Now I could be 100% wrong and the goal really is to simply kill more deer becuase I believe we're headed for a population explosion because the number of deer killed is decreasing. This is a graph of total harvest (blue line) and % antlerless (red line) for Hardeman county from 2005 to 2020. As you can see harvest has tanked, partly because there are fewer deer to kill, hunters are more selective than in years past, and perhaps the emergence of CWD.
- "Hunters who harvest a positive deer..."
- "Residents who kill 2 or more CWD-positive deer..."
The only way to know with certainty if a deer is positive or not is to have it tested...a hunter didn't know they were killing a positive deer when they pulled the trigger.
Now I could be 100% wrong and the goal really is to simply kill more deer becuase I believe we're headed for a population explosion because the number of deer killed is decreasing. This is a graph of total harvest (blue line) and % antlerless (red line) for Hardeman county from 2005 to 2020. As you can see harvest has tanked, partly because there are fewer deer to kill, hunters are more selective than in years past, and perhaps the emergence of CWD.
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TNGunsmoke
Well-Known Member
This years incentive is a vast improvement over the one they used last year. Last year, you had to kill your 2 bucks, and at least 4 does to earn 2 bonus bucks, and then kill both bonus bucks and have all 8 deer tested in order to get your free sportsman's license. At least with this incentive program, it has to be CWD positive deer to get the free license, and I don't have a problem with the voucher program for a positive deer. The processor I use has a CWD insurance program, $10 a deer, and if it tests positive, he'll dispose of the infected meat and credit your regular processing fee back to your account for the next deer anyhow. But not all processors offer this, so it just helps out the folks that don't have this option.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
It was my understanding TWRA was not flush with cash. Since they have so much money they can afford to throw a bunch away, it is quite obvious they are overcharging for hunting and fishing licenses.
Winchester
Well-Known Member
Very strange imo.
Agree, what good is going to come from wiping out the deer herd when cwd prions stay active in the ground for years. Plus the possibility of Eastern hunters being drawn to cwd areas by all the freebies increases the likelihood of spreading it east with shabby processing. Change my mind!
Willysman
Well-Known Member
What!!!!
Bon3_Daddy
Well-Known Member
All im sayin is...my deer are getting tested anyways, so if i can luck up and get 2 that can save me 168 bucks...good luck to all.
As I said, "Whether it works or not is a reasonable question, but I sure don't see any effort to reduce the spread of CWD as a bad thing."
Active prions remaining in ground is correct (from what I've read) ... but deer must move TO the infected area, versus the infected deer moving to the next county, and then the next, and then the next. Fewer deer in infected area reduces opportunity of transmission. I totally agree that you are NEVER going to eliminate it. Once it's there, it's there. But reducing the chances of transmission seems wise to me. Of course during the COVID peak, I also wore a mask.
It seems to me that shabby processing would simply increase the likelihood of spreading it to humans, which they still say has never occurred.
I can't argue the money question. It will be interesting to learn in a year or so, how many people actually claim these vouchers and/or get a free Sportsman License.
