They may have CWD on the island but its not likely and certainly not the primary factor in reduced deer sightings in my opinion. There is more than enough agriculture on the island (guessing 35-40%) and no shortage of food. The flood killed a ton of deer and is a huge factor but I think the nearly thousand acres of security cover that is now on the island due to the floods is equally responsible for the reduced deer sightings. Thick nasty security cover prior to the flood was maybe 1-2% prior to the flood, and now its closer to 15-20%.
Before the flood deer bounced back and forth between the large blocks of timber when bumped. Now when bumped, they run into a willow thicket (previously a cut bean field) that nobody goes in for the duration of the hunt. If I had last years hunt to do over, I wouldn't even climb a tree in the big blocks of timber. I would try to force myself to ground and pound all the grown up fields and 15' tall willows. I spent 30 min. easing around in the rain scouting one day at mid-day and walked to within 15 yards of a nice 8 pt eating honey suckle for what its worth. PI is definitely the kind of place you can kick one up out of its bed and its likely to bound 30 yards and give you enough time to stick an arrow in it.
