Sorry if already discussed: Mineral regulations (CWD)

[Bushape]

Any idea if off season corn feeders and/or mineral blocks will be outlawed going forward??

 

[fairchaser]

Any idea if off season corn feeders and/or mineral blocks will be outlawed going forward??

I believe they are illegal within the CMZ all year.

 

[duckduck84]

Any idea if off season corn feeders and/or mineral blocks will be outlawed going forward??

I believe they are illegal within the CMZ all year.

Correct. All supplemental feeding is banned in the CWD zone.

 

[Grnwing]

This is the regulation for the CWD Zone: Notice the exception.

Supplemental feeding is now banned in Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy Counties. The placement of grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable natural and manufactured products is prohibited. The ban does not apply to feed placed within 100 feet of any residence, feed placed in a manner not accessible to deer, or feed and minerals as the result of normal agricultural practices. Food plots are still legal in the CWD Zone.

If you are still wanting to add minerals- you can check out Trophy Rocks new product- Plot Rock.

 

[Mike Belt]

You do what you think is right but if you're anywhere around the hot zone, including counties bordering them and not added yet, I'd think long and hard before concentrating deer feeding/mineral spots. You're already aware of CWD and how it can be spread. I wouldn't want to add fuel to the potential fire.

 

[TheLBLman]

I agree with the supplemental feeding bans, but have an entirely different thought on the minerals.

Here's my thinking:

Where mineral licks have been long established, those minerals are already deep in the ground (typically).
In any given area, there are some mineral licks, already, and they're not going away.
They're going to be there for years, and years to come.
Deer are going to continue to seek them out (during the summer months), continue to be concentrated licking at these sites.

And, as some of these established licks become less attractive,
the deer will then become EVEN MORE CONCENTRATED at other remaining licks!

IMO, the risk of spreading prions might actually be reduced by increasing the number of mineral licks,
as this would result in fewer deer licking at any one site.

Imagine, the reduction of deer per mineral lick site
if we went from 2 established licks in an area to 10 new licks in that same area.

 

[Mike Belt]

LBL... I sort of see merit to your theory but considering that most hunting parcels are 100 acres or less it would seem that all of those extra mineral sites could still be visited by the entire deer population on that given property, spreading the disease to every animal, and then carried onto adjoining properties. You really can't "dismantle" existing mineral licks but you can minimize their numbers by not creating new ones. I seriously doubt that they do much good to the deer using them anyway and are primarily for the hunter running cameras.

 

[cbhunter]

Agreed. I think chances are deer are gonna lick on about everyone they pass whether it's one per acre or one per 500 acres. Salt licks do dissipate over time, they aren't forever although they do have action for several years without freshening them up.


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[JCDEERMAN]

I agree with the supplemental feeding bans, but have an entirely different thought on the minerals.

Here's my thinking:

Where mineral licks have been long established, those minerals are already deep in the ground (typically).
In any given area, there are some mineral licks, already, and they're not going away.
They're going to be there for years, and years to come.
Deer are going to continue to seek them out (during the summer months), continue to be concentrated licking at these sites.

And, as some of these established licks become less attractive,
the deer will then become EVEN MORE CONCENTRATED at other remaining licks!

IMO, the risk of spreading prions might actually be reduced by increasing the number of mineral licks,
as this would result in fewer deer licking at any one site.

Imagine, the reduction of deer per mineral lick site
if we went from 2 established licks in an area to 10 new licks in that same area.

Agree 100%. I was thinking about this the other day. If I were in the hot zone, I would encourage everyone I knew to get some fence posts and wire fence tall enough they cant jump and fence off all my mineral licks, and theirs as well. I've got old licks out that they still dig and I haven't put anything in them in about 3-4 years. Just my .02

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I will also add....and maybe I'm an extremist, but I would ban all retail stores (I know that entails a lot of legalities) in TN from selling any and all attractants (acorn rage, c'mere deer, etc...). I am in Hickman county which is a ways from the hot zone but I have been saying for 2 years that the deer numbers are wayyyyy down. I don't think the scope of this disease has been truly identified for all areas impacted.

 

[Jmed]

If you guys watched the TWRA live meeting video like I did, you would have heard the biologist talk about what to do about salt licks (Turn the ground over). they also mentioned that salt licks were concentration points for the prions and that research from WI shows that the actual salt itself works to help the prion get into the nervous system.

 

[fairchaser]

We've discussed the possibility of covering up the mineral licks on Ames. At least we can try to keep the spreading of the disease down. If each lick saved one deer per year. Over several years it could save hundreds of deer. Deer in one area won't travel to another area miles away to lick salt. It's gonna make it more difficult to get a census on cameras. One of the reasons we might have the disease so bad is that several years ago we made a concerted effort to put out salt and dical to see the impact on antler growth. We had licks 1 per 100 acres or 180 licks. Little did we know we were probably contributing to the spread of the disease. We stopped this practice when we learned it did nothing to help antler growth and the native forage had all the minerals a deer needs.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Question: If I turned the dirt over and then mounded clean dirt atop the lick, would that keep them from digging it back out?

 

[poorhunter]

I will also add....and maybe I'm an extremist, but I would ban all retail stores (I know that entails a lot of legalities) in TN from selling any and all attractants (acorn rage, c'mere deer, etc...). I am in Hickman county which is a ways from the hot zone but I have been saying for 2 years that the deer numbers are wayyyyy down. I don't think the scope of this disease has been truly identified for all areas impacted.

I agree. There should be a ban on the selling of the minerals and make it illegal to make licks, and hunters should be told to fence off current licks.

 

[MUP]

I think I'd be careful wishing for banning of anything at this point. Just what ends up banned may be more than just supplemental minerals and corn.

 

[JDBinTN]

I think I'd be careful wishing for banning of anything at this point. Just what ends up banned may be more than just supplemental minerals and corn.

I've been thinking for awhile now one of the BEST things for deer hunting moving forward would be to get back to the farmers doing the farming and the hunters just being hunters, I would think alot of this habitat manipulation such as food plots, creating bedding areas, etc might be done away with now.

 

[Bone Collector]

This is the regulation for the CWD Zone: Notice the exception.

Supplemental feeding is now banned in Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy Counties. The placement of grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable natural and manufactured products is prohibited. The ban does not apply to feed placed within 100 feet of any residence, feed placed in a manner not accessible to deer, or feed and minerals as the result of normal agricultural practices. Food plots are still legal in the CWD Zone.

If you are still wanting to add minerals- you can check out Trophy Rocks new product- Plot Rock.

What is the point in this? this is ONE of my main issues with the baiting laws.... People say they are against baiting due to it spreading diseases, and yet Ma and Pa can feed deer right behind their house. Those deer will spread sickness and carry it right back into the woods with them.

Feeding minerals or food, to wildlife has either going to have to be legal or illegal. Period no grey area.

 

[Bone Collector]

I think I'd be careful wishing for banning of anything at this point. Just what ends up banned may be more than just supplemental minerals and corn.

I've been thinking for awhile now one of the BEST things for deer hunting moving forward would be to get back to the farmers doing the farming and the hunters just being hunters, I would think alot of this habitat manipulation such as food plots, creating bedding areas, etc might be done away with now.

That will never happen planting crops and creating bedding areas will never be illegal. You can't tell a person what they can or cannot cut, clear, or plant on their land or allow others to do so on their land (leases).

Now as a personal choice you may be right, but it will be hard to convince guys who have routinely hunted that way successfully to stop.

 

[MUP]

I really don't see why it couldn't happen. Banning anything for the sake of the cause could very well lead to overt regulations, such as building codes in different counties for instance. Where I live there are no restrictions on where I can build a structure, so I can build right up to my property line, whereas some counties around me have stipulations that you cannot build within 10-15 ft of your property line, in essence depriving some landowner of some use of their land. So yes, I do believe all is needed is for enough people to rise up for the "cause", petition the commission, as it were, and voila, more restrictions. Just saying it is totally within the realm of possibilities.

 

[MickThompson]

I could see a ban on items that have no legitimate use beyond the banned purpose- deer urine, for example. But what about trace mineral salt for cattle?Redmond mines theirs from the same hole as trophy rock.


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[MUP]

IMO, it would be as simple as banning deer urine . Claim detrimental effect to deer, and ban the use of it for hunting/photographing/attracting them. Enforcement is not the issue, lots of poachers kill deer in various illegal ways, and those ways are against current laws as well, so an item can be banned easily enough, tho some folks may still use it illegally.

 

[MickThompson]

I totally agree on urine products- they are a potential risk and regulating companies that are selling them to hunters would be the most effective way to enforce the ban. But this thread is about minerals- I don't see how a possession ban works on that side of the issue.


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[MUP]

I don't either, just saying it could happen.

 

[TheLBLman]

I have more fears of the fears of CWD, than of CWD itself.

My greatest fears regarding CWD have become fear of government agency responses,
many of which may be motivated by mass hysteria & fear,
some of which are motivated by various individuals and competing agencies (as well as organizations)
trying to gain more power & control over each other.

Think about this:

Over the past few years, there has been a growing movement promoting deer hunting as a great "new" (old) way of procuring "organic" meat. Many of today's newest hunters have been coming from non-hunting families, drawn to deer hunting mainly for the purpose of safe "organic" food.
This could very well save the future of hunting?

Meanwhile, there are many people (albeit a minority of people) and organizations very opposed to hunting, primarily because they see it as cruelty to animals. Many of these people are vegans, although most may themselves regularly buy meat at groceries & restaurants.

But if we instill a fear of humans consuming venison,
would this not be like throwing gasoline on the fire of anti-hunting sentiments?

Never mind, that at least to date, humans consuming even known CWD-tainted venison appears safer than humans consuming USDA-inspected beef currently sold at groceries & restaurants.

Has the CWD issue become more about fear-mongering, power & control of competing ideas, competing government agencies, competing organizations?

I don't mean to undermine our real concerns about all the negative effects of CWD.
It is in fact bad stuff, at least for the deer who get it.

And again, so far, I believe TWRA's response to the CWD threat in TN has been prudent.

Yes, we need to be very concerned about every aspect of CWD, including the possibility it could some day jump the barrier and be transmitted to humans instead of just other deer. Let's just keep it all in a good perspective, and be sure we analyze all 3 sides of each coin, without making too many unfounded fear-based reactions.

 

[MUP]

Good summation, and I'm in line with your concerns as well Wes. Up until now it seems there's still a lot of unknowns about the characteristics of this disease still, and I'm concerned about doing "something" that may seem necessary or needed, but actually in the long term have a negligible effect. And I'm not saying that what's been done so far qualifies as such by any means, but this disease has been around for a long time, and so far I don't see the sky falling. Jmo.

 

[karl struck]

I wonder about road salt for snow removal?

 

[Doskil]

Livestock salt and bird feeders are exempt.'

You can still give your livestock minerals