TWRA Comment Period Open For CWD Plan

[RUGER]

They will do what they want. Asking for input is only PR.

Yep.

 

[redblood]

Set a limit set a time frame stick with it. Pick your weapon don't limit others because you think bow hunters deserve more time and more deer. Show me how/why bow hunters deserve more time in the woods. Do they pay more for their license than I do or more tax $

I against changing the seasons at all. Leave it alone. Its a very long and generous season for all weapon types. And 2 antlered deer with no antler restrictions is pretty generous as well. No need to alter it for CWD. If they feel mineral feeding, or baiting in the off season or even food plots are an issue id be willing to abide with those changes- and i put out alot of food plots

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

I would hope for this sampling that they would target does only. But I doubt that is the case

Why I'll never have one tested.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

I'm not advocating baiting
But states that allow it and have had it for years are just fine.

Feeders, salt, baiting have not caused their herds to vanish.

 

[DeerCamp]

I won't post the full comment, but it ended with this.

"Is there some victory in slowing the spread of a disease that kills deer by killing the deer sooner? "

 

[BSK]

I'm not advocating baiting
But states that allow it and have had it for years are just fine.

Feeders, salt, baiting have not caused their herds to vanish.

Could baiting cause the disease to spread faster? Yup. Is the disease going to spread anyways? Yup.

 

[DeerCamp]

Could baiting cause the disease to spread faster? Yup. Is the disease going to spread anyways? Yup.

There's an argument to be made for slowing the spread in case something is discovered that can treat prion diseases in living creatures.

There's also the housefire argument. If, in order to stop the fire, you dump so much water on the house that it's destroyed anyways, did you really make a difference?

 

[DeerCamp]

Could baiting cause the disease to spread faster? Yup. Is the disease going to spread anyways? Yup.

I just think if we're going to ban baiting (for that reason), then we should also ban food-plots smaller than a certain size.
I have pictures on some of my plots of 10-15 deer feeding in a 20 foot circle in the winter.

Just be consistent. No bait PILES. ok. Then me walking around a food plot scattering corn is no different than deer walking into a cut corn fields chewing on all the cobs and pieces.

And I don't bait... I just dislike unlevel rules.

 

[knightrider]

Flatten the curve boys dont you remember, makes total since to kill all the deer that may or may not die

 

[BSK]

I just think if we're going to ban baiting (for that reason), then we should also ban food-plots smaller than a certain size.
I have pictures on some of my plots of 10-15 deer feeding in a 20 foot circle in the winter.

Just be consistent. No bait PILES. ok. Then me walking around a food plot scattering corn is no different than deer walking into a cut corn fields chewing on all the cobs and pieces.

And I don't bait... I just dislike unlevel rules.

EVERYTHING we humans do that concentrate deer mouths onto the same spot on the ground increases the chances of spreading CWD (since it is spread primarily through body fluids, like saliva). But the biggest single spot for CWD transmission is scrapes. All of the communication going on using saliva at the licking branch and urine in the scrape is the reason CWD affects bucks more than does. Until we can convince bucks to stop making and working scrapes, CWD will continue spreading (and no matter how many times I reason with them, they just won't listen ).

Sadly, prion diseases are so unique, mammalian immune systems are not designed to recognize nor defeat them. Some sort of "cure" or inoculation is literally impossible. CWD is here to stay and only Nature can work this out through Natural Selection.

In my personal/professional opinion, trying to "slow the spread" through decimating the deer herds is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. All it will do is chase the real managers of the deer herds (hunters) away from their critically important role.

 

[DeerCamp]

EVERYTHING we humans do that concentrate deer mouths onto the same spot on the ground increases the chances of spreading CWD (since it is spread primarily through body fluids, like saliva). But the biggest single spot for CWD transmission is scrapes. All of the communication going on using saliva at the licking branch and urine in the scrape is the reason CWD affects bucks more than does. Until we can convince bucks to stop making and working scrapes, CWD will continue spreading (and no matter how many times I reason with them, they just won't listen ).

Sadly, prion diseases are so unique, mammalian immune systems are not designed to recognize nor defeat them. Some sort of "cure" or inoculation is literally impossible. CWD is here to stay and only Nature can work this out through Natural Selection.

In my personal/professional opinion, trying to "slow the spread" through decimating the deer herds is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. All it will do is chase the real managers of the deer herds (hunters) away from their critically important role.

We are 100% on the same page.

The threat to deer populations presented by CWD is that it kills deer. There's no current evidence it transmits to any non-cervid.

So if the only known threat is that it's fatal to deer, I don't see how killing them faster presents any net benefit.

 

[BSK]

So if the only known threat is that it's fatal to deer, I don't see how killing them faster presents any net benefit.

And to make matters worse, the incubation period for CWD is often the deer's entire natural lifespan. It doesn't kill many deer until full maturity. Well, Nature doesn't kill most deer until full maturity. In my area, even without CWD, very few bucks live past 5 1/2, and that has almost nothing to do with hunting or CWD. The stresses of life and breeding don't allow many bucks to reach advanced age.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

BSK

Apparently other states have figured this out.

Why does the TWRA continue to do the things they do? It makes no sense unless $$$ is behind it

 

[fairchaser]

And to make matters worse, the incubation period for CWD is often the deer's entire natural lifespan. It doesn't kill many deer until full maturity. Well, Nature doesn't kill most deer until full maturity. In my area, even without CWD, very few bucks live past 5 1/2, and that has almost nothing to do with hunting or CWD. The stresses of life and breeding don't allow many bucks to reach advanced age.

We don't know how long deer survive once they contract the disease. That's currently being studied on Ames where they will capture and collar 50 deer. I believe they will also take samples for CWD and then can track these deer. Then we may have some answers. I agree that if a deer can survive for 3-4 years with the disease, CWD would be irrelevant. The current estimate is 18-24 months.

 

[BSK]

We don't know how long deer survive once they contract the disease. That's currently being studied on Ames where they will capture and collar 50 deer. I believe they will also take samples for CWD and then can track these deer. Then we may have some answers. I agree that if a deer can survive for 3-4 years with the disease, CWD would be irrelevant. The current estimate is 18-24 months.

I've seen studies out of IL and WI that suggest deer are contracting CWD as fawns or yearlings and living to 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years old.

 

[fairchaser]

I've seen studies out of IL and WI that suggest deer are contracting CWD as fawns or yearlings and living to 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years old.

My buddy killed a buck this season that was aged at 5.5 and was CWD positive. I wish I knew when he contracted it.

 

[BigAl]

I against changing the seasons at all. Leave it alone. Its a very long and generous season for all weapon types. And 2 antlered deer with no antler restrictions is pretty generous as well. No need to alter it for CWD. If they feel mineral feeding, or baiting in the off season or even food plots are an issue id be willing to abide with those changes- and i put out alot of food plots

I feel the same. I'm not against extending the season a little or rifle opportunities. The bag limits were fine.

 

[redblood]

I've seen studies out of IL and WI that suggest deer are contracting CWD as fawns or yearlings and living to 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years old.

What percentage of TN bucks live longer than that anyway?