BSK
Well-Known Member
Females? Everywhere. I can't count the number of does I've aged at 12+ years.
What can REALLY be done about CWD?
- Thread starter Harold Money jr
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BSK
Well-Known Member
I see many hunters believing CWD has always been around and we're just now noticing. That is not the case. Where CWD comes from is precisely known. In sheep, the disease is called Scrapie, and it has been known for a very long time. Writings by sheepherders in Scotland and England from a thousand years ago precisely describe the symptoms of the disease. So the disease has been around for a very long time, just not in deer. Scrapie jumped the species barrier from sheep to deer in a penned facility in Colorado in the 60s. The facility had been used as a research center for Scrapie. Once that research was completed, the facility was cleared of sheep. The next research group to use the penned facility was a group studying mule deer. So they filled the facility with captured wild mule deer. At the completion of their study, they released the mule deer back into the wild. However, what they didn't know was that some of the penned deer had picked up Scrapie from being held in such a small area very heavily infected with Scrapie prions. Once released into the wild, the prion disease (called CWD in cervids) spread to other wild mule deer, elk, and even white-tailed deer. The real disaster occurred when some of these infected deer were captured and used as breeding stock for commercial game farms. These animals - especially elk and white-tailed deer - were then traded, sold, and some released back into the wild all across North America.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
No, not without an autopsy that I know of.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
They've known about scrapie in sheep for 100's of years. It's also a prion disease. Although, they didn't know it at the time. They would have known about it in deer had it been here 100 years ago simply as an unknown disease that created certain symptoms. I don't believe it has always been here and we just didn't know it.
Reckon TWRA needs to start sampling deer hunters when they die see if its CWD or RMSF or whatever. That would be the only way to say nobody has caught it yet and anything else is guessing but only in the effected counties lol
I really don't understand prions? They are not alive? They don't reproduce to a goal? What are they?
Aliens. I'm not sure anybody really knows exactly what they are or how they work. They have no genetic material that living things have, yet they can self replicate. Monsters from Mars is my guess, and apparently my guess is just as good as anyone's because no one actually knows. Kinda spooky actually.
But they will dang sure try…..as long as there is control to be had and money to be made.
I think most folks forget TWRA gets most of their $ from license sales, seems everybody allways wants stuff for free or cheap or are mad they have to pay for everything, we need more wardens but nobody wants them to be paid. All these tests cost $ that has to come from somewhere. They have to operate on a budget as this isn't the Federal that can just print up some more.
backyardtndeer
Well-Known Member
They are a protein. They are not a virus or disease and they are not living.
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Nature is undefeated. Usually the biggest problems are when we get in the way.
At some point, deer will develop natural resistance or some type of immune response. That may be a while.
Either way, we SHOULD try take measures in areas we are absolutely sure have active CWD problems. And then not overreact in areas that don't.
Wait for nature to do what nature does.
At some point, deer will develop natural resistance or some type of immune response. That may be a while.
Either way, we SHOULD try take measures in areas we are absolutely sure have active CWD problems. And then not overreact in areas that don't.
Wait for nature to do what nature does.
Why is it that people and their activities are considered not "natural"?
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I guess because we've only been really capable of monkeying with things for a few hundred years while nature has been killing for about 6 billion or so
Because we all know the government is so good at fiscal responsibility.
This makes the most sense to me. I moved from Texas and had not heard of this till I started looking for places to hunt. Now Texas is coming up with cases in some counties and it's being blamed on the "deer farms". I'm a meat hunter because I love venison and never could make the horns taste good. Merry Christmas everybody!
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What exactly is a protein? I don't understand that? Is it a mineral?
Buzzard Breath
Well-Known Member
What are proteins and what do they do?: MedlinePlus Genetics
Proteins are complex molecules and do most of the work in cells. They are important to the structure, function, and regulation of the body.
medlineplus.gov
This is where my issues with the CWD "scare" begin. I might be wrong but I'm near certain, there has never been a confirmed case of CWD spreading to a human. The fact that mad cow disease jumped to humans one time in the 90s is not proof positive it can happen with CWD.
@BSK already covered my second issue with the CWD "scare" when he talked about predatory animals eating tainted deer and becoming carriers. On that note if it's possible for us to catch it from eating deer then these other animals would have it, like wise cows eating tainted grass would catch it and 100% that would have alarm bells ringing.
Third issue is it's been around for 50+ years. People have eaten tainted meat… why the panic now. If there was a real threat to humans I think we'd have more than 9 test stations or however many there are.
As @megalomaniac mentioned you can beat this with genetically modified deer that are resistant, which I've read are already in existence.
