Just curious about the feeding ban

[btpatriot02]

I live in MN and I read in the local paper and it said that Mn has not found no more cases of CWD. and it made me think for a moment. In Mn you can feed deer for recreational use. where I live alot of people feed them in their backyards.so the question is that if they found no cases of cwd. how can they say that by feeding them you can spread the disease. Do they have any proof that says that by feeding them you can spread it to the other herds? Just curious.

[TJD]

Nope, no direct evidence yet. Since they aren' t sure how it spreads, the decision in WI was to outlaw feeding and baiting as a precaution. Besides, the WI DNR stated last July that baiting did not in any way increase the chances of harvesting a deer, so it did not sound like a big loss.

Of course, ineffective or not, the WI DNR did an about face and allowed baiting in the CWD zone, supposedly to enable a more successful harvest of deer. This after saying that it was ineffective at increasing the chances of harvesting deer.

[Birdhunter_007]

The Mad Cow disease epidemic in the UK was found to probably be due to the feeding of downed animals back into the herd to provide protein to the dairy cows after the protein was reprocessed at the rendering plants. Here in the USA, we have been trying to produce large antlered bucks by manipulating what we feed them and feeding them higher protein meals with protein produced at the rendering plants. Look in any hunting magazine and see all the products you can buy to feed deer to produce trophies for your wall. The DNR does not want to lose profits from hunting licenses and the revenue that the state gains by selling hunting products and tourism. Therefore the DNR wants us to keep hunting and eating venison. The scientific community wants us to be more careful because even though no cases " as yet" have been documented of CWD spreading to humans, the disease can lie dormant for years after you have been infected before you will develop symptoms. As usual we have one side trying to prove their point arguing against another side trying to prove the other views. Extreme " Right" vs extreme " Left" . I personally think the truth lies somewhere inbetween. I think it is our responsibility as sportsman to make ourselves as educated as we can to make our own decisions regarding the hunting and eating of venison and not rely on someone else to tell us. An interesting site that I have listed in my FAVORITES is at http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm#USA which has many articles about CWD and Mad Cow disease and ideas regarding the subject deer hunting, baiting, and the eating of venison. It tends to be swayed a little towards the scientific communities views.

Myself--I am being cautious and careful but still hunted this year and have a freezer full of venison. My friends can either eat it or not when invited to my house.