Cwd cya
 

The same day I shot a buck during early archery season here in PA I took the head to one of the Game Commission's deer parts collection boxes. If you hunt in a Disease Management Area you can drop the head in one of those boxes and they will test it for CWD. There is no proof that eating the meat from an infected deer is harmful to humans but why take the chance, right? Plus you are doing your part to help identify where the disease may or may not be spreading to, right?

I got the results in the mail today from the Game Commission which stated: "Our records indicate that CWD was not detected in a deer harvested by you." Awesome.

Not so fast, they also state: "Please note this is not a food safety test. Failure to find prions in the examined tissue does not indicate the harvested animal is CWD free." Huh? In other words don't waste your time getting your deer tested. It doesn't mean a damn thing. Good grief.

CWD is a sad thing when it is detected in an area. The results will certainly mean less license sales and one can only imagine the costs associated with long term testing and remediation for the affected area.

What that is , is a CYA from the labs that do the testing. The CDC has said that while no one has contracted CWD to their knowledge but they will not endorse eating the meat from a positive tested deer. No one can give a 100% guarantee that you cannot contract the disease because they still don't know that much about it other than it is one of the diseases caused by prions. You should be glad the PGC is doing free testing, a disclaimer like that is not unusual. If you get vaccinated for various diseases you will not find a Dr. who will give you a guarantee you will not contract the disease. I suggest you read the information regarding CWD on the PGC website.

Been there done all that. As both a hunter and a property owner within DMA 3 I am extremely concerned about the future of deer hunting in PA and this CYA statement does absolutely nothing to ease my concerns about not only hunting but also consuming the deer that I am fortunate enough to harvest. My processor stated that my deer looked extremely healthy to him but he has an obvious agenda as well. Fewer deer hunters means his business suffers too. Researchers also point out that even though a deer may appear healthy it can take years for CWD symptoms to show up. I have been hunting for well over fifty years and at my age I guess I just accept the fact that your gonna die from something and I like venison. However, I usually give some of my harvest to friends and relatives but that probably won't happen anymore.

In your response you stated: "The CDC has said that while no one has contracted CWD to their knowledge but they will not endorse eating the meat from a positive tested deer." That is exactly one of the reasons why I had my deer tested but the letter I received was nonsense because it does not confirm anything, positive or negative.

Here's another point to consider. By putting that CYA statement in the results letter, some hunters (if not the majority of hunters) who have their deer tested and then read that statement are probably going to have a similar response. If that causes hunters to decide that it is a waste of time to have their deer tested because it doesn't prove anything they probably won't bother doing it again and their hunting buddies won't bother with it either. Remember, having your deer tested is completely voluntary. In my opinion, adding that CYA statement has the potential of defeating the whole testing program.

Did you miss the part about not wanting to assume liability because of being sued. Hunt outside the DMAs if it bothers you,that is what I do.

Hunters should do there part of stopping the spread of CWD in deer an elk, by avoiding the use of deer/elk urine scented products.

If you do have a deer/elk urine scented product: Avoid pouring it down the drain or on the ground.

Oregon has already banned the use of deer/elk urine scented products, starting in January 2020 --- And the rest of the world should too.

"CWD, What Hunters Can Do"

quote: Link

http://www.myodfw.com/articles/cwd-what-hunters-can-do

Vermont made deer urine illegal several years ago as well as outlawing deer farms, supplemental deer feeding, and banning importation of a whole deer, elk or moose from another state or Province where CWD has been found. All states should follow that plan to slow the spread but even with that I feel the spread over time is inevitable.

God bless Vermont, I have been trying to get the same in PA. It makes no sense to allow urine bases lures and scents when the artificial stuff works as well.

Biggest bang for the buck comes with outlawing game farms/ canned hunting. In many locations where it suddenly popped up there was a game farm where it started. There is no such thing as a fence totally eliminates commingling between captive deer or elk and those in the wild. Fences can be damaged by blow downs, jumped over or even cut by vandalism. We had one of our last game farms here before they outlawed them and I believe it had a double fence. Captive deer still got out and wild ones got in. When they closed the operation they had to kill all the trophy wild deer that got in and lived there. Unfortunately there is some big money behind some of those type operations in other states. Politics keeps them in business.

The bottom line on cwd is this: they don't know enough.

They just don't know. It's possible that 25 years from now everyone eating venison today will turn into zombies. They don't know. They don't know enough to stop it, prevent it, or seemingly even slow it down.

So they can't make a positive statement. They can say that to the best of their abilities to test right now that the deer is clean. That's about all.

I've certainly considered whether eating venison and feeding it to my young kids is wise. I certainly don't know either. My family of 5 uses about 6 deer per year. So it's a large part of our diet.

I may regret that some day.

-Jake

Please educate me here. Which ones are urine based, and which ones are artificial? They all smell horrible to me.

As a bear hunter, I drive my wife crazy with my over-the-top cooking demands out of fear of trichinosis, which is nothing compared to Cruetzfeld-Jakob disease.

The ones that tell you on the bottle they are urine based or artificial. I don't use them so I don't have a rand name for you. It may smell bad to you, to a deer, not so much.

The smell comment was my poor attempt at humor. I didn't know if the various brands were that specific about the contents. I suspect that the cheaper ones are artificial, which means I'm probably safe.

Illegal here so generally anything that is sold in stores is artificial. I never use any of it so it doesn't matter to me.