Bocajnala

https://www.foxnews.com/health/deadly-zombie-deer-disease-could-possibly-spread-to-humans-experts-warn.amp

There's really not any new information here or anything with any substance. But do you think about it at all? Or just keep on hunting and doing what you've always done?

It would require an entire lifestyle change for my family to get off venison. We typically put away 6 deer a year. Plus in recent years wild hog and elk.

We eat it all year, several times a week. I pack it to work in my lunches. Even make hot dogs for the kids and for summer fires. Breakfast sausage, burgers, roasts, steaks, ground for tacos, hamburger helper, chili,... We're a family that actually lives off venison. And we have since I was a young child. One of my earliest memories is of deer hanging in Dad's garage.

But what do you do with the cwd info that's available to us? Primarily the lack of info- they just don't know.

I suppose the same risk could exist for any type of food you buy.

I'm gonna feel awful bad if my three kids have problems in the future from eating venison. I don't care about myself. But wouldn't want to hurt my kids.

-Jake

MudderChuck

IMO you have to play the odds. A whole lot of things out there much more likely to cause issues. I take minimum precautions, avoid eating brain or nerve tissue (backbone). I don't make marrow soup anymore.

At least seven serious diseases that can be transmitted by human feces. When was the last time you saw a giant vegetable field full of migrant workers pickung veggies and not a single toilet in sight?

Personally, Echinococcus multiloculari (Fox band worm) gives me the willies. I now treat predators like toxic waste. There was a minor outbreak near me (on my hunting lease). The semi-wild house Cats were catching it and then crapping in kids sandboxes. A half dozen small children were diagnosed with Echinococcus (in one small village) The eggs from the feces can go airborne and be breathed in. People who feed Fox and lure them into their yards with food are absolutely nuts IMO.

I was bitten by a Deer Fly, caught Tularemia, I almost died. I have been bitten by Ticks on numerous occasions, never got Lymes disease.

Prions are SDBS (super duper bad stuff) high temperatures often doesn't kill it, many disinfectants have no effect. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com...s-are-forever/

Maybe switch to Hogs, I've read some articles that there is a very, very low incidence of Prion disease in Hogs.

elkman30

Dude, you're bumming me out about hunting.

Champlain Islander

My feelings on CWD is to play the odds. Here in VT...so far, CWD hasn't been detected so if my deer acts and looks OK when alive and is good when I butcher it I don't worry. I have taken 6 elk out west in Colorado where CWD is an issue but the GMU I hunted was well away from the CWD hot area. I think it is a matter of time before it shows up here in Vermont since it has traveled east of the Mississippi River in the last decade. Neighboring NY, in the Rome area has had it as well as a game farm just north of the VT border in Quebec. Vermont has done all they can to hold it off by not allowing urine based deer lure, no supplemental feeding and closing and banning all game farms. If and when it does show up it will bankrupt our F&W Department so the state is doing all it can to eliminate the chances of contamination. Deer brought back from any state that has CWD can't be whole and has to be butchered with no bone. Personally when it does show and if it is in my area, I probably would continue to eat it but wouldn't share with my grown family.

Bocajnala

It's shown up pretty close to where I hunt in PA and from my understanding they have some "sharpshooters" in that area this winter shooting deer.

I don't know if that's for testing purposes or to reduce the deer numbers.

I think there's just a big gap in what the smart people know about this and what they don't. All of the info that you see is that it's terrible for deer, but shouldn't bother humans. But occasionally an article pops up, like what I linked to, that says not so fast, it might be bad news for humans.

-Jake

MudderChuck

That is the thing, you just don't know if the information you are getting is accurate or agenda driven. There seems to be agenda driven reporting going on. Not so much lying, as omissions.
In the beginning, most of these prion diseases were linked to Scrapie in Sheep, which is fairly common. Either Scrapie managed to jump the species barrier or mutated.
Then there is the tendency to list various prion diseases as separate, between species. When common sense tells you viruses mutate all the time, why not prions also? Why not a mutation the jumps the species barrier?
Around here they squashed the link between Scrapie, MCD, CWD and other prion diseases pretty quick. But it keeps seeping back into the literature, usually a short blurb hidden in a plethora of language. Which makes me wonder if the researchers aren't trying to send a subtle message.
My conclusion is there is a monetary reason, for underreporting, hiding or spinning the science.
Some of what you read is just plain wrong. They say there are only a few reported cases in Europe, northern Belgium, and Norway. I know, as factually as possible, it has shown up in middle Germany and was linked to cross country grazing of Sheep. If you try and refer back to the incidence, it has been purged. My guess is the Sheep grazers yelled loud and long, questioned the proof, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Pretty low on my list of concerns, One it is rare in most areas and the incidence of human transmission even lower. IMO there are a lot of things more common and many likely underdiagnosed that can cause serious illness or death.
When mad cow disease was fairly prevalent in the food chain in Europe we sold a ton of wild game at premium prices (not illegal here). We still test wild Hog for radiation from Chernobyl though.
One good thing about hunting a lease, you often know most of the game on the lease (by name). You notice when one gets sick.
You have to trust somebody, the CDC is usually my go-to resource. But don't stop at the first article you find, try different paths and get other/more results.
In the grand scheme of things, drugs are the greatest threat to our children, with motor vehicles being a close second. When my kids were small I bought Mom the biggest SUV I could find, the greenies can bite me. If I even suspected my kids were doing drugs, it was good for an instantaneous ass beating. I even went so far as to scare the chit out of my kids' friends. My technique worked out well.

Erno86

Soon as the outbreak of CWD was found in deer herds in Green Ridge State Forest Allegany County, Maryland --- our hunting party quit deer huntin' there.

Champlain Islander

I would say that is a fairly common occurrence when CWD shows up. Taking it further the F&W Department is suddenly faced with having to take measures like testing animals killed by vehicles and also testing legally harvested animals to see how widespread the epidemic is. Some places have hired people to deplete the herd and in one cases in a mid western states they killed all the deer in the hot zone hoping to stop the spread. All these things takes money and then when people decide to not buy a license since they won't hunt in a CWD state it further bankrupts that F&W Department many of which are self funded. Early on they all said there is no crossover between the infected animals and people. I am now wondering if that statement was a purposeful lie.

Bocajnala

Hard to tell the truth when you know it'll cost you your funding.

-Jake

Bocajnala

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/2882550002

This one estimates that up to 15,000 cwd infected animals are consumed each year.

-Jake