CWD found in Minnesota wild deer

MAT · January 21, 2011, 11:13:00 AM

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Mississippi River is not that big a barrier. It should be alarming to know that the new Wi DNR administration is looking to scale back (if not eliminate) all CWD control efforts. Those who hunt in Iowa should also be concerned.

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/index.php/2011/01/21/preliminary-test-identifies-cwd-positive-wild-deer-in-southeast-minnesota/

Robhood23 · January 21, 2011, 11:30:00 AM

Hey Bud,
They had a captive elk herd in Pine Island that got infected by CWD. They ended up killing all the elk on that farm and all the deer they could. I believe this was a case of the deer mixing with those elk. I do not think it came over from Wisconsin.

MAT · January 21, 2011, 11:32:00 AM

You are correct. But there is still the possibility of that happening.

4dogs · January 21, 2011, 11:39:00 AM

What ever happened I hope they get handle on it quick. Very nasty stuff it devastated the herds along the front range here.

MAT · January 21, 2011, 12:40:00 PM

I met a guy from Casper WY last year that said the same thing, CWD wiped out the deer herd there too. But you can't convince hardly anyone in WI that this will happen. We have hunting organizations here that say it's been out west for 30 years and it hasn't caused a problem, even though that's completely false. These guys are calling for a rollback of CWD containment efforts because they don't like the regulations. They only care about today, not the future.

bobman · January 21, 2011, 01:23:00 PM

It comes here and I am done deer hunting my luck tends to run "not so good" I'll be the first human to catch it

pete p · January 21, 2011, 01:26:00 PM

i thought brett favre brought cwd to MN??

4dogs · January 21, 2011, 01:32:00 PM

Thats really too bad, like your freind said it has been here for thirty years and the herds are starting to make some headway. Alot of folks say it can not transfer to humans but there has been some suspious brain disorders in humans over the years, I wont trust it...get every animal I harvest tested.

JCJ · January 21, 2011, 01:52:00 PM

To find out more about this topic and the planned response from the MN DNR see this link:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/deer/cwd/index.html

Tater · January 21, 2011, 03:04:00 PM

It wasn't just CWD that desimated the Deer herds in CO in an effort to control the disease, which at the time they did not know nearly as much about, the idea was to wipe out the Deer herds to eliminate the infected animals and then let them re populate, the DOW took out alot of animals as well.

MAT · January 21, 2011, 04:04:00 PM

That was not the case in Wyoming. They didn't do any eradication, and the deer population crashed. There is no easy answer, unless you hold out hope for the vaccine they are working on. But, for that to be economical the area of infection has to be manageable. You couldn't treat an entire state. It's best to control it for the time being, until more is known. That was the goal in WI.

Whip · January 21, 2011, 07:11:00 PM

The big question to me is how can the states accept the practice of "farming" deer and elk in light of everything that IS known?? It makes me sick to think that captive deer breed for the entertainment of lazy, rich wanna be hunters are more important than the wild populations. Something is seriously wrong with this picture!!!

hitman · January 21, 2011, 07:33:00 PM

I agree Whip. It's a sad day when hunting comes down to high tech hunting to kill something bigger off a farm instead of going out scouting and finding a good spot without the help of feeders and trailcams. I'm not codemning all of it but its not for me. I like the old way of using what has been passed down to me and what I've acquired from experience on my own. Sorry about my rambling,nuff said.

January 21, 2011, 10:17:00 PM

In light of the disease potential, I would agree with Joe. It is a scary thing to think of the possibility of an annual escalation of disease, wiping out herds of many different species of North American game.

Having been raised in a hunting family, I would echo "hitman" above - I don't feel it is my place to condemn or even criticize another mans view of hunting.

Never have had the desire to hunt caged animals tho....guess it is the "hunt" I hunt.

DeerSpotter · January 21, 2011, 10:47:00 PM

I think that Whip is right !

I also think if there was money in chronic wasting disease, The state of Wisconsin and all the other states would be jumping in on it for the fed $$$$$$ !

Carl

Gator1 · January 22, 2011, 07:29:00 AM

I just found this thread, and I'm not surprised. Seems like it was a matter of time.

It is unfortunate, and could have an impact on many folks in this state, if more positives are found.

bobman · January 22, 2011, 08:17:00 AM

+1 on WHips comments

wapitimike1 · January 22, 2011, 08:39:00 AM

My take is I'm not so sure about this whole CWD epidemic. It's been around since the 60s and I think it's been all over since maybe the 80s. The histeria and panic it brings may infact be unwarranted. Culling of deer herds etc. They just started testing recently to see it's in other locations. The prions are believe there called can sit dorment for 20 years then when injested by another critter they become active and destroy the brain tissue. I think they should spread it around the Middle East to help solve our international problems!

Cyclic-Rivers · January 22, 2011, 09:07:00 AM

CWD was first discovered East of the Mississippi in WI. The thought is, it came from the West of the Mississippi. Why would anyone think it was spread back West of the Mississippi from the East after already existing in the West?

They found it in Oneida NY 2 or 3 years ago. Perhaps Favre brought it to NY also

so it isn't all bad.

yaderehey · January 22, 2011, 10:24:00 AM

Everyone assumes CWD outbreaks come from game farms. I read an interesting article back when the WI outbreak was discovered. The authors theory was that Quality Deer Management could be at fault. The epicenter of CWD in WI west of Madison was the pioneering area of QDM in the state. The author had talked to farmers in the area who had supplemented deer diets with feed. Often the lowest cost feed contained lots of bone meal. The bone meal comes from slaughtered sheep, cows, etc. This bone meal can often come from other countries where other prion diseases like scrapie in sheep and of course mad cow disease may not be as well tested for and controlled. The theory was prion infected bone meal could cause prion disease in deer. Nothing proven of course but very interesting. The author added that the first discovered outbreak in nothern CO/southern WY 30 some years ago could have come from scrapie infected sheep and deer sharing summer range.