Completely agree with you. After the first 2 tested positive in MN we had deer that we wanted to get tested during the second gun season. All testing were closed as they had apparently met their quota. But a month later they opened up a special hunt because they needed more samples.
Be glad you live in Iowa. MN is a complete embarrassment when it comes to deer management. Our hunting wasn't great before CWD I can't even imagine what it's gonna be like in 5 years.
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Anybody going to bring this up at the DNR ICN meeting? Im planning on going for sure
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Can't make the banquet. Mind posting some cliff notes about what he thinks about the issue?
Ishi
PMA Member
Cody I will try to get a post up after the banquet. I was sleepy when I made this post. After all the sites have reported you can personally ask questions to DR Garner.
It might be a little intimidating to be on TV but ask away and he will answer each question. CWD is here and its the day we all dreaded believe its a hoax or not. Personally I can't process all the info on the disease to make solid decisions but I want answers on what the DNRs long term solutions are for this. Maybe we don't really want to know after what our neighboring States are doing.
All the sites and especially NE Iowa needs to be packed with standing room only on the 22nd. Every persons opinion counts at these meetings..... so if it works please go and be heard.
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Respectfully question...?...I'm not sure why you have the highest respect for the DNR? In MN, the hunting seasons are a complete mess because the DNR will not change a thing.
In Iowa the DNR should not be given full credit for the good hunting when they actually considered moving the gun season back into November...Have too many gun seasons now, had a rifle season in January?? From the sounds of it, the hunting was better in the past for many??
Now this ....how they react to CWD, I am sorry but I have lost respect for the DNR. All of our states should have better overall deer management.
gundog870
Premium Platinum Member
Fair enough - My statement was more in respects to them being public servants, most have the right intentions, work for little pay, and are not out with the intention to be detrimental to our resources. With that said, I don't want to cast a wide net saying that the DNR are a bunch of yucks.
But to your point, they are the sole entity that can ruin everything that we have and love in regards to the outdoors. They have clearly made many mistakes in the recent years - Overharvest of does, whacko seasons, etc, BUT they have reacted relatively quickly (in terms of government) to make sure that it doesn't spiral completely out of control. It's not 2006 GOOD, but it taint all bad neither.
ALL that aside, this CWD deal is COMPLETE BS, and I don't know what to do to stop it other than continue to contact them.
I am equally disappointed in the hunting community for going out and carrying out the task! If you hunt in the CWD area, and enjoy hunting so much that you want to participate in the FEB season that why in the world would you want to start hacking into the population?? Killing Does with fawns, shed bucks, and yearliings. What are you gaining? I just dont get it.
What could be a more powerful message than boycotting the extra season?? Come on guys, the dems do that kinda stuff all the time
loneranger
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of TB scare up in MI. Unlimited doe and fawn tags given for several Seasons. Sure brought the herd down to Zilch. TB is still around. Never did decimate the herd like the hunting did. Some said the disease would destroy all the wild life. Destroy Cattle farming. None of that happened.
Fishbonker
Life Member
I'm not advocating this, perhaps there are hunters out there who say "Better to have it in your area than mine. Kill them all in that area before they disperse into my area bringing CWD with them." The thought process may go on to "I'm OK with some of the deer in my area dispersing back into yours as long as it stays in your area and you do the dirty work to keep the population down."
Fishbonker
Life Member
I had a thought about the spread of CWD the other day. What do deer breeders do with bucks that don't meet their standards? Lets say they breed a proven buck that has a huge rack to doe X whose buck fawns all have huge racks. Out of this union comes buck Y that the breeder realizes will never reach the potential he was bred for. Still good, but not great. What does he do with the inferior buck? No ones going to pay to kill it. It costs the breeder to feed it, so he is losing money. How does he try to make some of his money back? Does he sell buck Y to a landowner that is trying to improve the genetics of the herd in his area by bringing in new genetics? The breeder pops out the ear tags, loads buck Y into the trailer and takes it to its new home. They chase buck Y out of the trailer onto his new low fence/no fence home free to roam the entire area spreading the CWD he was infected with while at the breeder's facility.
One the other side of the same coin is doe X. She has been a proven producer except for buck Y. She has the big rack genetics but she is getting a little older and is fighting a little too much with the subordinate does that are trying to take her place as the big momma. Same scenario, private land owner wants to improve the genetics around their area, buys doe X, pays cash, doe X slips through a hole in the fence right into a trailer, she is whisked off to Sunshine Happy Acres Farm where she is set free to spread the gift of her superior genetics and CWD, both of which will keep on giving to future generations long after her death.
When I look at maps of CWD where there are what seem to be random outbreaks found just by luck (road kill sample in Arkansas) I wonder what the vector was for the spread. The more I think about it the more I wonder if the ForChevDog critter hasn't spread a lot of CWD to low/no fence areas.
But how does the deer breeder get around the required inventory done by the Department of Agriculture? What happened to buck Y and doe X? No paper trail of transfer so that must mean the deer died at the breeding facility. Don't they have to get the head tested for CWD? Sure, but who verifies the heads being tested actually came from the breeder's facility? Perhaps the heads to be tested came from that random rifle shot you heard last night or more likely, as happened in Michigan, the breeder simply went to the local unlicensed butcher and took a couple of heads off his pile.
I have to quit having thoughts.
One the other side of the same coin is doe X. She has been a proven producer except for buck Y. She has the big rack genetics but she is getting a little older and is fighting a little too much with the subordinate does that are trying to take her place as the big momma. Same scenario, private land owner wants to improve the genetics around their area, buys doe X, pays cash, doe X slips through a hole in the fence right into a trailer, she is whisked off to Sunshine Happy Acres Farm where she is set free to spread the gift of her superior genetics and CWD, both of which will keep on giving to future generations long after her death.
When I look at maps of CWD where there are what seem to be random outbreaks found just by luck (road kill sample in Arkansas) I wonder what the vector was for the spread. The more I think about it the more I wonder if the ForChevDog critter hasn't spread a lot of CWD to low/no fence areas.
But how does the deer breeder get around the required inventory done by the Department of Agriculture? What happened to buck Y and doe X? No paper trail of transfer so that must mean the deer died at the breeding facility. Don't they have to get the head tested for CWD? Sure, but who verifies the heads being tested actually came from the breeder's facility? Perhaps the heads to be tested came from that random rifle shot you heard last night or more likely, as happened in Michigan, the breeder simply went to the local unlicensed butcher and took a couple of heads off his pile.
I have to quit having thoughts.
Ishi
PMA Member
The buck goes to the highest bidder. They call all the celebrities that want to play and have a auction right there
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Just build two fences with a half mile between each fence as a dead zone around each of the the counties. Only way you may be able to control CWD. However birds would still be able to spread the prion. So in actuality there's no way to control it.
Fishbonker
Life Member
Insert politically nuanced fence joke here.
Curtis, have you seen anything that indicates birds are a vector? I have wondered but I haven't seen a reference to birds spreading it but I sure haven't read everything. How did the cervids in Norway get CWD? One of several ways I suppose. Either somebody shipped an infected animal over and it spread that way or an airborne vector of some kind. Perhaps a migrating bird carried it somehow or my biggest fear is the wind blew some prions in their direction. Or even something as weird as a hunter going from Europe to North America and back got elk poop on his shoe from over here, it fell off in Norway and now they too are blessed with CWD.
What I'm trying to figure out is how did NY control CWD? They found the disease in a captive herd. They increased surveillance in the immediate area and strengthened the ban on importing whole deer from infected out of state areas. They found 2 wild deer in the zone and they again increased their sample size and further restricted import of any cervid's parts form areas with CWD. The number of deer they tested is published but what I can't find is the method of the increased surveillance. Hunter only during season or did they go in and kill some right away to sample and if so how many? I want to compare what NY did to what IA is doing and what Wisconsin has done.
I look at NY as a "Done right" because they haven't had anymore reports of CWD in the wild.