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Didn't know it was still deer season.

Part of me thinks at least half of the state has it....but since they are focusing on that side of the state, maybe they arent as focused in others for testing? We hunt in the CWD zone, we dont test our deer, and eat the meat... either way, its not going to stop us from doing what we do... The sky is not falling to us... If they keep killing deer, well thats a different story
 
hotshott2289 said:
I guess my question is big picture how long do people think we have before this is a statewide issue? 5-10 years? less?
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Excellent question. I asked if there was any modeling to predict the spread in Iowa and there was not. There is modeling that exists for Wisconsin. A link from a news story with a map that I think shows the predicted spread but my brief read didn't say how quickly it will spread. http://www.startribune.com/scientists-work-on-math-model-to-better-predict-spread-of-cwd/440902253/

There are so many variables I don't know how they control for them. Supposedly this same modeling can be used for predicting the spread of diseases in humans and animals.

Now for a Flounder-esque link http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/CWD-JTEH.pdf It's a long paper. I lost my focus several times (something shiny popped up on the TV) while trying to read it. It had some very pretty graphs and the formulas had to be more complicated than the ones that put a man on the moon.
 
Last year when it was found in Minnesota they hammered the hell out of the deer. Over 1200 ADULTS killed after the season. Unlimited $2.50 tags, landowners seasons and sharpshooters. In Forestville state park they absolutely massacred the deer. The nearest positive was over 6 miles away from their. Guess what, this season 2 positives are found in the state park.
I don't know what to do about cwd but looking at what hasn't worked in the past. It sure seems foolish to follow those same steps.
 
Fishbonker said:
......So how did this happen? All the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up. The DNR did put out a news release on their web site about the delays in test results. I have personally signed up several times to get email notices of their press releases. I only find out about them days later when I read it somewhere else or somebody sends me the link. I did know about the delay in test results but only though word of mouth.
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This part about the DNR not sending out updates to critically important information is disgusting.
I can tell you this...They have never missed on sending my fishing report email once a week.

Thanks Bonker for taking the time, very informative. Flounder puts up a ton of info too but my eyes tend to glaze over after about 34 seconds.
 
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.....and I just checked my email.

IDNR: Trout stocking event at Lake Petocka postponed due to unsafe ice.

The DNR does know how to send out updates. There is a definite hush on CWD.
 
So the MN cwd results came back. All negatives. That's not good enough for the DNR. There will be a landowner season starting mid February and will go about a month. They don't anticipate using sharpshooters this season. That will all change when the landowner participation is about 2%. Sharpshooters will be back is my opinion. This DNR will not quit until every deer is killed with 10miles of a cwd infected deer.
 
Totally off topic but what constitutes a sharpshooter? Do you need a sharpshooter certificate/degree? Have always thought this was odd, why not add tags during regular hunting seasons and have hunters bring in samples for testing then hand them another tag, free of charge, for more potential samples. Probably repetitive questions, sorry.
 
Mike311 said:
Totally off topic but what constitutes a sharpshooter? Do you need a sharpshooter certificate/degree? Have always thought this was odd, why not add tags during regular hunting seasons and have hunters bring in samples for testing then hand them another tag, free of charge, for more potential samples. Probably repetitive questions, sorry.
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Sharpshooters in this case I would think is someone the Minnesots DNR would hire because the landowners don't want to slaughter all the deer like the DNR wants them to. Is my understanding
 
For what it's worth,,Mr. Litchfield at the Chariton Office told me he doubts the infection will become critical in Iowa in our life time, but our children and grand children may have a different story.
 
loneranger said:
For what it's worth,,Mr. Litchfield at the Chariton Office told me he doubts the infection will become critical in Iowa in our life time, but our children and grand children may have a different story.
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Tom is a straight shooter. Known him for a long time. Did he differentiate between trying to control/slow the spread and doing nothing? Either way, it is my grandkids and their grandkids I'm fighting for.

One thing I'm keeping my eye on is the area in Wisconsin that is approaching 25% infection rate. On average, bucks have higher and does have lower infection rates. If the herd in that area indeed starts imploding from CWD (predicted 10% per year, per year, per year) plus losses from hunting and other pressures then we know for an absolute that CWD will be a sin of the fathers visited upon their sons.

I don't know what the acceptable level of CWD in a herd is before it becomes critical but I believe Illinois is trying to keep it below 2%.
 
I'm no expert on any of this and correct me if I'm wrong but the DNR says CWD is basically in older mature deer. Hence they won't test young deer. OK so what does everyone think the age is of the majority of deer harvested in Iowa. I'd say 3.5 yr old tops. So if they don't get or test positive or more importantly die until they are mature. Does our huntable population even change?

They also say CWD is ALWAYS fatal. Fatal when? At 8yrs old. Who cares right? I'm not sure I believe that its fatal at all. I mean if areas of WI have these high infection rates. Wouldn't there be dead deer all over the woods?
I talk to Terry Hainsfield often. He's the head of CWD testing in the midwest. They have been asking locals here in Allamakee county to call them whenever we see sick or even dead deer all year round so they can test them. This has been going on for 3-4 years. I know they get calls all the time for these sick or dead deer and as far as I know NOT ONE of these have ever tested positive.

I mean come on more deer die of pneumonia in a year than CWD. Wait have we ever saw a deer die from CWD?

It all seems like a witch hunt if you ask me.
I personally believe tests are far better now than yrs ago and if they sampled a small area like this anywhere they could find it. They have no plan. No idea what to do. No idea what will happen. They are just trying to keep numbers low to "slow the spread". While WI says the heck with it. And their numbers are rebounding from the massacre. They're killing good deer and people are NOT getting sick from eating the deer.
 
I talked to Terry yesterday. We talked a bit about CWD and is there was a plan in place. I don't think there Iowa knows yet what to do if it spreads. He was disappointed in the number of people participating in this late hunt and asked me how I heard about it. I told him and also told him I checked out the DNR website for more information about it and there was a short press release about the meetings and a last paragraph entry about tags. Later this week they had an update with a little more information. So I'm not sure how much they will learn from this late season effort. I decided to get a tag purely for selfish reasons. My season was cut very short this year for a health issue. So this is a last ditch effort on a buck.
 
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