Bowtech bandit
Active Member
Went squirrel hunting today and saw guys out in blaze orange running around. Must have a CWD hunt going on in Clayton County. Never heard of it until today.
Didn't know it was still deer season.
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bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
I didn't hear any on it either, doesn't surprise me though because they had one last year also.
Did some digging and found this
http://www.iowadnr.gov/About-DNR/DN...lkader-ahead-of-deer-tissue-collection-effort
Did some digging and found this
http://www.iowadnr.gov/About-DNR/DN...lkader-ahead-of-deer-tissue-collection-effort
Bowtech bandit
Active Member
Been nice to hear something about it, would have worn an orange hat. Somebody was banging away just over the hill, probably 500 yards away.
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
I agree. I'm 1 county away and was clueless it was going on. We almost went up there to do some scouting for next year and that could have turned into a nightmare
Go to the DNR’s website, a pop up will appear with a sign up for a weekly email with all kinds of hunting/fishing info and announcements, meetings and related agendas, enforcement news, camping and much more. They sent out info on the CWD hunt a couple weeks ago. Super easy way for you to inform yourselves!
Bowtech bandit
Active Member
Good way to shoot 10 more wall hangers for the year. A real lot of info on it, not. No map of the zone just season from 20th-28th. Let's go out and shoot some deer, wait for the test and donate to HUSH, what a waste.
Fishbonker
Life Member
Scientific sample collection season 1/20-1/28 in parts of Allamakee and Clayton Counties. The DNR wants 300 more samples from the special areas in both of those counties. 600 total in one week.
There was one new confirmed CWD case in both counties and 5 other presumptive positives in Allamakee. The Clayton County zone is the same as last year and the Allamakee County zone has moved further west and south. I do not know if there are links out there for the maps or information. There were meetings in Harpers Ferry and Elkader on Thursday the 18th where people got information and could sign up for tags. Tags are also available at the Osborne Nature Center south of Elkader and in Harpers Ferry at a building at the public boat ramp.
I'll check my notes and handouts from the meetings and try to post more tomorrow.
There was one new confirmed CWD case in both counties and 5 other presumptive positives in Allamakee. The Clayton County zone is the same as last year and the Allamakee County zone has moved further west and south. I do not know if there are links out there for the maps or information. There were meetings in Harpers Ferry and Elkader on Thursday the 18th where people got information and could sign up for tags. Tags are also available at the Osborne Nature Center south of Elkader and in Harpers Ferry at a building at the public boat ramp.
I'll check my notes and handouts from the meetings and try to post more tomorrow.
Bowtech bandit
Active Member
Thanks Fishbonker . Why didn't they use deer shot during gun hunting seasons? Offer hunters in the zone a monetary rebate to bring in deer for testing. Win/win you would think.
Fishbonker
Life Member
Iowa residents not just Allamakee and Clayton County residents.
Fishbonker
Life Member
They did sample deer from all seasons. The Elkader zone was short of their goal by 70, as I recall 230 samples were taken with a goal of 300. Clayton County, Allamakee County and the Harpers Ferry zone went over their goals. The positives are the reason for the season.
As far as all of the extra testing in other counties particularly along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers most areas were over or met their goals. Results? There are still a lot of samples being tested.
I'll try to post more tomorrow but please ask any questions a it may jog my memory.
150 Class
Well-Known Member
The "reason for the season" is the very reason why some people tell the DNR "no" when asked to sample their deer.
We know it is here, so, what is the DNR's plan, other than sampling more to further confirm it is here?
flugge
Well-Known Member
I agree, we know its here, so why keep the killing up?? We heard and saw shots, but I had zero idea it was going on and we have a cabin in Harpers Ferry. The last folks we talked to about deer hunting said it was a one and done thing, and they wouldnt do it again. He also stated they had no real direction other than to find where it is located. And it was a guy in a uniform just to be clear.
What I dont understand, and from seeing maps of the positives, nothing ever seems to be "close" to each other. I realize those hills/ridges/draws over there that the deer do travel, but any other state, it just seems to pop up. What is the root cause of it? Could it be the high number of eagles eating on dead deer carcasses, and the crapping it out however many miles away? Once its in the soil they say its there, so then what? I just would like to see more answers before more killing...
What I dont understand, and from seeing maps of the positives, nothing ever seems to be "close" to each other. I realize those hills/ridges/draws over there that the deer do travel, but any other state, it just seems to pop up. What is the root cause of it? Could it be the high number of eagles eating on dead deer carcasses, and the crapping it out however many miles away? Once its in the soil they say its there, so then what? I just would like to see more answers before more killing...
hotshott2289
Active Member
what happens when they find it in say 3-4 counties in southern iowa? is it just going to be a killing frenzy? i guess once you know its there what is the point of killing all the deer
150 Class
Well-Known Member
I like that you ask "when" vs. "if" it will happen. I hate it but it is going to happen (statewide, probably countrywide).
I also have a property in the affected zone. It’s been very clear to me what they are trying to do. They are trying to keep the numbers as low as possible with out getting the big headlines in the paper that report wiping out an area. They are calling them “extra sampling”. The area relies heavily from extra money coming in for hunters/outdoorsman. If they came right out and said that they are going to eradicate every deer in the specified zones it would have a substantial impact, including land values. This is a quiet attempt to keep the population low and truly do more sampling.
Fishbonker
Life Member
Elkader zone, same as last year. The positive this year is south and east of the blue square. In section 16,17, 20, or 21. I didn't mark my map but I'm pretty sure it was in one of those sections of Boardman Township. The zone wasn't expanded the usual 5 miles. The explanation was there wasn't any good way to set the boundaries in the direction they needed to expand and they didn't want hunters guessing what side of a tree they needed to be on.
Harpers Ferry zone, the one confirmed positive is marked with a brown triangle north of Harpers Ferry, the 5 presumptives are not marked and I didn't write down their locations. As I remember there was one in the northern area of the zone causing the zone to be pushed west and north, another by Waterville and one or two further south that caused the area to be pushed further south and west:
As stated the DNR's goal is to get 300 additional samples from each zone.
The DNR's thinking is the pattern of positives, or lack of, is two fold, natural movement of deer along creeks and rivers and dispersal of young bucks looking for territory to call their own. In my opinion another possible explanation is there are more samples from one area in the zone than another. I did not see a current map of samples per section so I can't say that's what is happening.
Why are they looking for more cases? In my opinion, the goal of the DNR is not to eradicate CWD, but try to slow the spread so the rest of the hunters in Iowa don't have to go through what Clayton and Allamakee Counties are experiencing for as long as possible. It absolutely sucks to sit in these meetings year after year and see the hunters in that area go from denial that CWD is a problem, then to anger that CWD is a problem and now to a sort of depression over what this disease had led to.
Also, in my opinion, as the disease moves the DNR does more testing to try and give hunters an idea where CWD is and if the should think about getting their deer tested prior to consumption.
There was a very sad story shared at the Elkader meeting. A large family group of hunters had 16 deer tested during one of the shotgun seasons. They have their own cooler or freezer large enough to hold all of the carcasses. No one communicated to them that testing results may be delayed due to a shortage of test kits. They waited a very long time, as I recall it was 2 weeks or maybe more (tests were supposed to be back in 10 days or less) to hear if any of their deer were positive. Hearing nothing and not knowing of the test kit shortage and delays in results they assumed their deer were negative for CWD. They butchered all of the deer and three hogs to grind into the venison. Three days after they did all of the butchering, grinding and packaging they got a call that one of the deer was positive for CWD.
Now they have huge decisions to make. Eat the meat? CDC say you shouldn't. Throw out all of the knives, cutting boards, grinders? Prions are not killed by regular household cleaners. Burn the cooler? Prions withstand temps of 1300F which is cherry red steel.
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.
It would have been very easy for someone in the DNR to call the local newspapers or radio stations to do a PSA on the test delays. In my opinion the information coming out of the DNR, not only the Fish and Wildlife Division but all of the DNR is so closely regulated by the Executive Branch that the folks running the CWD efforts could lose there jobs by saying something that wasn't fully vetted and released through the DNR communications department. Again, I'm not making excuses for what happened to that family and the loss they suffered but if this incident doesn't change how information is dripped out, then wow, the system is definitely broken.
Let's hope that by next year there will be a better system in place for test results. A whole page of the DNR website dedicated to CWD results updated daily. Much like reporting a turkey or deer, you are given a number that identifies your deer. You go to the website, enter your DNR hunter number (it is on all of your tags and licenses) that number is tied to your deer test number(s) so you can see where the sample is in the process and get the results immediately. Hopefully there will be an increase in funding for the Fish and Wildlife Division so some sort of system can be implemented.
My heart goes out to that family. They were at the meeting. They were upset, and who wouldn't be, but they remained calm and in control. I'd would have wanted my 16 deer and three hogs worth of flesh, but they would just have been shooting the messengers and I think they understood that.
If anybody has more information or can clarify the notification story please feel free to share it. I'm going strictly on memory for that one.
Sorry for the crappy jpegs of the zones.
Harpers Ferry zone, the one confirmed positive is marked with a brown triangle north of Harpers Ferry, the 5 presumptives are not marked and I didn't write down their locations. As I remember there was one in the northern area of the zone causing the zone to be pushed west and north, another by Waterville and one or two further south that caused the area to be pushed further south and west:
As stated the DNR's goal is to get 300 additional samples from each zone.
The DNR's thinking is the pattern of positives, or lack of, is two fold, natural movement of deer along creeks and rivers and dispersal of young bucks looking for territory to call their own. In my opinion another possible explanation is there are more samples from one area in the zone than another. I did not see a current map of samples per section so I can't say that's what is happening.
Why are they looking for more cases? In my opinion, the goal of the DNR is not to eradicate CWD, but try to slow the spread so the rest of the hunters in Iowa don't have to go through what Clayton and Allamakee Counties are experiencing for as long as possible. It absolutely sucks to sit in these meetings year after year and see the hunters in that area go from denial that CWD is a problem, then to anger that CWD is a problem and now to a sort of depression over what this disease had led to.
Also, in my opinion, as the disease moves the DNR does more testing to try and give hunters an idea where CWD is and if the should think about getting their deer tested prior to consumption.
There was a very sad story shared at the Elkader meeting. A large family group of hunters had 16 deer tested during one of the shotgun seasons. They have their own cooler or freezer large enough to hold all of the carcasses. No one communicated to them that testing results may be delayed due to a shortage of test kits. They waited a very long time, as I recall it was 2 weeks or maybe more (tests were supposed to be back in 10 days or less) to hear if any of their deer were positive. Hearing nothing and not knowing of the test kit shortage and delays in results they assumed their deer were negative for CWD. They butchered all of the deer and three hogs to grind into the venison. Three days after they did all of the butchering, grinding and packaging they got a call that one of the deer was positive for CWD.
Now they have huge decisions to make. Eat the meat? CDC say you shouldn't. Throw out all of the knives, cutting boards, grinders? Prions are not killed by regular household cleaners. Burn the cooler? Prions withstand temps of 1300F which is cherry red steel.
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.
It would have been very easy for someone in the DNR to call the local newspapers or radio stations to do a PSA on the test delays. In my opinion the information coming out of the DNR, not only the Fish and Wildlife Division but all of the DNR is so closely regulated by the Executive Branch that the folks running the CWD efforts could lose there jobs by saying something that wasn't fully vetted and released through the DNR communications department. Again, I'm not making excuses for what happened to that family and the loss they suffered but if this incident doesn't change how information is dripped out, then wow, the system is definitely broken.
Let's hope that by next year there will be a better system in place for test results. A whole page of the DNR website dedicated to CWD results updated daily. Much like reporting a turkey or deer, you are given a number that identifies your deer. You go to the website, enter your DNR hunter number (it is on all of your tags and licenses) that number is tied to your deer test number(s) so you can see where the sample is in the process and get the results immediately. Hopefully there will be an increase in funding for the Fish and Wildlife Division so some sort of system can be implemented.
My heart goes out to that family. They were at the meeting. They were upset, and who wouldn't be, but they remained calm and in control. I'd would have wanted my 16 deer and three hogs worth of flesh, but they would just have been shooting the messengers and I think they understood that.
If anybody has more information or can clarify the notification story please feel free to share it. I'm going strictly on memory for that one.
Sorry for the crappy jpegs of the zones.
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2.5YR8
Well-Known Member
I've been following this site for a few years, and had decided I wasn't going to start an account until I killed a nice buck. Well CWD has kind of changed my outlook. My family and I hunt in the CWD zone in Allamakee County. The farms we hunt have been in the family since the late 1800's, and we've done an annual shotgun hunt since the early 1980's.
We have voluntarily had all our deer tested for CWD since the DNR started taking samples. We were just informed 1 of the deer we shot tested positive and is being retested. It's part of the 5 that were mentioned above. We figured it was coming at some point since the spread of the disease appears unstoppable, but it still sucks. We will continue to hunt because it's who we are, but what we're feeling about the future of deer hunting up there is pretty bleak.
We have voluntarily had all our deer tested for CWD since the DNR started taking samples. We were just informed 1 of the deer we shot tested positive and is being retested. It's part of the 5 that were mentioned above. We figured it was coming at some point since the spread of the disease appears unstoppable, but it still sucks. We will continue to hunt because it's who we are, but what we're feeling about the future of deer hunting up there is pretty bleak.
hotshott2289
Active Member
I guess my question is big picture how long do people think we have before this is a statewide issue? 5-10 years? less?