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What should we do about the disease?

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River1

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With a Missouri herd testing positive, we are now surrounded by CWD positive herds. Common sense says it is only a matter of time before Iowa herds are infected.
I was reading an article in American Hunter the other day about Illinois. The landowners there who are not allowing herd reductions are now seeing infection rates around 40%. The areas that are reduced are near 2%.
I don't know about you guys, but I will not expose myself or family to a CWD positive animal no matter what the experts say about the human transmission. The 3 guys from the same area in Wisconsin who all frequented the same wild game dinner for years and all dying from the human form of CWD is enough proof for me to not take the chance. Google it, you will find it out there.
I enjoy the whole process, from scouting all the way down to putting sausage and sticks in the smoker. It's depressing to think that our herds could come to an infection rate of 40% or greater. If that would happen, sad to say, but I think I would find something else to do with my time instead sorting through diseased venison.
So, my question is.....What should we do about this? Does anyone feel different about banning minerals and food plots now that the disease appears so iminent?
 
whats the difference between a several deer browsing the same natural forage vs a food plot or a crop field??
 
Most food plots are small and they have the ability to attract larger numbers of deer to a smaller confined like area, especially during late season.
 
It's just a matter of time before corn piles, mineral/salt stations and food plots are a thing of the past.. I would be sad to see all that go because I enjoy running trailcams over mineral blocks in the summer, and I really enjoy planting food plots, however, I've bowhunted for about 15 years now and can't say that any of the above has ever increased my odds of killing a deer. I've never even had a food plot until the last two years. I feel I have been extremely successful with mature deer over the years and don't really need any of that stuff anyway.
 
I hunt both Northern Missouri and Southern Iowa...Monroe IA and Putnam MO. The deer numbers are so much higher in MO it is unreal.

From my understanding CWD is linked to over population, is that correct? If so Monroe Co. Iowa is in no danger.
 
The DNR had a public meeting here in Waukon last year after they went in and killed a bunch of the elk that were roaming around. I believe Missouri had a high fence outfit that had a case of CWD and they believed they had it contained. Not sure if this last case is around there or not.

It scares the heck out of me to think about what they will do if it shows up here. They basically said they will wipe out an area to contain it. I know they ramped up testing around the MN border this year and will probably do so along the MO border next year. Bad bad deal.
 
jesserichard said:
Kill EVERY deer for 1000 miles!
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I have it from a good source that jesserichard works for Gov. Terry Braindead.
stirpot.gif
 
jjohnson said:
The DNR had a public meeting here in Waukon last year after they went in and killed a bunch of the elk that were roaming around. I believe Missouri had a high fence outfit that had a case of CWD and they believed they had it contained. Not sure if this last case is around there or not.

It scares the heck out of me to think about what they will do if it shows up here. They basically said they will wipe out an area to contain it. I know they ramped up testing around the MN border this year and will probably do so along the MO border next year. Bad bad deal.
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Same place where the wild outbreak was found, Heartland Wildlife Ranch in Macon County.
 
It almost seems(and probably is) an impossible task to stop CWD from spreading. In the western states they have had it for years and in many areas still have a high population. My question is, is it really worth destroying all of these deer herds? Maybe we should just let it be......
 
River1 said:
Most food plots are small and they have the ability to attract larger numbers of deer to a smaller confined like area, especially during late season.
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soooooo foodplots are the only way deer swap spit? I think not. I enjoy all the work i put into food plots and have had great success over them, as far as large numbers of deer.. we should probably send a memo to all the deer so they don't yard up in the winter anymore, as it is detrimental to their health. I believe that there's really nothing that can be done, they are wild animals,and its a disease; its just mother nature.
 
antleraddict said:
It almost seems(and probably is) an impossible task to stop CWD from spreading. In the western states they have had it for years and in many areas still have a high population. My question is, is it really worth destroying all of these deer herds? Maybe we should just let it be......
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I question this as well. I don't think anyone knows what to do.
 
If you think it isn't already in IA you are fooling yourself. Either the state is hiding it or they have not tested the right deer, but every other midwest state around IA is reporting it with similar or less deer populated deer regions.

As far as what to do, no clue. Wisconsin nearly eliminated the population in the affected areas, didn't seem to help. Illinois is going on 7-8 years with reports of it without massive outbreaks in the deer population or reports of transmission to humans.
Kratz
 
Same old problem with no new solutions. Same old arguments on both sides with no new evidence either way.

I still say, in my uniformed opinion, that food plots are about as responsible for spreading disease as regular ag fields. I will further say, in my uninformed opinion, that mineral/salt licks created by well meaning deer managers have more potential for spread of disease than any other single thing deer managers can do. It is the persistent nature of the site where deer lick and lick and lick in the exact same spot for generations that have the greatest potential for the spread of disease.

What I think we fail to remember is that Iowa’s deer belong to all of us. What belongs to you is the land you own and what you do on your land effects us all. As land owners and deer managers we need to realize that a fence will not stop any disease. Perhaps mitigating the potential transmission through the concentrated sharing of saliva a mineral/salt site provides is the responsible thing to do.

Yes, diseases will still spread, but at a reduced/slower rate. There is one study I know of from Michigan where they tracked the spread of a disease. It spread much faster in the areas with a higher concentration of mineral sites. There are plenty of arguments you can make against the studies’ conclusions as I don’t remember the methodology or the journal the study was published in but I am 100% sure it wasn’t published in a magazine that shills minerals.
 
River1 said:
With a Missouri herd testing positive, we are now surrounded by CWD positive herds. Common sense says it is only a matter of time before Iowa herds are infected.
I was reading an article in American Hunter the other day about Illinois. The landowners there who are not allowing herd reductions are now seeing infection rates around 40%. The areas that are reduced are near 2%.
I don't know about you guys, but I will not expose myself or family to a CWD positive animal no matter what the experts say about the human transmission. The 3 guys from the same area in Wisconsin who all frequented the same wild game dinner for years and all dying from the human form of CWD is enough proof for me to not take the chance. Google it, you will find it out there.
I enjoy the whole process, from scouting all the way down to putting sausage and sticks in the smoker. It's depressing to think that our herds could come to an infection rate of 40% or greater. If that would happen, sad to say, but I think I would find something else to do with my time instead sorting through diseased venison.
So, my question is.....What should we do about this? Does anyone feel different about banning minerals and food plots now that the disease appears so iminent?
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Do you have a link on the Wisconsin guys that are affected by this disease. I did hear about this, scary!
 
Hardwood11 said:
Do you have a link on the Wisconsin guys that are affected by this disease. I did hear about this, scary!
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No, I read it in a news report a number of years back when Wisconsin had their first positive. I'm sure it's still out there.

Bonker, I agree with you on the minerals. They are bad news concerning disease spread. I also feel baiting and feeding follow as a close second.
Food plots, I personally believe offer a slightly higher percentage of transmission than natural food sources. Just for the fact that certain plots will draw deer for longer periods of time. From what I've seen, there are some plots that attract deer nearly year round and I don't feel that is true of most other food sources.
I just feel that if there is absolutely anything we can do to limit a higher exposure rate, we should do it.
 
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Well if there is anything that we can do, we better ban food plots standing over winter where the deer yard up... Better have to have them tilled up... :thrwrck: again, this is something that, no matter what, is either going to be here, or its not. I wont open the can of worms, but I see it pointless pointing at a mineral lick and not at a food plot in the dead of winter...
 
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