CWD discussion thread on CWD and NC deer hunting- discuss CWD and North Carolina here

Is CWD a real threat to NC's deer and elk populations and hunting?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 27.3%
  • No

    Votes: 19 57.6%
  • Unsure

    Votes: 5 15.2%

  • Total voters
    33

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
We have confirmed CWD just across the border in VA, we now have cases confirmed in SW TN. And that’s just in states we share a border with. A good many of us head out of state to hunt a state that has either confirmed it or is adjacent to a state that has confirmed it. It is likely my Nebraska buck from last year or my Missouri one from this year had the prion based on where they were taken for example. Now add into the fact the prion does not need a host and can live in soil, on vegetation, etc and you have a multitude of ways for it to be ingested or carried from one place to another. We know it can only be incenerated at extremely high temps as well. So yes, there is a high likelihood that you or I or any number of people have eaten an ungulate with CWD prions. There’s my unscientific math on what I said. And my unscientific opinion is that this most likely spontaneous protein that can be passed between deer species has been around for much longer than when it was first “discovered” and the cause of it seeming to spread is based mostly on a higher rate of testing in places that did little to no testing before.

Thanks for clarifying your thought process.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Just for reference the two locations in TN and VA where CWD has been confirmed are the absolute farthest points from NC in both cases. 300 miles and 180 miles straight-line distance to the nearest NC border respectively. It's really not very close.

And while we are on the subject, if you look at the spread, it is actually rather localized. If infected LIVE animals would quit using interstate travel, it wouldn't have jumped states. IMO, all of the regulations regarding carcasses are unnecessary.
 

ncstatehunter

Twelve Pointer
Just for reference the two locations in TN and VA where CWD has been confirmed are the absolute farthest points from NC in both cases. 300 miles and 180 miles straight-line distance to the nearest NC border respectively. It's really not very close.

And while we are on the subject, if you look at the spread, it is actually rather localized. If infected LIVE animals would quit using interstate travel, it wouldn't have jumped states. IMO, all of the regulations regarding carcasses are unnecessary.

True, but that's not going to stop the WRC from probably doing something most are going to hate since TN is now added to the list of states with confirmed CWD. They already did it with the regulations regarding carcasses from ANY state this year. I fully expect more changes coming next year based on what has been going on in the realm of social media regarding CWD this past year as well as what some groups are agreeing on as a course of action to prevent the "spread" of it.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Didn't mean to come across as harsh if it sounds like I did, just was hashing out what I meant as I typed :).

Did not take it as harsh at all and after all, I did ask. I do appreciate a clear direct explanation of how you arrived at your statement. It gives members and guests who read through the thread a better understanding and more information to agree or disagree as to whether half of us have consumed portions of animals which had CWD.

Thanks
 

Mike Noles aka conman

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
Here's the rub. You can ignore CWD, hope it will go away on its own, discount what the biologists say, but when a CWD deer shows up 20 miles from where you're hunting, and it's an 18-month-old buck, and all the scientific research tells you that it takes at least 18 months for the symptoms to show up in a deer, then you know, wow, the little buck had the disease passed down from its mother, so there is another infected deer somewhere close by, plus all the other little ones she had and may have passed it onto. Then, how fast are you going to cut up those loin chops and slap them on the grill? Face it, CWD is the deer/elk version of Mad Cow Disease. You want to chew on a nice piece of steak not knowing? I've got buddies in Mississippi, where the fourth CWD deer was just discovered, and one lives in one of the "containment zones" where two of the four CWD deer have been found. He just limbered up his front end loader, dug a hole and dumped in every piece of venison killed on his 800 acres. He said it's just not worth the risk. That's the rub with CWD.

Pure frigging ignorance. People are killed by the thousands in vehicles. I'll bet y'all still drive everywhere you go. CWD does not equate to Mad Cow disease. It's only similarity is that it is a protein prion. Good grief......
 

FITZH2O

Old Mossy Horns
Did anyone actually read the entire article? I wish he would have put the last paragraph as the first, then you wouldn’t have to read the entire article to see that he is completely full of hysterical :donk:donk:donk:donk... who woulda thought that the bison and passenger pigeon were wiped out by disease? ?
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
If the mods allow we can turn this thread into the official discussion on CWD and its impacts on NC deer hunting

Article from Asheville Citizen-Times December 24th:

https://www.citizen-times.com/story...ange-2019-chronic-wasting-disease/2347874002/
  • "CWD could have a big impact on our deer herd and hunting," Justin McVey, wildlife biologist.
Well NCWRC staff, rightly or wrongly, think CWD is a big deal.

“It will be a pretty big deal if we get CWD in North Carolina,” said Justin McVey, mountain region wildlife biologist for the wildlife commission. “It’s a fatal disease that’s not really well understood. It could have a big impact on our deer herd and hunting.”
 
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ncscrubmaster

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
They seem to be all in an uproar about CWD. Some people freak out and are scared to eat the meat. If they were worried about it taking out part of the deer population then why dont they go after poachers. There is illegal deer taken everyday in every county and they cant catch them at the country store. Also I dont think I will be reading the Ashville Times for my information.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
RMEF is making it sound like CWD is a catastrophe to deer herds. You get wildlife managers telling you its a big threat, and other wildlife managers saying its not.

 

FITZH2O

Old Mossy Horns
RMEF is making it sound like CWD is a catastrophe to deer herds. You get wildlife managers telling you its a big threat, and other wildlife managers saying its not.


CWD had been “known” in Colorado for 51 years now and last I knew they still had elk and deer...
 
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oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Am I the only one who is confused on this topic.?
There has to be a" truth" around this subject somewhere.
damned if I can find it?
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Am I the only one who is confused on this topic.?
There has to be a" truth" around this subject somewhere.
damned if I can find it?
I think its all the unknown that keeps this such hot topic not just here but every state I've traveled to hunt in there is an article or conversation around it with 50 different opinions and couple 3 facts
 

Mike Noles aka conman

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
I kinda relate the relevance of this to the HIV epidemic. It's always been in the cervid population, with sheep and goats being the principal distributors and wild cervids being carriers. Stressed situations usually are the reasons for the disease being expressed. Of course, this is a very simplified observation.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
How can there be such disparity on the impact and or dangers?
isn't there one set of facts on this?
The fact is there is not a lot known about CWD. Researchers have been unable to determine exactly how it is spread. Is it spread by animals simply being in close proximity to each other (bait piles, fenced enclosures etc.). Is it spread through urine and feces? Is there some other vector? Is it genetic? Is it spontaneous? Is it both? How long does it take symptoms to start showing? Can it be spread to other species? These are all questions that there is no definitive answer to. What we know for certain is that CWD is a prion. It has been detected in deer and deer family for over 50 years. It has yet to cause any significant impacts to herds. It has yet to be proven that it can cross species. (Disclaimer here, I know there are two studies that show it being given to cats and monkeys. Both of those studies were not in any way shape or form natural. The researchers essentially resorted to any means necessary to make CWD cross species.) It has yet to be proven that it is a danger to humans.

There really is no disparity. Media hype, hysteria or whatever blows this way out of proportion. Biologists and researchers are really going to hype up CWD because they need public support for more research dollars. It's the hot topic right now.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Dr Jon Shaw, NCWRC deer biologist, also thinks CWD is a big deal. See opening of video

 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
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shotgunner

Ten Pointer
Am I concerned?....Yes. I am concerned about any agent that kills wild game that we have no control over. Yes it has been around a while, but I dare say there are more deer being transported across state lines(multiple) than ever before. So I fear that any and all diseases could have a different impact today than we have seen in the past.

Now do I think it is the end of deer hunting as we know it? No.

But I know the area where I used to live and work had a very large population of deer (eastern Columbus county). I was in the forest industry so I was in the woods almost daily. It started with Hurricane Floyd flooding many areas and killing a tremendous amount of low growing vegetation. Then coyotes migrated in, then EHD hit pretty hard. Forest industry changed their management practices, many more herbicides. All I can tell you is that that area has never recovered. Agricultural fields that would have been destroyed by deer in the past now grow beautiful crops of beans. Clubs that used to easily kill 75 to 100 bucks now struggle to kill 25. I do not think any one of these is to blame.............but combined they have severely limited the deer populations ability to bounce back.

So I guess from experience I find myself concerned that another agent that could harm a resource I love could be spreading into our area.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Seems like more deer found with CWD in Tn.............

https://www.tn.gov/twra/news/2019/1...sitive-in-fayette-and-hardeman-counties-.html

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has received results that 11 additional deer have tested positive with chronic wasting disease (CWD). The TWRA received the results from 140 deer that were harvested Dec. 5-16 in West Tennessee.
The 11 deer testing preliminarily positive were from Fayette and Hardeman counties. There were six males and five females, ranging in age from 1 ½ to 3 ½-years-old. All were from within a few miles of the original 13 positive deer. If confirmed, the total would be 24 CWD positive deer from Fayette and Hardeman counties
 
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