CWD could kill the deer herd in 41 years!

[Ed Cude]

Interesting article showing the mortality of a mule deer herd from CWD at 19% and could cause it to become extinct in 41 years, but there's also hope of a genetic resistant genome.

Study: Chronic Wasting Disease kills 19% of deer herd annually

Chronic Wasting Disease will cause a Wyoming deer herd to go virtually extinct in 41 years, a five-year study predicts.

wyofile.com

Hunters need to hunt deer more here in CWD area most hunter go out kill one or two buck then stop or go duck hunting there 3 doe's a day by doing this it will get rid of the disease

 

[TDW05]

The problem with this theory on CWD is that infected deer can continue to breed and reproduce. If they couldn't it would hasten this process.

Isn't it beneficial for the CWD positive deer to breed? In terms of maybe they will adapt through the breeding process and the passing down of genes to fight it or something? Honest question, I'm in no way trying to be sarcastic or anything.

 

[gobblegrunt]

The deer herds out west are just fine from what I've been reading. The deer herd being wiped out in 41 years is a bit ridiculous.

 

[knightrider]

Deer will be here way longer than i will

 

[Ol Fart]

I wonder if there is link between CWD and genetic manipulated crops that the deer are eating in the fields and feeders?

 

[BSK]

I wonder if there is link between CWD and genetic manipulated crops that the deer are eating in the fields and feeders?

Highly doubtful. CWD is just Scrappie in sheep, and it jumped the species barrier from sheep to Mule Deer when Mule Deer were held in a research facility in Colorado that had previously held Scrappie infected sheep. Not realizing what was going on, those infected Mule Deer were released to the wild. It spread from there, especially to the elk population, and considering the rage of commercially raised elk that hit north America for awhile, sick elk were transported all over the Continent. Then it jumped from elk to whitetails, and then the "breeder buck" craze spread it across the country.

 

[fairchaser]

Isn't it beneficial for the CWD positive deer to breed? In terms of maybe they will adapt through the breeding process and the passing down of genes to fight it or something? Honest question, I'm in no way trying to be sarcastic or anything.

It's beneficial for CWD positive deer to breed to maintain the herd. However, if you want natural selection, then you want sick deer to die and not breed and pass on the disease. There's no adaptation through breeding because the disease is 100% deadly, except maybe for certain genomes that appear resistant. Natural selection can take place but at a much slower pace. Thanks for your question. No sarcasm noted.

 

[fairchaser]

Hunters need to hunt deer more here in CWD area most hunter go out kill one or two buck then stop or go duck hunting there 3 doe's a day by doing this it will get rid of the disease

Unfortunately, no matter how many deer are killed, we can never get rid of the disease. Only slow it down. By how much is unknown as there is no standard to judge by. We've kept a wild fire in check and now have a controlled burn that will burn through the state.

 

[BSK]

I'm by no means suggesting any purpose behind the researcher's findings other than science/knowledge, but back when CWD first was detected in Wisconsin, a professor at the Univ of Wisconsin published a paper saying CWD was going to wipe out the state's entire deer herd in just a matter of a few decades. The article got a lot of press at the time. The problem was, the professor used infection rates and spread rates of highly infectious diseases in his calculations, instead of the very ,very slow infection rates of CWD. It didn't take an expert in the field to see the major mistakes in the article. Yet guess who got funded and eventually became the head of the CWD research center for Wisconsin? You guessed it. Sadly, money and politics infects our universities as well.

 

[Headhunter]

Was just thinking about an observation that may be related to the spread of CWD.

Over the past couple years, I've seen more more bald eagles feeding on deer carcasses than in the preceding multiple decades! Eagles "hunt" over a very large area (much larger than coyotes), and are also migratory.

From what I understand, eagles (as well as buzzards, hawks, any bird eating the carcass) then "poop" out the prions wherever the poop. This has got to be a significant method of CWD spreading?

I was told by a TWRA biologist that coyotes and buzzards can spread CWD through their poop, but it was not possible for eagles and buzzards could not. He said it was not possible for eagles and buzzards to spread CWD. He gave no reason. I asked him if he thought eagles and buzzards feed on gut piles? He said of course they do. I then told him he was nuts. This was at one of the deer meetings the TWRA held around the state a few years ago, this meeting was in Murfreesboro.

 

[JeepKuntry]

CWD has been in Wisconsin for years. We'll survive. But the eastern part of the state already has lower deer densities so the effects will be more severe.

 

[recurve60#]

I was reading articles in 1980's Outdoor Life that said mule deer were doomed and would not survive into the 2000's. I dont listen to much anymore and just keep moving along.