There are less deer because TWRA is trying kill all the deer to save all the deer. So ignorant!! If CWD is as bad as they say, deer would be dropping like flies and be laying everywhere. That is not the case though.
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- Thread starter JeepKuntry
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I misunderstood. My mistake.
dont drink the koolaid
SinningSaint33
Well-Known Member
Numbers down a little in my area. I assume it's because last year I didn't go a trip without seeing at least 5 and up to 30. I assume the farmers in the area got depredation tags. Been hunting there 15 years. Usually about every 4 years I see a decline in numbers. This in AG land. Thousands of acres of crop fields nearby.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Ok...fair enough....change the wording from "significant and sudden" to "massive decline"....I think Ski's point was EHD can cause a significant decline in a localized deer herd...especially given the number of drought periods we've experienced in recent years...I've read several reports from Perry and Hickman countys from JCDeerman and others where EHD knocked their deer numbers way down in previous years....just a possible explantion and a discussion about what your experiencing.
Have you hunted in SE Fayette or SW Hardeman counties 2018 - current? If so, what has been your experience and current perspective for that immediate area?
Very plausible theory for a sudden decrease in deer sightings. It happens more than some want to believe. In Unit CWD, I am "pretty sure" any landowner can contact TWRA and request a permit to kill deer until March 31 (not a depredation permit per se), and can add names of friends and family that can also legally deer hunt on that tract of land until March 31. Of course, TWRA coordination and approval is required, but it has happened in 2021 and 2022 here in SW TN (Unit CWD).
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I guess with these special permits there are no requirements to track or report the number of deer killed? If so...the harvest numbers, in these units, could be skewed? I have no idea? Never participated in the process? Just curious?
Correct, no "official" tagging on the app per se, but landowners/hunters/participants do have to keep a tally sheet of sorts to provide to TWRA itemizing/summarizing their kills, if requested. Basically work it one on one with your county warden. From my limited exposure, most of the ones I know who requested and were granted this additional 8 weeks of deer hunting opportunity, very few actually utilized the extra time afield or killed any/many deer. Bottom line, most hunters have had enough come January 1, and very few have the desire to keep shooting/messing with deer Jan-Mar. Sure a few here and there may kill a deer or two, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the overall kill in Nov/Dec.
Granted, I need more context to the narrative here. For four years prior to the announcement of CWD positive results, annual population decline on one property in the hot zone (~3400 acres) by 40 to 50% annually by hunter observation and camera census. Still relatively high population on the property as compared to others across the state so hunter success in line with management plan was aligned…announcement of CWD positive in that county connected certain dots, the following years test results from that property's harvests confirmed the presence of CWD by 100 percent positive results first year of mandatory testing.
Those are extraordinary stats. 3400 acres is a big chunk. Do you know how many deer were tested?
iIRC first year following CWD going "public", 20 deer 100% positive.
Second year, 12 harvests, 100% positive.
Third year, 6 deer total (hunter participation dwindled as this was not a club but privately held ground hunted by permission). Of the six two yearlings killed on a youth hunt tested negative, the other 4 were positive.
Following the two negatives, there was some hope from the landowner so the management went to archery only…hoping to rebuild the herd
This is my experience and I don't thin CWD will eradicate the deer herd into extinction in our lifetime…but it definitely can have an absolutely disastrous impact on localized, self sustaining herds on given properties.
Everyone compares West TN to other areas in f the country and says it didn't wipe out deer out there….true, but the ecological variables in a Southern deee herd is vastly different from mid western, western, or even northern herds. Different habitats, different subspecies.
Closest I would compare is AR. They have had CWD for several more years than TN, and it seems somewhat contained in just a few counties last I checked.
I won't argue that certain spots will likely bare the brunt of the disease. That's a given. Good news is the reports from recent years is that some deer are genetically resistant to CWD and that it will have tentatively killed off all the genetically vulnerable deer by 2050, leaving a population that is almost entirely resistant. It seems nature is taking the reigns and handling it for us.
And airplane travel is statistically the safest form of travel, but that doesn't help me if I am on the plane that is crashing now in the Atlantic Ocean.
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DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I guess everyone compares West TN to other areas in the country because many of those areas have had CWD for decades and many of those who make the comparision have hunted those areas for years so the comparision is only natural. I've never read about the ecological variables in a southern deer herd verses a mid-west or northern deer herd in relation to CWD....interesting.
And just like with CWD, it is what it is and there's nothing anyone can do about it but assess the damage when it's over, unfortunately.
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Nothing about the deer nor the habitat in TN make them unique or special as it relates to CWD. It kills indiscriminately. I've never heard anything but rumors why west TN got hit with such a concentrated dose of the disease.....or if it's even true. I'm curious as to what happens with the biologist who's suing TWRA and accusing the organization of false reporting with grossly inflated numbers of positive results. If what the biologist says is true then it's likely CWD is not nearly as rampant in west TN as we've been led to believe, and in reality would be on par with everywhere else - hence not special. He claims there have only been a small handful of 100% confirmed positives and they all came from one small area, not all the counties listed in the "unit-CWD".
Deer Biologist Accuses Tennessee Wildlife Agency of Intentionally Overestimating Chronic Wasting Disease Cases
In a lawsuit, James Kelly claims he was wrongly terminated after he discovered that the state wildlife agency was manipulating its CWD data.
www.outdoorlife.com
Enjoyed the conversation fellas, but I'm out…gave up any degree of serious deer hunting a couple years ago so it really doesn't matter that much to me. I will continue to hunt this affected property on occasion and my own smaller property where I 100% control every aspect I can while turning my attention to golf, fishing, and other hunting pursuits. Best of luck to y'all this year…carry on.
