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For you that have killed deer that was CWD positive

rem270

rem270

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Just curious how many of you have had one come back positive and by looking at it did you see any signs that made you think it was going to test positive? I've seen a couple people post on FB that theirs came back positive but the deer looks healthy as can be.
 
Still waiting on the results from the deer I killed mid November. He looked very healthy. If it tests positive, may just feed it to the dogs.
 
The last 5 deer have all come back positive. Except one looked healthy and acted normally. One 3.5 year old buck dressed at only 105 lbs. He wasn't malnourished just small. Otherwise he acted and appeared healthy. This is pretty much universal for positive deer. A warden I spoke with said 9 of 10 calls he gets for sick deer are negative for CWD. Usually, they have something else making them sick or unhealthy. The exception might be Fayette county.
 
TN Song Dog said:
Would this just spread the CWD prions around your property by way of the dog feces?
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Wouldn't think so. My understanding of the disease, is that the prions are in the bone and brain. Whole muscles do not carry the prions, thus the transport rules allowing meat to be transported, but not any bone or a skull cap that has not been cleaned of all meat. I am not a biologist though.
 
backyardtndeer said:
Wouldn't think so. My understanding of the disease, is that the prions are in the bone and brain. Whole muscles do not carry the prions, thus the transport rules allowing meat to be transported, but not any bone or a skull cap that has not been cleaned of all meat. I am not a biologist though.
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Then why not eat the meat yourself?
 
Rabbitkil said:
Then why not eat the meat yourself?
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Good question, that I honestly don't know the answer to. We are told by some experts to not eat the meat from an infected deer. The experts from this state say not to eat it. While I have my opinions, I am not an expert, and what they say doesn't make sense to me either. But better safe than sorry, and I am not going to potentially risk my wife or kids health.
 
My positive bucks and does looked just as fat, happy and healthy as the others. The one thing I can say about my positives is they were 4.5+, so had been on the landscape for a few years, thus increasing their likelihood of exposure and contraction. With that said, I have had buddies kill younger deer (2.5) that came back positive. Of course, these deer came from the CWD epicenter (SE Fayette County) where the positive rates are the highest in the State.
 
Aside from the bullet holes, don't these deer look healthy? Both 4.5 or 5.5 years old, both looked like healthy giants and both were CWD positive.
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I hunt SW Hardeman County a few miles from Ames and can't speak for positive CWD cases since I haven't tested any deer, but will say that this year the buck herd I witnessed seemed younger and thinner than in years past. Can't make any definitive statements as to how CWD is affecting the overall herd. Sitting in the stand, I do not hear the number of gunshots out in the distance that I have heard in years past and the caravan of deer hunters from Shelby County out there in the mornings has gotten noticeably smaller. I often wonder how many folks have packed it up and found new hunting grounds out of Fayette/Hardeman county and how many deer the local residents are taking with the liberal rules TWRA has in place with the "earn a buck" program. Can't quite determine if TWRA was successful in incentivizing people to shoot more deer and that's what is doing it or if CWD is what I'm seeing, but it definitely is not like it once was out there.
 
backyardtndeer said:
Wouldn't think so. My understanding of the disease, is that the prions are in the bone and brain. Whole muscles do not carry the prions, thus the transport rules allowing meat to be transported, but not any bone or a skull cap that has not been cleaned of all meat. I am not a biologist though.
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Then why would you throw the meat away? Just curious.
 
backyardtndeer said:
Wouldn't think so. My understanding of the disease, is that the prions are in the bone and brain. Whole muscles do not carry the prions, thus the transport rules allowing meat to be transported, but not any bone or a skull cap that has not been cleaned of all meat. I am not a biologist though.
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I would not feed this meat to my dogs or even let it touch the ground on my property. The prions can be found anywhere the nervous system touches (all muscle). It's most prevalent in the brain and spinal tissue but not exclusive to these areas. Plus, you or the processor probably didn't switch knives when cutting near the spine and neck verses the rest of the meat. I would toss it all in about three layers of garbage bags so a bird or coon might not get into it at the landfill. I really hate saying that, but it's not worth introducing or promoting CWD to your area.
 

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