I've heard people blame Ames. I've heard people blame a high fenced property near Ames (there are more than one in that area).
Had to be someone imported live infected deer. My bet is one of the high fenced hunt clubs you mention. I have a hard time believing that it came from a carcass someone brought into the state. There is a video from Zoo Hunt Club from 2015 that shows a sick, emaciated mature buck — looks a lot like the pics of "zombie" deer. That's 3 years before the first positive detection in TN.
I'd be curious if CWD is prevelant inside the fence at the Zoo. I know some people have mentioned it started near there, but they said the Zoo was not the epicenter, another farm was. All hearsay or speculation. Some also blam Ames. But it would be interesting to see data from the Zoo and it things there are as bad as Ames and the rest of the county. Same with the other high fenced operations.
You would think that a high fence operation could contain the spread unless they released sick animals on purpose, or there was a break in the fence. But seeing how high the prevalence rate was, these infected deer were not contained in a high fence area.
On a large high fence in forested areas, I don't think there is any way to maintain 100% fence integrity with tree falls during storms and such. And there is nothing stopping deer on one side of the fence from meeting and licking deer on the other side of the fence.
Don't think so…again, look at Wisconsin. Been around a long time there and it's one of the top Booner producing states in the country.
I have discussed the class action suit several times with processors who I am friends with. I also think this worries the hell out of twra and they will lie, cheat, and steal to keep it from happening, covering their tracks with lies, falsehoods and manipulated statistics. It is obvious from comments on here there is very little trust in twra for anything. It is also a crying shame how they have been able to destroy a bunch of good peoples livelihoods.
KY hunters should sue them as well.
^^^ Ditto! One tree fall on the fence and deer are off to the races until discovered/repaired.
That is a fact. Ames is 110% about habitat management, forest and ecological research (UTK). Ames staff and UTK professors ran a fun and successful QDM club (some consider it QDM/TDM blend with 4.5 being minimum age) for 15 years (2004-2018) before CWD was detected. I can say with the utmost confidence Ames never discussed importing deer from 2004-2018, when I was actively involved. In fact, just the opposite, with annual dinners/speakers/wildlife biologists promoting sound free range deer management and QDM hunting with data driven decisions, albeit strict, stringent and laborious in the eyes of some. Anyone with basic knowledge of wild herd deer breeding/genetics (no fence/pen) knows localized herd genetics cannot be influenced with a few "big bucks" from the outside. Even if it were a viable option, the few big bucks would likely be killed in first year or so of being released, thus minimizing time to breed. Around 2018 timeframe, I "heard" a wealthy private landowner imported bucks in LaGrange area on his private farm with the intent of growing big antlers overnight. That is strictly rumor, with no way to substantiate it. Said landowner had the money and resources to do it if wanted. Said landowner also had a few run ins with TWRA in years leading up to CWD discovery (baiting, etc). Worth mentioning, around 2014, I used a processor just south of Ames that had hardcopy photos of big bodied/antlered bucks hanging up that he had processed over the years. These bucks were long and looked to dress 225+, not typical for SW TN. I inquired and he told me a local guy (maybe more than one) killed those bucks in Michigan over the years and brought them back to south central Fayette county to be processed. I know this processor dumped deer hides and other waste behind his house in a ravine where a small stream ran. I suspect this happened with a lot of "out of state" deer, for years, prior to CWD travel restrictions. I also believe it still happens today with travel restrictions in place. As mentioned many times on here, the bed of a pickup is the fastest way for CWD to spread many miles from the nearest known positive.
Lot of lawyers and scientists on here lol you break out the first 100 thousand and others will flock to you lol mistakes happen in the real world and yes sometimes it is covered up when found out but most of the time the real problem gets addressed, we have become sue happy and the only people who like it are the lawyers, run the legal bills up they won't care, license can be raised at any time, we are the only ones who will suffer or I should say folks without a lifetime license will.
Sure, mistakes happen, but covering up mistakes, many times illegally, is what make matters worse. I can forgive someone, or a group of someones, for making a mistake, but once you cross the line into cover-up, then you deserve whatever comes at you. I am not a sue happy guy, but if your illegal or improper actions cause me to lose my livelihood, I'd surely be coming after you to make it right. This would not have been an issue had they enforced their policies evenly, and corrected any mistakes that were made in the process. The counties that were improperly placed in the CWD watch zone may one day become legitimately positive, but until then they should be removed from it until it does happen. By placing them in the watch zone, they are increasing the odds that they become CWD positive because transport restriction allow CWD positive deer to be transported into the county.
We have thoroughly mangled nature's processes already. There's very little "original" or "natural" about the ecosystem down there or really, anywhere, these days.
so folks quit deer hunting and the processors went out of business? I don't think I have seen anybody post the downturn of kills lately, maybe somebody could post them?
Someone probably has better numbers.
Every one needs to keep in mind, at Ames it's required to have "every" deer tested for CWD, when private farms or individuals have the choice to test or not . With that said, it would appear Ames is the epicenter when it could actually be any given location in FAYETTE county Hardeman etc.
People are griping cause their county had 2900 kills? The county I hunt has about 400 kills lol.
Someone asked for numbers showing a drop in kills (most likely related to CWD). How big is the county you hunt? Any agriculture?
There's some ag but nothing like w Tn. We're currently second to last on the kill report. But they way these people talk, deer don't exist there anymore. It's comical listening to the cwd gloom and doomers.
