dnr.wisconsin.gov
Thanks Ski! This is what we experienced. Once the prevalence rate on does got to 30%, there were noticeable declines in population. We only killed 10 does this season but only 1 positive. I'm hoping this wasn't a statistical anomaly and that we might see a bump in the population now. Our bucks were still at 50-60% but they aren't as critical to the population as does.
It's to lower the population and to slow down the need to range farther to find doe's to breed, less interaction between deer should slow down the transfer, it boils down to less deer for a undetermined time, at some point the numbers can be allowed to raise again but maybe not to previous #'s. it's not a season or 2 game, I am not sure how long it will take to lower the infection but with it taking a couple years for 1 to die it might take awhile and some areas may see most of the deer gone in pockets.
Look to me like if you lower the population the bucks would tend to travel further away since there will be less does . Why not let nature take its course....deer are really unique in their will to survive ?
The state did allow many more deer to be killed after CWD was discovered however, it didn't result in more deer harvested. Fewer hunters resulted in fewer deer killed. Over time, there were fewer deer available to be killed. The deer herd at Ames is less than half of what it was in its heyday. Seems like the population is near rock bottom so we'll see if this helped to lower the infection rate. The population decline is more about disease than hunter over harvest. In the end, the deer herd will heal itself without much influence from hunters. IMO
