9/8/21 - Hunters: Help Keep New Jersey CWD Free!

[Pathman]

8 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

New York remains the only state to have overcome CWD outbreaks and they did that by shooting down as much of the local herd as possible around the outbreak area. That is what is needed in addition to the end of baiting and the end of natural deer urine and gland scents. 
 

As others have said, this is very different than EHD which NJ deals with often. 

Agree, but I think many people are under the false impression that if CWD is identified in NJ deer, that a bait ban will be enacted, the disease will disappear, and hunting will go on as normal.

If you look at data from other states (other than NY) that have CWD positive deer, they banned baiting, killed many, if not all, deer in infected areas, but the infection rate still rises.

It’s like many other diseases, it has to run its course. You may be able to slow it down some by enacting certain measures, but if a state determines they need to take strong action, they’ll kill all the deer, or as many as possible, in an infected area. 
So a bait ban won’t matter if all the deer are killed by F&W staff or designated shooters. 

This procedure is somewhat controversial, and is viewed by some wildlife experts as overkill, literally, but it may be a  necessary step to stop the spread, it also may be an overreaction and the disease may just need to take its course with some preventive measures enacted, such as banning scents, baiting, bringing deer in from other states, etc. 

In any case, advocating a bait ban to address this particular problem is wishful thinking at best, in all likelihood you won’t have any deer to hunt anyway, so baiting would be the least of your worries. 

Lets all hope it doesn’t come to that. 
 

 

[toxo]

10 hours ago, mazzgolf said:

Just to be clear - CWD is *not* EHD or blue tongue. We've been talking about all the dead deer from EHD here the past few weeks- but that is not CWD.  Having CWD here would be much worse. And that response plan (and what the OP is talking about) is CWD.

The article stated that the prion can live in the soil for years,what can be done for that?

[Pathman]

36 minutes ago, toxo said:

The article stated that the prion can live in the soil for years,what can be done for that?

Nothing, especially with high deer densities. That would likely spread it as much as bait or scents. That’s why some states just kill them all in an infected area. 
You can’t even burn the prions, they will live on! 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Pathman

[mazzgolf]

37 minutes ago, toxo said:

The article stated that the prion can live in the soil for years,what can be done for that?

 

4 minutes ago, Pathman said:

Nothing, especially with high deer densities. That would likely spread it as much as bait or scents. That’s why some states just kill them all in an infected area. 
You can’t even burn the prions, they will live on! 

That's why CWD is so much worse than EHD and why we need to do everything we can to keep it out of NJ in the first place. For those that complain why we can't bring in whole deer from other states or why natural lures were banned - well, this is why.

[KEITH STONE]

16 hours ago, gregtpal said:

Its It's time to ban baiting....

It won’t stop baiting.People will bait and nobody will enforce it.

[Bucksnbows]

6 hours ago, KEITH STONE said:

It won’t stop baiting.People will bait and nobody will enforce it.

I disagree to an extent. I think many hunters will alert COs if they find bait piles. Not all, of course. We need to educate like this thread is doing. CWD as was said, is far, far worse than EHD outbreaks.  There will always be law breakers for sure, but if this happens, we deer hunters ALL need to sacrifice if using baits and natural deer based scents. 

[deadonshot2]

12 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

I disagree to an extent. I think many hunters will alert COs if they find bait piles. Not all, of course. We need to educate like this thread is doing. CWD as was said, is far, far worse than EHD outbreaks.  There will always be law breakers for sure, but if this happens, we deer hunters ALL need to sacrifice if using baits and natural deer based scents. 

Hunters are conservationists that will do whatever it takes to keep a healthy herd. Killers/poachers will always cheat because the only thing they care about is being a facebook hero. 

[Nomad]

Good article on CWD. https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/blogs/dan-schmidt-deer-blog-whitetail-wisdom/deer-hunters-stop-the-cwd-hysteria-please

[mazzgolf]

5 minutes ago, Nomad said:

Good article on CWD. https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/blogs/dan-schmidt-deer-blog-whitetail-wisdom/deer-hunters-stop-the-cwd-hysteria-please

That guy is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

"you’d think that we’re all going to fall over and die if we get our hands on a CWD-infected deer."

No, no one is saying that. That's hyperbole. I have never read anywhere anyone saying we are going to die if we get our hands on CWD-infected deer.

He says, "some feared that humans could also develop a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy after eating CWD-infected venison. Thus far, there is no evidence that this is likely."

True - everything I've read (from NJ DFW to everywhere else) is very clear on this. No evidence that humans can contact CWD from an infected deer. It is why no one has been saying "we're all going to fall over and die."

But then he says, "Nonetheless to avoid any risk of contracting any disease, parts or products from any animal that looks sick, or tests positive for CWD, should not be eaten."

So, there he is echoing the exact same precaution that every wildlife agency has said. So, what is it? Don't risk it and don't eat... or it's fine because it's silly to say "you'd think we're all going to fall over and die if we get our hands on CWD-infected deer"? So I'm not sure what his point is there.

Then he says,

"more recent models suggest that CWD will eventually decrease the population, sometimes substantially, but over time the population will rebound and stabilize, albeit at levels less than those prior to the disease’s arrival."

Interesting - "albeit at levels less than those prior to the disease's arrival" -- does anyone else here want the NJ deer herd to be at levels less than right now?  Do you want the NJ deer population to maybe decrease substantially (albeit temporarily)? No? Neither do I. So - how about we do everything we can to not bring CWD here?

It's not about humans dying from CWD-infected deer, it's about the DEER dying from CWD-infected deer, and the disease being impossible to eradicate because the prions are so hard to destroy naturally - so they are going to keep killing deer and lowering the deer population "at levels less than those prior to the disease’s arrival."

 

[Nomad]

This one explains it better.

 

[Nomad]

Why is New Jersey making it illegal for me to bring my  whole Maine deer back to Jersey ? Maine has never had a case of CWD. It’s always fun to bring it back and let it hang for a few days, they’re so huge!  Maybe it was too hard for them to figure out which states have it and which don’t, just easier to ban it all together?