CWD in PA

I may be wrong, but it's my impression that CWD began with the captive breeding herds of deer and elk. Or, at least, the spread of it. Impression; not strong belief...

No one really knows where CWD started.....it was first DETECTED in animals on a game farm in Colorado in 1967, but some folks claim it is a mutant strain of the disease Scrapie, a TSE of domestic sheep, that has been recognized in the United States since 1947. Wild animals were never tested for CWD before this and usually not before animals were found to be sick. This is why most of the time the disease is first found on game farms......cause the owners test their animals and know and observe the behavior of individual animals on a much closer basis

3212 said:

I'm afraid my grandsons will never experience deerhunting as I have known it.CWD has been found in two areas of Pennsylvania.A deer farm and in the wild.The Game commission statement says it will spread and is incurable and always fatal.The statement said 25% of adult bucks in Wisconsin are infected.So sad.

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Again......25% of adult bucks in Wisconsin could have always been infected with the disease. Wasn't until the seventies and eighties that deer behavior and herd health was even studied. No reason to. Before this, folks spent 9 days a year in the deer woods and shot the first buck they saw....they had no idea if the buck was sick or not. Also, since the disease takes at least 17 months to manifest itself and the majority of deer shot were 18 months old, the deer may very well have been infected, just not showing symptoms. Come the 80s and deer hunting became a money sport. Folks now spent months in the woods studying individual animals and the idea of Trophies and Quality deer management meant older deer. More older deer means more deer living long enough for the disease to manifest itself and for the deer to show symptoms. More time spent in the field by folks observing meant more illness and erratic behavior observed. Along with the desire of quality deer was the desire for more deer. More deer in a confined area means more opportunity for the disease to spread. Practices like feeding and baiting deer only enhanced this. Same with the deer evolving to feed primarily on agricultural crops as opposed to the browsing as they walked they did for eons. The Prion is believed to be passed thru close contact. Increasing herd numbers and confining them to smaller areas means a boom to CWD.

When CWD was first discovered here in Wisconsin there was widespread panic that our deer herd would be devastated and hunting changed forever. Baiting and feeding has been banned. Practices that once were illegal anyway, and now have shown to be a major factor in the spread of the disease amongst wild animals. Other than that, instructions for proper handling and disposal of carcasses left over from butchering animals shot in areas of CWD infection and special seasons to downside the herds in these areas is about all you see. Even in CWD areas where there is no limit on animals taken and the rifle season lasts 3 months, herd numbers in those areas are close to what they were when the disease was once discovered over a decade ago. The changes your grandson will see in deer hunting will come more from access to hunting areas and the reduction in huntable habitat than from CWD. Methods for taking deer, i.e. no feeding/baiting and the hunting in urban areas with primitive weapons will be the biggest changes you will see, as urban deer are now the subject of CWD concerns because of their numbers and feeding practices. You need to be concerned, but not scared.

I often hunt at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. CWD killed off many deer about 8 years back but the herd has recovered. There were speculations and rumors at the time that US Army was behind the outbreak of CWD. The disease never made it off post. Very curious but not neccessarily real evidence.

TR

The Cervid Research Center, Durango, Colorado is working on CWD in Elk. They have some elk that are resistant to CWD and they are breeding for a hardy animal that will not get CWD. The fact that there are some animals that are resistant means that there will be survival of the species be it elk, or deer.
ll

The disease never made it off post.

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I suspect that the herd on the base never intermixed with deer beyond the perimeter. There is a large herd at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, that is not hunted, and the high fencing that was installed several years ago makes it unlikely any additions to that herd will be from "outside".

LD

I've seen too much to put anything past Aberdeen. I heard Agent Orange was tested there, the same time all the grasses disappeared in the bay.

T.R. said:

I often hunt at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. CWD killed off many deer about 8 years back but the herd has recovered. There were speculations and rumors at the time that US Army was behind the outbreak of CWD. The disease never made it off post. Very curious but not neccessarily real evidence.

TR

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3212 said:

In the Aberdeen case its also possible the disease was EHD(Epizootic Hemorhhagic Disease).It is self limiting when the insects that carry it die from cold weather.It happens seasonally in southwest PA.

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Tuskaroy said:

I've seen too much to put anything past Aberdeen. I heard Agent Orange was tested there, the same time all the grasses disappeared in the bay.

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CWD was blamed last year for a die off in the southern part of Wisconsin. Investigation later showed it was EHD instead. EHD is relatively rare here and only rears it's ugly head when weather and insect conditions are idea for it(thank God), While symptoms are similar, CWD is a relatively slow process compared to EHD. I live within miles of a 60,000 acre Military base myself. There are tons of rumors about it also, including the burying of thousands of 1940s Harleys, still in their original shipping crates, nerve gas canisters buried under the Parade grounds, remnants of the infamous A.O. in the woods and lakes, etc, etc. There were also rumors that our DNR initiated the CWD outbreak to control the deer herd because of the lack of impact they have on deer hunting on private property. Same with the Lyme disease outbreak we have here. Folks worry about CWD, but most don't realize that virtually every deer in Wisconsin has been exposed to Lymes disease and it can cripple and lead to a long and painful death for deer just like CWD. The only way known to prevent the transmission of Lyme is to reduce the total deer herd to 6-8 per square mile. This virtually eliminates the chance of humans or pets in the area being exposed to the disease. Unfortunately, since the majority of deer in the state live on private land, those numbers will never be seen. Right now the odds that humans in our area have been exposed is like 1 outta 4. I have had Lymes myself. For dogs it is like 1 outta two. Virtually every bird dog I have had for the last 30 years has been diagnosed and treated for it. Most deer herds also experience times of outbreaks of Bovine Tuberculosis, Liver Flukes and others. Again, the higher the deer concentration in any one area, the more chance of an outbreak. In other words, lots of deer that most deer hunters like to see, does not make for a healthy deer herd.