CWD meat, maybe?

[Shrek]

If you aren't comfortable eating it don't hunt a CWD zone.

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Personally I’d be fine with charging anyone who applied for a tag in a known CWD area and then refusing to eat the meat with a positive test for CWD with wanton waste and revoking their hunting privileges for a year or two.
BTW , I’m the last guy to call for more regulation but taking a tag for a deer you knowingly may not be willing to eat is pure BS !

 

[cnelk]

If you aren't comfortable eating it don't hunt a CWD zone.

The only issue with this is the CPW changes what units have mandatory & volunteer testing each year.

 

[JakeB2010]

IMO one should not hunt a CWD zone if they dont intend on eating the meat. I hunted a zone in MT this year that was CWD positive and surprised by how many hunters I talked to that didnt plan on eating it. Hearing stuff like that left a poor taste in my mouth. Me on the other hand, for what its worth, didnt bother getting mine tested and have full intentions on eating all of it. Appeared healthy when I watched it before the shot, not worried in the least. The way I see it is there has been no proof of anyone coming down with CWD and Id be willing to bet a shitload of CWD positive deer get shot and ate year after year.

 

[TalusHunterCA]

CDC and WHO recommend testing and not eating meat that is positive for CWD. If the meat cannot be tested, I would not potentially endanger my wife and children by making them eat the deer nor would I consume any. In good faith, in this situation, I would have to drop it off at F&G or dispose of it per their requirements be it in a landfill or incinerator or other. Good lesson to learn- but your responsibility for knowing what parts to keep for mandatory CWD testing. Any hunter that fails to produce parts required for mandatory testing should be fined.

 

[wyosam]

CWD is not a secret. Tests positive? Sure, you have an out. Didn’t bother to test? Throw it out if you want, but you should lose hunting privileges for a few years for wasting meat. Hunting out of state requires enough homework that there is no excuse to not be aware of this. I’d turn a friend or family member in if they did this in a heartbeat. Respect the game.


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[Stalker69]

Question is have you ever heard of a human having been tested ? I’ll answer it for you, no you haven’t. So of course you’ve never heard of a human passing because of it. Alzheimer's is always the diagnosis, never tested, but that is always the “diagnosis “ when brain, memory starts to go. No testing done.

 

[jmez]

No such thing as a negative test. Positive or not detected. Not detected does not equal negative.

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[jsb]

Interesting 10 year study where scientists tried deliberately (and unsuccessfully) to infect cattle with CWD.

https://www.bovinevetonline.com/article/cattle-resist-cwd-long-term-trial

 

[dwils233]

Honestly, I would probably roll the dice and eat the meat, but I would not feed it to my children.

That's the position I had decided on while waiting for my results to come back. (Finally, negative) I'd also give my wife an opportunity to learn more and make her own informed decision.

Awesome post though. That's as good a recap of CWD I've seen

 

[spike camp]

The only issue with this is the CPW changes what units have mandatory & volunteer testing each year.

Not drastically, though.

Testing is easy, cheap(if not free) and fast.
Really, what’s the issue with testing your animal?

I’ll have had 5 deer tested, between Illinois and Colorado this year...waiting on results on 2 bucks we killed last week.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Disposing of meat from a CWD+ deer (or maybe any deer)....

I'm not sure how each state structures their laws on waste of game animals. I wonder where and how a state draws the line on this.

 

[LostArra]

Not drastically, though.

Testing is easy, cheap(if not free) and fast.
Really, what’s the issue with testing your animal?

I’ll have had 5 deer tested, between Illinois and Colorado this year...waiting on results on 2 bucks we killed last week.

You make testing sound almost convenient and for a Colorado resident who processes their own meat that may be the case. For a non-resident driving 800-1000 miles it's a huge pia. Getting the samples where they need to be which may not be anywhere close to your travel route then holding the meat for 2-3 weeks to wait test results then figuring out what to do with the meat and your gear (coolers, knives, etc) if it's positive. The whole process is even worse in some states that may have only one testing site (vet school). Testing is nice and tidy on paper but not always the case for many hunters. And as mentioned above, the cross contamination issue from field dressing to cooling to storing meat for transport is a trip into the tall weeds

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

You make testing sound almost convenient and for a Colorado resident who processes their own meat that may be the case. For a non-resident driving 800-1000 miles it's a huge pia. Getting the samples where they need to be which may not be anywhere close to your travel route then holding the meat for 2-3 weeks to wait test results then figuring out what to do with the meat and your gear (coolers, knives, etc) if it's positive. The whole process is even worse in some states that may have only one testing site (vet school). Testing is nice and tidy on paper but not always the case for many hunters. And as mentioned above, the cross contamination issue from field dressing to cooling to storing meat for transport is a trip into the tall weeds

I almost exclusively hunt out west and live in Florida. I have had 3 deer and one elk tested this year in different states. I was aware some of the units I would be hunting were adjacent or in CWD zones, so I took the time to plan ahead, which really wasn’t much of an inconvenience. The majority of out of state hunting is planning. Yes, there might be some cross contamination, again with planning you can minimize this, but if it’s a risk you aren’t willing to take, hunt somewhere else. If you want to tell yourself that it’s to difficult, don’t hunt near CWD zones, if you want to hunt CWD zones and not get them tested but still eat them, go ahead, but anyone knowingly or not hunting a CWD zone (no excuse for not knowing) and doesn’t get their meat tested and then uses that as a justification for throwing the meat away should be fined/license revoked.

 

[LostArra]

I almost exclusively hunt out west and live in Florida. I have had 3 deer and one elk tested this year in different states. I was aware some of the units I would be hunting were adjacent or in CWD zones, so I took the time to plan ahead, which really wasn’t much of an inconvenience. The majority of out of state hunting is planning. Yes, there might be some cross contamination, again with planning you can minimize this, but if it’s a risk you aren’t willing to take, hunt somewhere else. If you want to tell yourself that it’s to difficult, don’t hunt near CWD zones, if you want to hunt CWD zones and not get them tested but still eat them, go ahead, but anyone knowingly or not hunting a CWD zone (no excuse for not knowing) and doesn’t get their meat tested and then uses that as a justification for throwing the meat away should be fined/license revoked.

I don't disagree but depending on where you hunt and unless your schedule is pretty free on the back end of your trip it's still a logistics pain. Testing should be easier and as soon as it is easier every state will have better data.

 

[coyotecreek]

I'm not a scientist and definitely not an expert on CWD, I have however lived and hunted in Northwest Kansas all of my life. If you look at the map you can see that this is the area of concentration of CWD in the state. I have ate 3-4 deer each year from this area since at least the mid 90's and never had one tested. I have just never thought about it. I would guess that the odds are that myself, my wife, and my kids have all ate CWD positive deer (no symptoms in the deer) before and we are all healthy. I have a friend who goes through 6-9 deer from this area each year and he and his family are all healthy. I'm not saying that it can't happen, but I'm more concerned about diseases from other humans, being struck by lightning, or dying in a tornado than from getting sick from a deer with CWD. Call me irresponsible, but that's just my experience.

I do dispose of the carcass in the landfill to help prevent the disease from spreading and I don't bait deer, which I think contributes to concentrating the deer on a food source and increasing the chance of spreading the disease. I have never seen a deer in person that showed signs of CWD but I know of friends who have. I hate that we have CWD in our deer and I don't think that it will ever go away, but I think part of being a responsible hunter is to do our best to minimize the risk of the disease from spreading, and if you are concerned about consuming a deer with CWD, then don't hunt in an area that is know to have deer with the disease as others have said above.

Good topic

 

[huntineveryday]

For those interested in testing thier deer:

I have only used K-State vet lab for my testing. For $7 shipping they will send you a kit with enough to sample 4 deer. They will send you prepaid UPS labels for return shipping for $7 each if you want. They state thier turnaround for testing is 3-4 days. I have had results emailed to me 3 and 4 days after dropping off my samples at the UPS drop off (being in Nebraska shipping to the lab doesn't take long), so my experience is in line with that. Tests were $28 each. I collected samples from this years buck in about 10 minutes, but it does require you to remove the head of the deer as you send in part of the brainstem and lymph nodes from behind the tongue.

The testing does add cost to the process, which will limit some from wanting to do it. The wait for test results hasn't been a big barrier for me, as it hasn't been long at all. For me the largest problem to deal with is minimizing possible cross-contamination from coolers, knives, etc. Doing a 5 minute soak in that strong of a bleach solution is hard on things, and hard to do on something like the outside of a cooler. I now set my stuff aside until results come back and luckily haven't had to deal with a positive result and that process yet (but will, eventually).

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I don't disagree but depending on where you hunt and unless your schedule is pretty free on the back end of your trip it's still a logistics pain. Testing should be easier and as soon as it is easier every state will have better data.

I agree, every state should strive to make it easier and funding needs to be increased across the board to further this! Just saying until then, as a responsible hunter, you need to plan this into If going into a CWD area. Normally you might plan to have 5 days to hunt, if going into CWD zone know you will only have 4 because you need a day to take precautions with meat and get testing. Definitely sucks but always other areas to apply/hunt. I just think someone going into a CWD area, harvesting a deer, not getting tested because of lack of planning or laziness, and using that as justification to throw the meat away is wanton waste at the least and deserve fines/hunting privileges revoked.

 

[wytx]

Food for thought, why are you all assuming this is a new disease? Just because it was first recognized in the 80's does not mean if was not here before then.
What about all those animals from the endemic areas taken before it was recognized? Still no human positives.
As for the no testing in humans, CJD cases get analyzed to see if it's variant or not, that is how CWD manifests itself in humans.
https://www.cdc.gov/prions/vcjd/surveillance.html

 

[LostArra]

I agree, every state should strive to make it easier and funding needs to be increased across the board to further this! Just saying until then, as a responsible hunter, you need to plan this into If going into a CWD area. Normally you might plan to have 5 days to hunt, if going into CWD zone know you will only have 4 because you need a day to take precautions with meat and get testing. Definitely sucks but always other areas to apply/hunt. I just think someone going into a CWD area, harvesting a deer, not getting tested because of lack of planning or laziness, and using that as justification to throw the meat away is wanton waste at the least and deserve fines/hunting privileges revoked.

For the record, I've never thrown away or left any animal I've killed. When you are a cow hunter why go if you aren't keeping the meat?

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

For the record, I've never thrown away or left any animal I've killed. When you are a cow hunter why go if you aren't keeping the meat?

Definitely wasn’t coming at you personally or as if you had! Just heard this a few times this year, cases similar to the OP’s and people using it for justification for throwing out meat, as a hunter it bothers me quite a bit.