http://www.weau.com/content/news/CWD--453449743.html

DNR has self service kiosks for getting deer tested, fyi. Interesting.
Last year I took the deer to a local taxidermist to get tested. This year I may have to try the self serve kiosk. Who would've thought...a self serve kiosk for getting your deer CWD tested.
1 thing that surprised me last year is how specific DNR got in the form I had to fill out as far as where the deer was shot. They practically wanted to know what tree you were sitting by on your property. In talking with some hunters, I know some folks avoid getting their deer tested because they don't want a positive test to show up on their land. Others just don't care.
I'll keep getting mine tested. DNR wants people to turn in their deer head for testing, at least in my county.

I have a pessimistic fear that CWD will continue spreading north in WI.

As bad as it's gotten in Sauk and Grant Counties, I imagine it's starting to negatively effect land prices. My recollection is that last year, those 2 counties had around 20% of the tests come back positive. Maybe it was Iowa County instead of Grant, I can't remember for sure.

Huge industry at stake...It'll get interesting. A very hot button topic, no doubt.

CWD of course has been around for decades out West. Some say that the western states don't have the high concentration of CWD positive deer that some Wi counties have. Who knows... No doubt increased research is being done. Unfortunately it's very costly.

I quit testing mine down here in the land of dipsticks. I’m just south of Monroe WI. They pay the sharp shooters, but have to lay off conservation officers because of no money. Let the hunters do the culling. Humans can sure mess up nature sometimes.

I used the kiosk last year. Seemed a bit weird, but it was all self explanatory and I sawed the head off right there, dropped it in the bag, tagged it, and into the bin it went. I cut the deer up, froze everything, waited for results to come back. Results did come back negative in a timely manner.

About the best we can do right now, since there's aren't really any other options. At least it's a free service, for now.

I feel we need to make the testing process really easy, fast and economical and maybe even offer a new tag for those that are positive. There are many persons or families that don't want the venison unless it is tested even from areas where there is no confirmed cases. We have to learn to deal with this issue where we are at and not pretend we don't have an issue or rely on control measures that we have found to be limited at best. This is another case where a scientific issue is trumped by the political aspects of the issue.

Bryce

Exactly!
This seems like so common sense that its sad that its not already being done. They want the herd reduced or eradicated in the CWD area..ok...give people free takes for each CWD positive deer they take.

How many states even test for cwd in their deer season ?
Half ?
I never have .

CWD is such a load of crap. Look up where it started and how many its killed. TThat's ook how many die from blue toungh in a single
Year. and that is just one cause of large deer die offs. The only reason CWD is so wide spread is states can impose laws and make
Money. If the states had to address blue toungh it would cost the state money. Thats this old man's opinion.

The DNR does offer a free replacement tag for any CWD positive deer. If you tag it early enough in the season, you get a replacement that year, or if you harvest it during gun season or later, you get a free tag the following year.

wetdog, I can assure you Wi isn't making $ off of CWD.

Mo does in certain county's. If they want the head, what are you supposed to do if you want to have it mounted, or just keep the rack?

Here in pa there are new laws about cwd and transporting deer across state and county lines. Check your regs. I but wi has them to.

It's probably been around 100 years or more , I've never tested any , first thing gone are all the straps !

Bob, you can still get a full head mount I believe.

I used the self serve kiosk yesterday for the 1st time. It was pretty slick. The station was at our DNR service center.
I heard the businesses that collect deer heads for WDNR CWD testing get $11 per head. Not only was the kiosk user friendly, but I figure it's saving the state $ vs hunters bringing heads to the taxidermist like I did last year.

Do they have a list of the businesses that collect around the state ?
Never heard of it .

Yes, it's on the DNR's website. I'm not sure if every county is testing though. My county is of concern to DNR because the neighboring county had some infected game farm deer a few years ago (near the county line) and I think some escaped. Another option is to send it to a private lab. The website lists those as well I think.

Went to the site .

What good is this little bit of testing doing if they don't include the whole state ?
Looks like a very small sampling to me .

Closest to me ,I would have 3 hours of driving in ,if I wanted to take it somewhere.

I see your point. I thought about that b4 too. I suspect some areas have CWD, but don't know it because they don't test there.

WOW !


I guess when they only take a 20% sampling, Just call it GOOD!

I don't know what the reasoning is. Perhaps budget issues don't offer the necessary funding to do statewide testing.

Legislature is pulling the strings now. Don't need reasoning . . . or science.

We just had our first 2 cases in MT., in the scentral part of the state, just above Wy. This is our first year of testing. They are going to rotate where they test depending on how close the neighboring states are that already have it. Wyoming was closest, with a positive muledeer on 7 miles from our southern border. It was just a matter of time until we got it.

Wierd you guys found it in the middle of the state. Any idea of how they contracted it?

Not good!
http://www.weau.com/content/news/Deer-test-positive-for-CWD-in-Eau-Claire-County-480172543.html
The deer was seen acting very sickly, so a citizen called DNR.

Now there Is some talk about paying you If your deer tests positive. The rational Is that It will get more hunters to have their deer tested.
I have never had any of my deer tested.

This must be what Beav's referring to. I hadn't heard of this:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.jsonline.com/amp/1079938001

Probably from a Unregistered game farm.

Probably a registered game farm.

They are hiding things in Minnesota now. I was told directly by a teacher involved that a student in a northern suburb of Minneapolis was caught with a .45 in his school backpack. Very recently. Not a peep in the news.

Osky

Supposedly it was a wild deer.

Too late. They are discovering it in wild deer in new areas all the time now. That horse left the barn.

One of the Ag papers I was reading talked about the governor discussing some significant changes in fencing and also a much more accelerated program to contain and control CWD spread. Boy it is really funny to see how late to the party some can be. We may just as well do like some of the states that have had this for many decades. Get your deer tested for free and if yours has CWD you get another tag free as well. It is to the point where it may not even make much difference if the deer farms or ranches have good fencing or not anymore. This got put off so long that now it probably is not a difference maker. Hard to manage 1 to 1.2 million deer in a state with 84% of the land in private lane owner hands, all with highly different ideas on managing deer and where most of the deer are as well.
Actually it is really asking more than is possible to have a public agency control a disease in a a wildlife species with great reproduction capability, mobility and high density on land they can not enforce beyond trying to change seasons or encourage ways for harvest to increase when as where needed.

Bryce

You guys act like it won't have an impact? If that is the case, then it was never needed in the first place. Pick one.

Personally, I am glad Walker decided not just the outdoor community would carry the burden in slowing the spread.

Do you have insights as to what those new initiatives maybe? As most of what has been done in the past has not slowed the spread. With the new cases being sporadic across the state from north, south east and west maybe the new initiative will connect all the dots sooner and we can develop a "live with it plan".

Spend some time talking with farmers, loggers and metro area citizens and you will find the majority want far far fewer deer on the landscape than hunters do. We best be careful about asking others to work with us on population directives as it may be more dire than we may have planned or hoped for.
Bryce

Check out the map of counties with baiting bans. Over half. Seems odd how a county like Jackson or Racine can nearly be surrounded by counties where baiting is illegal.
https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/bait.html

Anyone ever hear of this company? Looks like a fellow could test his own deer for a pretty low cost.

https://sawcorp.com/

I've been feeding the wife un tested venison for over 50 years and It hasn't killed her yet. LOL

$50 isn't what I would consider low cost, especially if I wanted to be sure and test every deer I harvest. But then again I live in a city with a DNR office so dropping off a sample is super easy and better yet, free! And the blood test through SAW Corp isn't APHIS approved.

Deer farms are responsible for this whole mess. Until they are held financially responsible this mess will continue to get worse. Until you stomp out the source, it does no good to treat the problem.

They wiped out this particular herd:
http://www.weau.com/content/news/Officia...-485155721.html

^^^Well said...

http://www.weau.com/content/news/Meeting-to-be-held-on-CWD-485706901.html
Be interesting to see what kind of ideas they come up with.

I wonder if there's any game farms in Wi that don't have CWD.
http://www.weau.com/content/news/Officia...-485985041.html

Yup.....right down the hwy 8 from me...

Well....at least there will be a baiting ban now...let's see if its enforces.

So what is the fear? It was discovered in 1967, has existed for longer than that. Will stay in the soil for unlimited amount of time. It has never been transferred to humans. Someone earlier claimed the WDNR is not making money. Look at he growth of the department to deal with CWD.
The great scare and who benefits:
Car insurance companies
Timber companies
Legislatures with the kickbacks.

Such over reaction. Don't be so naive.

I’m guessing the testing is a preliminary stab at future science: CWD in deer (-and cattle) might eventually be linked to prion diseases in humans. Like bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and a possible connection to Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease in humans, CWD is felt by the scientific community to be connected. Warning the public to be aware, because of a perceived threat, is better than not telling them, and being accused of withholding evidence later on.

I’ve spent most of my career working in public health. It’s been interesting to see public reactions to “perceived” threats. Most of the vocal non-believers say the govt doesn’t know what it’s talking about. Until they’re affected years later, when they can’t do anything about it. Then they cry that the govt should have been more proactive with its warnings. This has been true with UV-A and UV-B radiation from tanning beds; lead-based paint removal; asbestos; radon; nitrates in groundwater; endocrine disrupters and bisphenol-A (a hardener in plastic water bottles); mold in grain; moldy walls in flooded basements; mosquito control; pre-chlorinating surface water before taking out organic materials in water supplies; eating under cooked food, drinking unpasteurized milk; not adequately washing fruits and vegetables before feeding them to our kids, etc.

The potential for a link is there. CWD in hooved animals might be linked to Creutzfeld-Jacob disease in humans. The government has done its job to warn you. But it’s up to you to heed the warning.

Teacher, I agree with the warnings to the public, possible connections to mad cow etc. It has gone way beyond that. I have read, studied, and discussed with biologists. The extermination of deer herds, reduction etc. is over reach. The political agenda is the issue, including the lobbying by the timber industry and insurance companies. It is not going away and no proof it has not always been here.

The Biologists and scientists I talked to said same. They said as far as mad cow it was never a problem because the meat and bone meal fed to animals here was cooked. In Canada and England it wasn,t.

I’m not sure cooking (the way we cook burgers) infected beef and bone meal is sufficient to get rid of prions. Too many people still like their beef, venison, lamb etc on the rare side. You can tell them till Christ comes again eating under cooked protein isn’t good for them and they’ll continue to do it. Example: the warnings on cigarette packages and the number of people who still smoke.

If the link is ever made, between chronic wasting disease and BSE or Cruetzfeld Jacob, it will be too late for many venison consumers to avoid brain damage. Regardless of the politics, and the over reach by killing more deer than necessary, the govt is providing you with an early warning. Its up to the individual to decide to listen, read or heed, or not.

From what I was told, all of the infected mad cows had been fed uncooked meat and bone meal.

The United states had fed cooked meat and bone meal for a long time is why we were never linked.

I have never been one to overreact . Just eat the deer and poop it out. But, If someone said here eat this deer it has tested positive for CWD. I would think twice about it. So moral of my story. Don't test don't tell.

You know, there's actually a lot of people thinking that way. Around here, testing is free & the state encourages people in my area to test, but most don't.

I have never had one tested. Most likely never will.

Our family has not tested and we have no plans of it. We harvested deer with tumors, masses, super thin, bad smelling, etc. Never ate any of them either.

Because young people consume some of the venison I harvest annually, I have every deer I kill tested. Cut it up, freeze it, when test results come back negative we can all our venison.
Now with possible transport restrictions on the carcass it will be interesting to see how many more hunters will hang it up and seek out the couch in November.

I wonder if this will pass...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/madiso...fff-b767-54ac-bcbd-87bfeaa5dec6.amp.html

Good job Colorado!!!!!!

There's talk of making CWD testing mandatory for deer shot around Eau Claire, but I doubt it will pass. It was on WEAU news the other night.

https://www.weau.com/content/news/C...nt-mandatory-deer-testing-512798881.html