Well, from everything you have posted Swamp, I actually think I feel MORE comfortable continuing to not get my deer tested. Seems I am incredibly more likely to die by being struck by lightening while hunting for the deer, than by eating it........

You are correct, but it's still good to know for sure. Why play roulette?

My training is in wildlife biology and I go to sleep a lot of nights reading some type of wildlife or fish related research. But to be honest, I am in the middle on this. I would not eat a known cwd positive deer - but I dont eat any fish or wildlife that I know is diseased or appears to be unhealthy.

I believe there is a lot of mis-information and a lot of hunters who are not very open minded. I also believe - at least the biologists with my state’s game dept generally have the wildlife’s best interest in mind (woudnt say that about the commissioners). No, they are not always right, but as in the case with the latest cwd study - they admitted where they were wrong and changed the regulations in favor of the deer.

I am in a cwd county and dont get my deer checked. If infection rates start climbing, I will. I dont believe it is very likely that cwd makes the jump to humans. There has probably been thousands and thousands of infected deer eaten by humans, processed by ungloved hands. In other words, there has been ample opportunity.

In regard to BSE - the mad cow disease - I dont know if 100% of human deaths were attributed to the single UK outbreak - but at least most were. And BSE didnt just finally make the jump after years of eating beef. People basically created the most infectious form by grinding up rendered beef parts - from already infected cows - and feeding it to other cows - which greatly accelerated the whole infectious process. So, I dont think BSE is really comparable to CWD as far as making the jump to humans

And as far as saying we dont test all cows and sheep - that is not comparable to deer. By far the majority of livestock does not live its entire life in the wild, unobserved by humans. Entire populations of domesticated animals are de-populated when just a few animals are found to be sick. That doesnt happen with wildlife.

I do worry about the future of deer hunting. I dont believe deer will befome extinct - but densities may become a lot lower than we like. That has already happened in AR. Most hunters would not be satisfied hunting an area with one deer per square mile - like it was in local areas of NW AR. And many folks seem to think what they see or experience in their area is the same everywhere. It is not. I own two pieces of property eight miles apart in the same river bottoms and they manage nothing alike.

No, the sky is not falling, but if your hunting area has infection rates of 25% - or more - everything aint rosy, either.

Hey wolf Here's a question. Is CWD 100% fatal? Plus how many deer have gotten it and lived that biologist have no knowledge of?

I dont mean to displace Swamp from the conversation. He is knowledgeable and spot on about cwd and a host of other topics.

No deer is known to have recovered from cwd. A lot of deer, who would otherwise die from cwd, are predated when they become slow and incapacitated. But in the AR study, something like 20% of the collared deer actually died of cwd. Because of the radio collars, the researchers were able to recover the deer before predators got on it.

There have been alleles identified in deer and elk that show resistance to cwd infection but it does not prevent infection.
I do know every animal that can get cwd in the pens at Sybille Research Center dies from it.
They do have a cow elk that has lived many years after testing positive.
I'll have to ask if she is still alive or how long she lived.

They also did a study at Sybille with cattle. They placed them in the pens that held cwd positive animals for about 20 years, no cattle tested positive.
We have some areas in Wyoming with 30% prevalence for deer and some areas very near Sybille with much lower rates. Those deer seem to have the resistant allele.

Oddly our elk area has a high prevalence rate for cwd but we have also only had 2 test positive and only seen 1 live elk in the end stages of the disease. We do have a very large mt lion and coyote population too so predators may be getting the sickly ones before we see them.

WhiteCliffs is 100% correct.

I've read this research and will add that the "genetic resistance" that was discovered only means the cervid could live longer with the infection. As you stated....it will not stop/reduce the cervid's chances of becoming infected.

And here is the negative to that so-called "resistance"........the longer an infected cervid lives the more chances that particular cervid is spreading the disease....shedding prions, if you will.

This was discussed at length at the Georgia Deer Mgmt meeting last spring. Dr. Marcello Jorge was on video conference at this meeting. He is the UGA researcher that conducted the NW Arkansas CWD study.

Colorado has had it since probably the 50's. We in WI have had it for 3 decades that we've known about, so probably 10 years or more longer. It's real but has been blown way out of proportion.

WI Outdoors,
If you're truly interested in learning what CWD is capable of look up the NW Arkansas study. It is the most recent field (published) research on CWD that was able to factor in what is known thus far about CWD in wild deer.

If you'd rather smoke cigars and play golf...please disregard.

I hunt in a state with it. If you you came up and drove around a half hour before dark, you wouldn't t believe we have CWD and for as long as we've had it. Our herd is large and doing well.

[/quote]
I hunt in a state with it. If you you came up and drove around a half hour before dark, you wouldn't t believe we have CWD and for as long as we've had it. Our herd is large and doing well.[/quote]

You wouldnt think the same thing if you hunted in NW AR cwd areas. Everywhere is not WI, believe it or not

You wouldnt think the same thing if you hunted in NW AR cwd areas. Everywhere is not WI, believe it or not[/quote]


I wonder if the temperature difference between different parts of the country has an effect on how the animals and viruse respond? I have not seen anything referring to that or if studes consider it a factor to look into.

CWD Is neurological and So is MS and heat and humidity have a profound impact with my MS symptoms. Stands to reason hotter areas my have a more profound impact from CWD. Maybe not but I thin it may be a factor worth looking into.

Edit to add. The heat has been enough for me to start thinking about moving to a cooler climate.

This is all just discussion so don't take it as arguments.... First I'd like to know what's got swamp wolf rattled and worried about? When it comes to the trapping, I believe most of what you guys say here vs a dnr or any other resource as you guys all have experience. I also am on a hunting forum much like T-man and from all the talk over the years from people from a whole bunch of states, there isn't much to worry about. These guys are die hard hunters that spend lots of time in the woods. Cwd was an excuse here to slaughter the herd for a while. Many said it was dnr and car insurance companies. We spent millions on studies and nothing really came of it but wasted money. Any of you can believe what you want, but my mind won't be changed from my experience in the woods and all the other hunters time in the woods and what they saw, or didn't see. Everything will be ok. You'll all see. Good luck this fall Swamp Buck. I hope you bag a nice buck. Nothing I've written is personal. Just sharing my thoughts like all of you.

If you live in a cwd zone, I guess you are lucky to live in your cwd zone and believe everywhere is just like where you live. Below are the new antlerless deer regulations for this year upon conclusion of the five year cwd study in NW AR:

Ten days of this
2026
“One antlerless deer during alternative firearms season or the first two days of modern gun season.”

The 2025 season was five weeks of this

“Up to 3 antlerless deer with alternative firearms and modern gun combined.”

So, no - it is not ok. It is going to take a long time to bring deer back from almost nothing, if they ever come back. And this did not involve sharp shooters. Just regular hunting season. Folks hunting in that area are not going to have a good season - but best wishes to you and your upcoming season

I'm not rattled but I'm strongly concerned. Not due to the possibility of contracting it from eating deer meat, but more because of the whitetail deer fanatic that I am. Anything that threatens our deer concerns me. I'm 62 and my best days are probably behind me, but I'd like to see the future hunters enjoy what we have enjoyed. I've seen the population here go from very few deer in most areas when I was a young child to a deer or 2 in every half acre block of brush. I hunted all over Georgia (from the mountains to the Atlantic coast islands) and in North Missouri riverbottoms for whitetails. Deer have always fascinated me.

I've spent my entire life hunting, learning, and conserving/managing deer (and other wildlife). 27 years as a Georgia GW in the southern half of the State. 44 years of involvement in deer management. My education is an Associates in Wildlife Technology. Shortly b4 I retired 4.5 years ago CWD showed up in the panhandle of Florida and Georgia increased sampling. They asked me to assist with sampling 3 years ago as I knew my area/people better than the wildlife techs and biologists. Unknowingly, I pulled Georgia's first positive lymph nodes season b4 last from a 2.5 year old healthy 8pt that my cousin killed one morning that was working a scrape.

I've been on the "inside" of the real story for a long time. I know facts from fiction and my opinions are all fact based not feelings. The top deer biologist for Georgia asked if I would be on the the statewide deer management planning committee last year....the deer disease portion. We discussed a lot of CWD info during our one all day meeting....but nothing that the public doesn't have access to. We discussed what other states are doing and what they have tried to do...the failures too....like total eradication and how public support is or is not there for certain responses. Bottom line is there are many unknowns and Georgia DNR is proceeding slowly and learning what others states have or have not done. Long term plans to control this do not exist in any state...theyre trying all kinds of adjustments. Time will tell. I cant speak for other state's responses.

Just brushing CWD off and referring to this as bogus is easy to do as it is mostly slow moving thru a wild deer population and generally the effects are "hidden" by so called natural mortality factors. Out of sight...out of mind, so to speak.

Hopefully, testing is free, easy, and convenient for many hunters as it is in South Ga. If you don't care about it and see no concerns...then that's your perogative. We can all talk like adults here...no worries.

Swamp have you seen any studies looking at climant affecting how it affect the animals in particular temperatures?

Well let me ask you a question. In honest curious conversation.

You listed where humans get it.

Where do the deer get it? Do they have the same three causations? If so, there ain't crap we can do about it. And from what I can tell, that is where we stand.

Where did cows get it? Sheep? Goats? Pigs?

It is a very deep and wide black hole that I am comfortable saying I don't know. I am also very comfortable in saying the scientists don't either.

So where is this dear and deep concern? I am telling you, this is a boogie man. And from a wildlife management angle, I think it is worse than covid as far as the lie of omission is concerned. The DNRs are either being lied to and running with it or they are lying themselves.

This is not gonna end well for game commissions. Mark my word.

What are the DNR’s lying about?

I am just wondering where the money is coming from. Who is funding this "study"? If it is omnipresent in wildlife and nature, there ain't crap we can do about it. And "scientists" tell us it is everywhere.

Scientists will keep a boogie man alive as long as that boogie man is carrying a bag of money. When the money runs out, so does the dire concern.

DNRs need to drop this. It is gonna be bad for their reputation. Not being ugly about this but being very serious.

I hear you swamp on the concern, but what can be proven by a positive sample? Nothing, except the animal had CWD. If a person does not consume the brain or spinal cord, there isn't any danger to humans. Prions exist in the brain.

What can they do about a positive sample? Nothing. It can't be stopped or eradicated. Prions are everywhere including the soil and plants deer eat. Short of a nuclear bomb that might work in that fallout area, it can't be stopped.

We are just gonna have to learn to live with it and not eat deer brains and eggs.

Wasn't there a case of a soldier getting CJD from consuming goat brain in some third world S hole country? Can someone look that up?