Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting C W D -- Arkansas' First Case

Now it's 4:20 pm and just checked AGFC and local news agencies and nothing new has been posted SINCE yesterday AM.

They said yesterday, that from the 260 animals, there "was a large batch of samples still in Wisconsin being/to be tested."

So we don't know the results of those samples yet. This is something of great interest and importance to the State, the AGFC, and hunters.

I glad no new cases have been reported.

Jerry

You got my attention. I wouldn't have read this thread had it not been for your compelling diction. ;-)

kingston - then it worked.

A 'LITTLE' latest news.

AT 6:00 PM news last night Chanel 7 reported that the G&F had said,
"there is no need to make major changes to the hunting seasons."

They didn't give their source other than AGFC.


I sure hope that doesn't NEED to change.

There is nothing new on the 'interweb' per CWD as of now.


Jerry

As of 9:00 AM today the AGFC hasn't issued anything new on CWD. I listen to the local news + check the Web site frequently to try to stay UP on any new data/releases.

So far no one has reported any new dead or sick animals seen and no results from the testing in Wisc.

ba,da, ba,da, that's all folks!

Jerry

Today at noon the L R news says, " the AGFC now says there are 50 (FIFTY) cases of CWD confirmed.

All cases are found in the SAME 2 counties, Newton & Boone.

I'm gong to AGFC site to confirm or see if there is more to the story. If I find more info, I'll update this.

Jerry

From AGFC -

They confirmed the report of 50 cases.

SO FAR -- Only 3 Elk, the rest are WT.

The results of the last batch of 110 tests are expected late next week.

The next phase of testing will continue till May 20. They are asking the public to report ANY dead or sick deer seen anywhere Statewide.

There is an 800 phone # posted on AGFC, under latest news, cwd.

Jerry

I wonder what the sample size is outside of those 2 counties. It would be nice if it is contained in that area. I'm hoping to see 300-400 elk tags this fall offered to the public.

Jwall,

Colorado attempted to control CWD by thinning deer herds in Northeastern Colorado, and Wyoming by thinning herds in southeastern part of the state.
Colorado had very liberal seasons for an extended time (almost 10 years if I recollect).

It didn't work for either state.

Having said that, the prevalence of CWD in those populations have declined a bit in recent years, although it appears to still be spreading into other areas.

If anybody would like some info on CWD/TSE on deer and elk they can wade through this stuff:
http://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/ResearchCWD-Articles.aspx

As one old timer here in Colorado said "We used to call it winter kill."

Casey

Kodiak - IF, I understand what AGFC has said, all those samples & sick/dead deer are IN those 2 counties.


However I found a statement that says "some positive samples have been found outside the "original sampling zone". That has led them to ASK for ANY/ALL dead-sick deer anywhere in the State to be reported.

The 'original sample zone' is ambiguous. Maybe the core area OR the 2 counties. I can't determine from their site.

AT this point - right now anyway- they are looking for dead/sick or road kill deer Statewide. They are trying to determine how far or IF there are any cases beyond Newton & Boone Co.

One day last week they said, " they weren't planning to change hunting seasons OR the harvest quota"..???

We'll have to wait and see now.

Jerry

It's hard for me to tell if all samples came from those 2 counties, or if just the positives came from them. If they have only taken samples from two counties, it's bound to be in more.

As far as not changing anything for hunting season, it wouldn't surprise me. They need to make some major changes to keep this from spreading to the whole state, but I'm sure they'll take the wait and see approach and do nothing.

Casey -

Yes, from what I've researched and the 'current CWD maps', there is STILL cwd in any area where it has been.

As you said, there are less cases but it's still there.

As to "Winter kill", we've ONLY had 1 Winter bad enough for some Winter kill. IIRC Christmas 99 & New Year's Day 2000 we had an ICE storm + record snow fall. All vegetation was covered in ice & snow for 2 weeks and we had some Winter kill. I was a member of a large deer lease and few members put out feed. Everywhere I went, I broke snow and made tracks. NO one else had been out.

Our next few seasons the population was noticeably down.

Thanks for your interest.

Jerry

Kodiak -

Initially, they were to kill 300 elk/deer combined in a radius of Pruitt, near Jasper. All those came from Newton/Boone co. However there have been dead/sick deer reported since and AGFC has NOT said if any are outside those 2 counties.

Reading between the lines...IMO some are outside those 2.

I'd rather they proceed w/caution as to OVERreact.

Time will tell.

Jerry

More Bad News--Little Good News ! !

6 MORE Cases confirmed --INSIDE the sample area. The following is from AGFC.

Six more cases of CWD found in Newton County

Date 04/01/2016
Description
JASPER – Six more deer from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s chronic wasting disease sampling effort have turned up positive, according to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison. This brings the total of CWD-positive cases of Arkansas deer and elk to 56. *<*

All six deer that tested positive came from **Newton County inside** the sampling focal area. The final results from the intensive sampling effort should be available late next week.

Although a true prevalence rate cannot be determined until the last of the samples come in, the high number of positive results has already prompted a second sampling effort to determine whether the disease is present in other parts of the state. AGFC biologists and wildlife officers will begin collecting samples from road-killed deer and any sick or dead deer reported throughout Arkansas.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

From this release + what last week's leads me to 'believe' that so far (?) all CWD cases are within Newton & Boone Co. I certainly hope that is true but I am not certain of it.

Jerry

If it should turn out to be contained to that area, it seems to me that It most likely came in with the stocked elk. We will never know for sure, but that would be my guess. I do hope that it is contained to that area but with people moving dead deer about and throwing away carcasses like they do, it is doubtful. miles

miles -

I suspect that you may very well be right. We may never know for sure.

The only skepticism I have of that is, the stocking happened in the 'early 80s'. That info is in the first Elk Hunting regulation guide.

That has been at least 30 yrs. The info about CWD says that the it 'can lay dormant for decades', so it is possible.

Our best hope is that it is contained. I also have my doubts that it WILL BE contained but we can hope.

Jerry

The following is an excerpt from the post on P 4 from AGFC.

"Last week, tissue samples from 49 deer and elk taken in and around*** the 125,000-acre focal area*** were sent to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison for testing. Out of the 18 positive deer samples,

***four were found just outside of the AGFC’s focal area.*** Those deer were either found dead or were killed by vehicles."
------------------------

The focal area was 125,000 acres +

4 outside of the focal area...

That info was posted by AGFC 3-24-16. I'm scouring back thru their releases to see if I've missed any stats and specifications about WHERE cwd has been found.

AT this point, either I'm reading with an optimistic outlook OR they have not been very specific.

Jerry

Michigan went through the same thing this past year. One deer was reported that was showing symptoms. DNR killed it and it tested positive. So, they set up a core area and killed almost 1000 deer, costing about $1000 each to kill and test. Even after the hunting season and testing all the deer the hunter brought in from that county, 7 were positive out of over 5700 tested. This case could have very well happened without anyone even knowing about it, if the first deer was not in a residential area. There probably are core pockets of the disease here that nobody even knows about.

2012, EHD killed about 15,000 deer in central Michigan and people didn't get all panicked like they did from the original 3 this year with CWD.

Ken -

Thanks for your input from Mi.

I found out since, that EHD is the most common disease among deer. It's transmitted by a biting insect called 'no seeums'. All deer w/EHD do not die, some recover and develop resistance against it.

There are some symptoms similar to both CWD & EHD. From what I read, all cervids infected will die from CWD.
___________________________________________________________

I've heard 'some say' that more deer have been found dead w/CWD recently. HOWEVER the total still is 56 confirmed.
Apparently those reports were MIS info derived from the latest news of the 6 TEST RESULTS released.

Also NOTHING new has been released from AGFC as of NOW. 4/5/2016, Noon.

Jerry

As of 1:30 pm, 4/07/2016 No other reports of positive CWD have been reported but...

I found a map of the "core area". It was on pdf and would not copy so I could move it here.

You can find it at AGFC, search CWD then P 2 "CWDCore Zone pdf".

As of NOW, all cases are spread around Newton Co. with 1 case in SE Carroll Co., & 2 cases in Boone Co.

In Newton Co. the cases are not all clustered together AND there are 3 cases spread in Southern Newton Co.

That's as good as I can describe it. The "corezonemap" pdf isn't hard to find.

Jerry

I remember the winter of '99. Like you, when putting feed out on my lease, mine were the only tracks there.