I happened to run into this thread after spending a day last week in Harrisburg learning about Chronic Wasting Disease. It was a long, but worthwhile day. I published my latest newspaper column on what hunters need to learn about CWD, how serious it is, and how they can help combat it. It began in Wyoming back in the 1960s and is spreading across the country in "cervids"—antlered animals including whitetails, mule deer, elk, moose and caribou. It likely came about first in captive deer facilities, but in a way it's too late to blame them because blame can do nothing to rid the landscape of the mischievous prion that causes CWD.

If interested, check out this week's column, "News about CWD—Mostly Bad, Some Good." That link takes you to my blog, and you can click through to the column in the Jamestown (NY) Gazette.

My next column will be sort of a Part 2 on CWD, and I'll write about what could happen if hunters don't work with wildlife managers to combat the disease. If I can remember to do it, I'll post a link to that one too.

Steve.

"I was a deerhunter long before I was a man." ~Gene Wensel's Come November (2000)
"A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user." ~Theodore Roosevelt