Mini rant. I kill a deer in a secondary surveillance area. Pay 104.00 to have it processed @ not my normal place. This, because you cannot legally transport the meat with any bone what so ever in it out of the area. That means I would have to break it down and de-bone it at the kill site for me. Then dig out the lymph nodes and drop them off at a station or to a processor. I can do all that, but I prefer not to.
The processor sends in the required lymph nodes and that takes 4-6 weeks to get the results. Here's the kicker, if it test positive, they, the NCWRC along with the CDC recommends not eating the meat! Waste of time and money all the way around.

I know the answer but none of it is feasible with the time frame to get the test results back. There needs to be a faster way to get these results back. The test takes 4 hours to complete. If it comes back negative all is well (supposedly). A "positive" results in a retest for accuracy.

Meat from this deer is all vacuum sealed and in the freezer. After I get the results, it will be thawed, and pressure canned providing it is "good".

If not I'm out two trips to the processor 50+ miles each way and 104.00 for the processor. sucks all around.

Would you eat the meat from a positive testing deer? Me? Nope!

Mini rant over.

WI been dealing with CWD for two decades now. Testing is optional, and positive tests have popped from everywhere. All that to say enough positive deer have been consumed over the last 20 years that if it was going to jump from cervid to human it would have happened by now.

Wouldn’t eat one so far gone it was skin and bones stumbling around, but, visually healthy I’m not going to lose sleep.

Same thing here in Idaho. CWD just showed up 2 years ago and the Fish and Game is recommending that animals get tested. I've been playing along so far with sending in samples, but agree that it is a pain to drop off lymph nodes and process the meat not knowing if its gonna be negative. All the samples I've sent in so far have been negative, but CWD is just getting started here. It wouldn't be so bad if the results could be found out immediately.

I'm glad you chimed in on this hillestadj, I wondered what hunters from states with much higher rates of CWD did their tests and if they ate the meat.

This year I said to hell with it and went ahead and started eating deer and elk killed this fall, even though the lymph node test results won't be back for at least another month. My wife on the other hand thinks I'm crazy to risk it and she ain't eating any until the test comes back negative.

There is no such thing as a negative sample.

As in no test confirms a deer doesn’t have CWD

Only positive or not positive

If U R askeerd……don’t hunt.

Anybody know or heard of any deer-consuming predator or scavenger that has shown symptoms of, or tested positive for, CWD anywhere?

IIRC a state biologist at a CWD check station told me a deer can have CWD for up to 2 years before showing any symptoms of having it. In a CWD area, that puts a lot of deer in question. Symptoms showing are the only way us hunters can determine if a deer is sick or not in the field before we kill it.

I've personally never seen a live sick deer in the area I hunt, nor have I seen a dead carcass in the field that could be attributed to having CWD and passed in the final stage of it.

The official government statement says there are no known passings of CWD to humans through consumption of at risk venison. The guberment will always leave a door open for when they're wrong. Fish & Game also does not want you to quit hunting because of it, and infact will extend/modify seasons so to give hunters every opportunity possible to trim down or wipe out a problem area.

My sons and I have cut back on what we hunt lately, mostly due to a decreased need for it....but we still kill and consume. Lord only knows how many we've put up that we're somewhere in that 2 year positive zone and didn't know it because they appeared fat and healthy when we killed them.

I have read and read since yesterday about CWD and it does appear that the prion has never been traced to being transmitted to a human, but some studies suggest it can be transmitted to some non human primates.
Lots of studies and theories have been examined but only 4 Cases of this have been verified and it's not from whitetails.
Feeling better about it now. There is no telling how many deer have been consumed that were positive.
I'm going to take the Hillestadj approach to it.




https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...kob-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20371226

The prions related to cwd cannot be destroyed. Whether you eat it or not, the prions are all over you, your knife, you backpack, truck, ect., it's in the soil, your kitchen, your shop. Scavengers can't get it, humans can't get it, antelope and sheep can't get it. It's only in cervids, moose, elk, deer. This has been my research. The experts say that licking branches, water sources, bait or food piles, feeding grounds, are all susceptible area of transmission.

I know guys that just kill and eat. Don't even test or worry about it. It is kinda spooky, but if humans could get it, the numbers of human cases would be astronomical.

Wouldn’t risk it if I knew it was positive. It’s always fine until it isn’t.

Had this conversation with a local conservation officer recently. Seems for him & folks in his circle of fellow conservation officers the majority if not all feel comfortable using CWD positive meat for consumption for themselves & they're families.

Personally I am more conservative to the point I have lost interest in hunting the far end of my state where CWD is prevalent. Thus far CWD is not being detected in local herds within 150 miles of my home.

Really like eating & hunting deer. Not sure where I would stand on my hunting practices if the CWD became prevalent in my home circle.

Yep. I'm guessing 80-90% of folks in our state (including me) do the same thing – kill it and grill it.

Well, no word yet from the NCWRC and am not expecting any for the next couple of weeks.
The hot Italian sausage I had this morning from that deer was delicious. I guess I had a little crow with it too. Lol

. If ya'll don't hear from me anymore.....it got me!

CWD BS Hysteria!

Where I hunt Mule deer in Alberta, the government told us they were going to cull the deer herds because they were trying to stop the spread of CWD. They did in fact cull the deer herds in great numbers from what I have read, heard, and seen.

In the zone I have been hunting for over 20 years, they slaughtered thousands of deer in that zone and adjoining zones.

When I started hunting in this particular zone on average I would see well over 100 deer per day, one day I counted 153 deer.

They were very successful in slaughtering these animals, by shooting them from Helicopters. Following their culling program we had two very harsh and severe winters with a lot of snow back to back. Now when I hunt there I am lucky if I see 20 deer a day.

We were mandated to take all of our heads in to get tested. Every year I took in two doe heads, and every second I took in a buck head with two doe heads (they are delicious!), this has gone on for many years.

What is interesting is that although (according to the Alberta Government) Alberta has a very high CWD infection rate, I never had a single one test positive and I brought in many for testing. What else is very interesting is that I have never heard of a single person in Alberta getting sick from eating a CWD-infected deer!

IMO Our governments should let nature run its course, and stop slaughtering wildlife, wholesale. I have seen ZERO BENEFITS in doing this, only drawbacks and highly reduced numbers of deer.

Has anyone on this thread ever heard of someone getting sick from eating a CWD-infected deer?

I'm in a CWD zone here in SW VA.
The DWR found one[1] supposed case here two years back.
None since or before.
It's crazy.

Only time ever gave it a thought was a spine shot deer in a heavy cwd area . A bit Leary of those backstops. Did eat em in the end, we'll see what happens.

If you find yourself dating women who look like this, you know that you were infected by CWD.

CWD is the global warming dog whistle of wildlife agencies, i.e., it's a cash cow for 'em.

100% Correct!

CWD is no different than Covid. Bullshit.

Poor LBP...

I for one will miss him.

Update.... Muzzleloader buck shot 11/03 came back "not detected". I was happy for that, but we have already eaten a few packs of the sausage and burger from that deer.
I'm still standing so there is that one short term sample.