Wyoming deer CWD positive

[steeleywhopper]

Three of us spent a week in Cody Wyoming visiting my folks and deer hunting. We managed to shoot a few deer and by chance we decided to let fish and game check two of the three deer for CWD, one mule deer buck and a whitetail doe. Just got the results back yesterday and both animals are positive for CWD, talk about crappy news.
The buck my cousin shot was not tested as he had it euro'd at the local taxidermist before we knew about the testing at F&G.
Has anyone else run into this issue and what did you do? Did you eat it or did you trash it?
I don't think I am going to take a chance eating it, but man oh man does it piss a guy off.

[vandeman17]

From everything I have heard and researched, there has been zero cases of issues with human consumption of the meat. Would I eat it knowing it tested positive, I am not sure but most likely I would. 

[Stein]

It would be painful to throw away, but I would not eat it.

The same thing happened with cows, it wasn't a problem until it jumped to the first human.  I believe most places have changed their recommendations from it's fine to don't eat it.

[boneaddict]

CDC says no go

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD: Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

[Widgeondeke]

CDC says no go

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD: Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

           I mean you already handled the meat and probably ate some tenderloin or back strap, so the big question would be..... Did they look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill) ?

[steeleywhopper]

CDC says no go

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD: Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

           I mean you already handled the meat and probably ate some tenderloin or back strap, so the big question would be..... Did they look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill) ?

My dad killed an elk while we were there so we were enjoying the backstrap and tenderloins from that. We packaged the buck and doe without eating any, and yes we did process ourselves and did handle the meat. Neither deer was acting goofy before shot, just normal deer doing normal deer stuff.
Hard pill to swallow getting rid of some good alfalfa fed whitetail meat...

[vandeman17]

CDC says no go

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD: Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

I don't take a single word the CDC seriously. Unless something has changed, I don't think there has been a single study or instance of human issues with consuming CWD positive meat.

[GOcougsHunter]

I am dumbfounded that this is not a bigger issue to be studied or brought forth by the entire US.  CWD is a prion with a 2 year lifespan in soil.  Prions cannot be destroyed unless heated to over 900 degrees.  The prion can be consumed and then distributed by feces.  The leading research is advising that predators are consuming CWD and spreading CWD across their range through their feces.  I would be concerned about innocently consuming a CWD infected animal, then going out in the woods and doing my business and introducing CWD into the landscape.  Whether or not it affects you and I, I am deeply concerned about it hitting our already struggling ungulate herds.

[Jpmiller]

From my limited understanding it "can't" spread to humans, but that's only true until it does. I like to say I'd eat it still but until presented with it myself I don't actually know. Having four young kids makes me slightly more concerned. If I didn't have an elk in the freezer and a move coming in the spring I'd offer to take one or both of them but I'm meat rich, time to eat it poor at the moment. Sorry you're in that spot.

[jamesfromseattle]

I unfortunately had the same thing happen on a Wyoming deer a year ago. I decided not continue eating it after I found out. I ate some of it in the field, but hadn't fed any to my family yet. I understand there are no documented cases of it jumping to humans, but I'd sure feel dumb about it if I was the first one. Or more importantly, if one of my kids was. BSE is no joke, and it sounds like this could be similar.

The concern raised above about not wanting the prions in our environment locally is also a good one. I called WDFW when I got the positive test, and they immediately had someone come out and pick it up at my house and take it to an incinerator. They made it really easy and were very appreciative. I know we pile a lot of criticism on WDFW, but I appreciated that they had a plan for this. It sounded like whoever was nearby dropped whatever they were doing and came over as soon as was convenient for me.

I'm no wildlife bio, but based on my conversation with a couple of them it sounds like it's only a matter of time before it gets here. However, if we can put it off a few more years, we could have a much better understanding of the issue and be better prepared to deal with it. Even if we're just buying time, time is valuable.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

The concern raised above about not wanting the prions in our environment locally is also a good one.

I'm no wildlife bio, but based on my conversation with a couple of them it sounds like it's only a matter of time before it gets here.

Talking with an Idaho game warden last season, he told us they are pretty sure that CWD was brought into Idaho by someone who hunted another state such as Wyoming or Montana and stopped and hunted in Idaho on their way home and dumped their bones or brains from the other state in the woods in Idaho. The disease didn't just show up from nowhere in the middle of the State. So you are correct, you don't want those prions in Washington. And Washington's rules on bringing animals home from other states is a good start. It's also possible that it was brought to Idaho in the way of deer urine lures that came from infected farmed deer.  Once the prions get a foothold it's trouble. They can survive at least two years, probably longer in the soil, so they are a ticking time bomb.

[steeleywhopper]

I unfortunately had the same thing happen on a Wyoming deer a year ago. I decided not continue eating it after I found out. I ate some of it in the field, but hadn't fed any to my family yet. I understand there are no documented cases of it jumping to humans, but I'd sure feel dumb about it if I was the first one. Or more importantly, if one of my kids was. BSE is no joke, and it sounds like this could be similar.

The concern raised above about not wanting the prions in our environment locally is also a good one. I called WDFW when I got the positive test, and they immediately had someone come out and pick it up at my house and take it to an incinerator. They made it really easy and were very appreciative. I know we pile a lot of criticism on WDFW, but I appreciated that they had a plan for this. It sounded like whoever was nearby dropped whatever they were doing and came over as soon as was convenient for me.

I'm no wildlife bio, but based on my conversation with a couple of them it sounds like it's only a matter of time before it gets here. However, if we can put it off a few more years, we could have a much better understanding of the issue and be better prepared to deal with it. Even if we're just buying time, time is valuable.

As much as I am anti-WDFW right now, I will call them and see what they suggest I do with it.  Maybe they can feed it to the Anti-Hunting Commission members for lunch!

[huntnfmly]

As hard as it would be to do I would dispose of it
Like said in other posts I wouldn’t want to be or anyone in my family the first case it jumped to humans

[Stein]

Every game department is suggesting you don't eat it.  I believe WDFW amended department rules to allow waste of CWD game meat, but a call to see what you should actually do with it would be in order as to not spread it to WA.

It's true it hasn't jumped to humans yet, but it's also true similar diseases in other animals made the jump eventually.  If/when it does, it has been 100% fatal in a really horrible way.

There have been studies in the lab that suggest the jump to humans is more likely than previously thought.  Minnesota put in $1.5M to study it and there is at least one other study that was done on "humanized" mice - whatever that strange thing is.

They also recently discovered the prions are not just in the spinal cord but also the meat.

It's a low risk today, but the negative outcome would be completely horrible.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

You want to really get scared, read this.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/prions-are-forever/

[Special T]

Michigan state has done a bunch of research on CWD.  Human transportation seems to be the biggest spread. Hot spots have occured during it's spread that don't have a lot of other explanation. Yes it has a March on its own but defining in the feild is a must now.

[baldopepper]

Brother got one in Utah 3-4 years ago that tested positive..They came and picked up the meat and issued him anew permit  This stuff is nasty  It devastated the area we hunted in south central Utah.  When you see deer in the late stages it's really sad.  Skin and bone and barely able to move.  The deer he shot was a healthy looking buck when he shot it.

[dvolmer]

Thousands of people eat deer, elk, and moose every year that have CWD.  You just about didn’t get your animals checked. If you wouldn’t have, you wouldn’t be having this dilemma now.  I’m not saying what’s the right thing to do or what isn’t. I’m just stating the truth.  I’ve been hunting in Montana, and in Wyoming for 10 to 15 years and bringing animals home every year. I’m sure at least one or more of those animals had it. That just a guess.  I guess I just have bigger things to worry about.  I’ve never had a Covid test, but I’ve been sick a few times in the last three years. 

[dvolmer]

There is absolutely no proof that some healthy deer that have CWD don’t live a  long full healthy life. All testing for CWD is done on dead or super sick animals, and the couple of tests/studies that were done on live animals, the live animals were destroyed upon detection. There is so much that we don’t know about this disease. Yes, it kills animals, yes it spreads, but there’s so much to learn about animals that are healthy with the disease.

[baldopepper]

There is absolutely no proof that some healthy deer that have CWD don’t live a  long full healthy life. All testing for CWD is done on dead or super sick animals, and the couple of tests/studies that were done on live animals, the live animals were destroyed upon detection. There is so much that we don’t know about this disease. Yes, it kills animals, yes it spreads, but there’s so much to learn about animals that are healthy with the disease.

Everything I'm reading both online and printed says cwd is 100% fatal  Apparently it is 15-24 months from exposure to death. So early stage animals do appear healthy.  It is something that should certainly.worry us in Washington.  We hunted an area that 10 years ago was not uncommon to see upwards.off 100 deer a day.  Now its usual to see none.  Both the bios and local ranchers in the area blame it on cwd.  Both report it was not unusual to see numerous animals obviously suffering from it on a daily basis in the area year around. There were other factors in the decline of that herd, but cwd was the final nail in the coffin. Anyone thinking it's not a big deal is very, very naive.

[bigmacc]

There is absolutely no proof that some healthy deer that have CWD don’t live a  long full healthy life. All testing for CWD is done on dead or super sick animals, and the couple of tests/studies that were done on live animals, the live animals were destroyed upon detection. There is so much that we don’t know about this disease. Yes, it kills animals, yes it spreads, but there’s so much to learn about animals that are healthy with the disease.

Everything I'm reading both online and printed says cwd is 100% fatal  Apparently it is 15-24 months from exposure to death. So early stage animals do appear healthy.  It is something that should certainly.worry us in Washington.  We hunted an area that 10 years ago was not uncommon to see upwards.off 100 deer a day.  Now its usual to see none.  Both the bios and local ranchers in the area blame it on cwd.  Both report it was not unusual to see numerous animals obviously suffering from it on a daily basis in the area year around. There were other factors in the decline of that herd, but cwd was the final nail in the coffin. Anyone thinking it's not a big deal is very, very naive.

👍 Good post.

And I agree, it’s just a matter of time folks before it’s here. I think it’s good to be proactive and diligent about this stuff. If there’s a check station in the area and you got a deer in the back, use the check station. It’s free, let them do their thing. CWD is not good. I don’t know if you can eat it or not but I’ll tell you this, it will wreak havoc on our herds here in Washington. Does any hunter in this state want that? We have enough problems. If you bring an animal in from another state, please follow protocol, follow safety guidelines. One, just one could be the nail in the coffin for our herds in this state. Just my 

[Fidelk]

Good post, macc.

[Karl Blanchard]

There is absolutely no proof that some healthy deer that have CWD don’t live a  long full healthy life. All testing for CWD is done on dead or super sick animals, and the couple of tests/studies that were done on live animals, the live animals were destroyed upon detection. There is so much that we don’t know about this disease. Yes, it kills animals, yes it spreads, but there’s so much to learn about animals that are healthy with the disease.

Everything I'm reading both online and printed says cwd is 100% fatal  Apparently it is 15-24 months from exposure to death. So early stage animals do appear healthy.  It is something that should certainly.worry us in Washington.  We hunted an area that 10 years ago was not uncommon to see upwards.off 100 deer a day.  Now its usual to see none.  Both the bios and local ranchers in the area blame it on cwd.  Both report it was not unusual to see numerous animals obviously suffering from it on a daily basis in the area year around. There were other factors in the decline of that herd, but cwd was the final nail in the coffin. Anyone thinking it's not a big deal is very, very naive.

👍 Good post.

And I agree, it’s just a matter of time folks before it’s here. I think it’s good to be proactive and diligent about this stuff. If there’s a check station in the area and you got a deer in the back, use the check station. It’s free, let them do their thing. CWD is not good. I don’t know if you can eat it or not but I’ll tell you this, it will wreak havoc on our herds here in Washington. Does any hunter in this state want that? We have enough problems. If you bring an animal in from another state, please follow protocol, follow safety guidelines. One, just one could be the nail in the coffin for our herds in this state. Just my 

great posts both of you.

As stated, CWD has not made the jump to humans......yet. it's so ridiculously simple to get your animals tested, there's no reason not to. We don't eat an animal from cwd states until we get test results back. If they pop positive (hasn't happened yet), we are absolutely not eating it. It's very short sighted to ignore all the data out there and to act like it's not a serious issue

[bigmacc]

Good post, macc.

Well, hell, thank you. Did it freeze over?😆 seriously, thank you.

[dvolmer]

https://blog.eastmans.com/cwd-management-ask-more-questions/

[Stein]

That reminds me of why I cancelled my Eastman's subscription years ago.  We have a disease with well documented spread state by state, county by county, with multiple state agencies all saying the same thing, watching it spread from the origin in a captive herd yet he thinks it might be totally natural and no big deal?  Really? 

I guess we have the proof about his uncle dying to somehow tie the fantasy all together. 

[baldopepper]

https://blog.eastmans.com/cwd-management-ask-more-questions/

  ⅞
Yea, let's not make any pro active decisions based on best available science as well as innumerable field observations.  Let's keep asking questions and hoping there's no outbreak in the area I hunt.  Our stressed and diminishing deer herds don't have time for us to be stalling  taking action because it might inconvenience our hunting plans. Hate to see another case of figuring out what we should of done after it's to late to save a devastated herd.  Being reactive instead of pro active isn't helping save our game animals.

[jae]

You want to really get scared, read this.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/prions-are-forever/

WOW!

[Chesapeake]

CDC says no go

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD: Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

           I mean you already handled the meat and probably ate some tenderloin or back strap, so the big question would be..... Did they look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill) ?

My dad killed an elk while we were there so we were enjoying the backstrap and tenderloins from that. We packaged the buck and doe without eating any, and yes we did process ourselves and did handle the meat. Neither deer was acting goofy before shot, just normal deer doing normal deer stuff.
Hard pill to swallow getting rid of some good alfalfa fed whitetail meat...

So aren’t the odds that the non-tested deer and the elk also have CWD pretty dang good?
And if they didn’t, wouldn’t butchering the animals on the same tables, in the same area, with the same knives make it so they were exposed?

You read about how easy this stuff is to spread and how hard it is to kill. It makes it seem like we have no chance of preventing spread.

I also think there is a bit of it shows up where it’s tested for going on. Meaning that most of the places that supposedly don’t have it, don’t test or test very little. As soon as states start extensive testing programs they find it.
So is it really not here, or is it just not found yet?

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t eat the deer if I knew it had CWD. Especially with the scientists offering an easily morally justified way out.

[Stein]

It depends on the state, some test a bunch, some not so much.  I hunt MT and they have a great website showing where CWD is prevalent and where it is not and all the test results.  You can easily see if the are you want to hunt has had positive CWD results as well as how much testing ha gone on in that area.

https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/chronic-wasting-disease/in-montana

https://mtfwp.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/ccd4d1ee5d7e47bbb16e431102468173

In contrast, I don't think WDFW publishes any data (they do have a very generic summary report from 2021-2 but nothing recent), so you don't know whether CWD is not found in XYZ unit or if there was limited or no testing done there.  When CWD shows up in WA, I would hope WDFW would enhance their website and transparency, but we'll see.  They seem to be focusing effort on the eastern part of the state, but who knows how many tests they are doing and from what units.  Are they testing other parts of the state?  Lots of questions.

There is a special draw next year for anyone that submitted a sample, I think BHA bought the actual tags to make it happen.

Like many things in WDFW, increased transparency and data availability would go a long way to helping sportsmen.

[dilleytech]

The odds for your safety are greatly in your favor for eating it. Like 100% odds.

[dilleytech]

There is absolutely no proof that some healthy deer that have CWD don’t live a  long full healthy life. All testing for CWD is done on dead or super sick animals, and the couple of tests/studies that were done on live animals, the live animals were destroyed upon detection. There is so much that we don’t know about this disease. Yes, it kills animals, yes it spreads, but there’s so much to learn about animals that are healthy with the disease.

Everything I'm reading both online and printed says cwd is 100% fatal  Apparently it is 15-24 months from exposure to death. So early stage animals do appear healthy.  It is something that should certainly.worry us in Washington.  We hunted an area that 10 years ago was not uncommon to see upwards.off 100 deer a day.  Now its usual to see none.  Both the bios and local ranchers in the area blame it on cwd.  Both report it was not unusual to see numerous animals obviously suffering from it on a daily basis in the area year around. There were other factors in the decline of that herd, but cwd was the final nail in the coffin. Anyone thinking it's not a big deal is very, very naive.

👍 Good post.

And I agree, it’s just a matter of time folks before it’s here. I think it’s good to be proactive and diligent about this stuff. If there’s a check station in the area and you got a deer in the back, use the check station. It’s free, let them do their thing. CWD is not good. I don’t know if you can eat it or not but I’ll tell you this, it will wreak havoc on our herds here in Washington. Does any hunter in this state want that? We have enough problems. If you bring an animal in from another state, please follow protocol, follow safety guidelines. One, just one could be the nail in the coffin for our herds in this state. Just my 

great posts both of you.

As stated, CWD has not made the jump to humans......yet. it's so ridiculously simple to get your animals tested, there's no reason not to. We don't eat an animal from cwd states until we get test results back. If they pop positive (hasn't happened yet), we are absolutely not eating it. It's very short sighted to ignore all the data out there and to act like it's not a serious issue

It’s clearly a serious issue for the animals but the data shows it’s not for humans. So what do you mean? The spreading of it is increased through us eating it? I could see that logic but if that risk is so high they should be banning the eating of CWD meat. Or buying it off people.

[SuperX]

Should those who say they won't eat it quit hunting so they aren't wasting perfectly good venison?  Seems like the ethical thing to do.

[Mtnwalker]

Boy it’s a good thing science and data never changes 

We’ve been heavily researching cancer for well over 100 years and still can’t definitively say what causes it or what it is linked to. Those of you who are saying case closed, this 100% does not and will not affect humans that’s a pretty bold statement, and you have much more faith in our scientific institutions than I do

[dilleytech]

Boy it’s a good thing science and data never changes 

We’ve been heavily researching cancer for well over 100 years and still can’t definitively say what causes it or what it is linked to. Those of you who are saying case closed, this 100% does not and will not affect humans that’s a pretty bold statement, and you have much more faith in our scientific institutions than I do

Did anyone say it “will not” affect humans in this thread? Certainly no one in the science side of things has that I have heard of anyway.

[Itsintheblood]

I’m heading back there to hunt next week. I’m just curious how long it took you to get the results back? Sounds like if you didn’t find out until you got home it might be a bit.

[Mtnwalker]

Boy it’s a good thing science and data never changes 

We’ve been heavily researching cancer for well over 100 years and still can’t definitively say what causes it or what it is linked to. Those of you who are saying case closed, this 100% does not and will not affect humans that’s a pretty bold statement, and you have much more faith in our scientific institutions than I do

Did anyone say it “will not” affect humans in this thread? Certainly no one in the science side of things has that I have heard of anyway.

“The odds for your safety are greatly in your favor for eating it. Like 100% odds.”- You

[dilleytech]

Boy it’s a good thing science and data never changes 

We’ve been heavily researching cancer for well over 100 years and still can’t definitively say what causes it or what it is linked to. Those of you who are saying case closed, this 100% does not and will not affect humans that’s a pretty bold statement, and you have much more faith in our scientific institutions than I do

Did anyone say it “will not” affect humans in this thread? Certainly no one in the science side of things has that I have heard of anyway.

“The odds for your safety are greatly in your favor for eating it. Like 100% odds.”- You

Yes, and that’s 100% correct. The percentage of people who have gotten CWD from eating deer is 0%. The odds of you not getting it could change to 99.999999% someday. We will have to see.

[ganghis]

An important point is that CWD is relatively new - maybe 40 years in the wild, and much less in a lot of areas.  There could still be an incubation period with it that hasn't been observed yet.  My attitude is that I'd personally eat a deer or elk with CWD, but that's because I'm relatively risk tolerant and already in my mid 40s.  I wouldn't serve it to my kids though, and would think twice if I were younger. 

[jamesfromseattle]

I’m heading back there to hunt next week. I’m just curious how long it took you to get the results back? Sounds like if you didn’t find out until you got home it might be a bit.

I got my (negative) test quick this year. I think it was less than a week.

[Chesapeake]

If a human eats it, is it still infectious after transiting a septic system or sewage treatment plant?

It would seem that animals eating it and then dedicating it out allows it to remain infectious.


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26636258/#:~:text=coyotes%20(Canis%20latrans)-,CWD%20prions%20remain%20infectious%20after%20passage%20through%20the%20digestive%20system,Prion.


Which contradicts what is said in this article.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/dec/09/cwd-expert-wolves-hunters-can-help-minimize-spread/#:~:text=Wolves%20and%20other%20canines%20are,easy%20targets%2C”%20she%20said.

[Itsintheblood]

I’m heading back there to hunt next week. I’m just curious how long it took you to get the results back? Sounds like if you didn’t find out until you got home it might be a bit.

I got my (negative) test quick this year. I think it was less than a week.

Thanks for letting me know.

[steeleywhopper]

I’m heading back there to hunt next week. I’m just curious how long it took you to get the results back? Sounds like if you didn’t find out until you got home it might be a bit.

I believe it was 5 or 6 days to get results.

[emac]

So if you are hunting another state and bring the meat back to Washington you have to de bone it and make sure there is no brain or anything on the skull cap correct.  If everyone was worried about CWD why are you allowed to keep the meat and transport back to Washington?  Do the bones and the brain material have the CWD in them and not the meat?  How many people that hunt out of state actually get there deer tested?  I guess I am just wondering after all that can CWD be transmitted through the meat?

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[92xj]

The bones and head material are discarded, and the meat is placed in your freezer to eat.  The discarding of body parts is the problem. If the deer is tested and comes back positive, you know where that meat is located (your freezer) and it can be properly disposed of.  Once that test comes back positive after a week or so, the bones laying in the yard/woods/trash pile/ditch, have already spread CWD to the ground/animals/whatever.

[Stein]

So if you are hunting another state and bring the meat back to Washington you have to de bone it and make sure there is no brain or anything on the skull cap correct.  If everyone was worried about CWD why are you allowed to keep the meat and transport back to Washington?  Do the bones and the brain material have the CWD in them and not the meat?  How many people that hunt out of state actually get there deer tested?  I guess I am just wondering after all that can CWD be transmitted through the meat?

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

They used to think CWD was only or mainly in the spinal column and brain.  Now, it seems that is not true and there are prions in the meat of infected animals. I think the policy is one of practicality, if they don't allow the meat to be imported there will be big problems with hunters.

As mentioned above, the meat is packaged up and easy to keep track of, unlike bones which most people just chuck wherever they happen to be when they get boned out, sometimes to the dump but many times just in the woods somewhere.

I get our animals tested, it's easy and free.