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/