CWD Officially Confirmed in WA

[Special T]

It is believed that most of the spot locations that show up are a result of people transporting game. So to me the close proximity to I90 isn't a surprise.

[ganghis]

The closes case was found on the east side of Idaho . And now they found a dead deer laying on the ground  just in side of Spokane in less then  2 years. All lies i call bull to that.
Idaho extended there there season longer in the unit the deer was shot in hundreds of deer were shot for testing not one deer tested positive for cwd but they find one in Washington dead on side of road  i dont think so . Bull s##t it was hit by car or blue tongue.

You are clearly misinformed.  The Elk City unit has it on the W side of Idaho.  Had to do mandatory CWD testing there 2 years ago.  Prevalence is still pretty low there but it's for sure there (like 10% for deer, 3 % for elk or something).  And it's not right next to any other units that would have made sense for it to come to.  The analogy to downwind spot fires just raised is a good one.  As much as HW loves conspiracy theories, I hate to burst your bubble but this is probably 100% legit.  I'll let the rest of you debate whether George Soros ordered the Trump hit

[baldopepper]

I promise you if it spreads, you'll know it when you see.  You'll see deer that look like zombies, decimated, ragged looking and obviously near death. I saw it in Utah in the unit we hunted for 30 years.  Took two that were in early stage, looked ok but tested positive. I can tell you that an area where you'd see 75-100+ deer a day within 5 years went to 4-5 per and at least 1 of them dying on its feet. Only thing that really changed was prevalence of cwd.  It's really, really nasty stuff!  Anyone who doesn't do what they can to help stop its spread has their head in the sand.

[Meathunter06]

Was just telling my wife about this. Her first response was....."you sure you trust that the state is telling the truth about this and that they aren't misrepresenting it to push their agenda?".
Love this woman

Exactly! ever hear of covid if *censored*s are involved we'll have to start wearing masks to go hunting

[Special T]

Unfortunately agencies have done so much to loose trust that something like this isn't believed. Certain commissioners will certainly  use this opportunity to hurt hunting, but that doesn't mean the identification of it here means it was a plant.

[baldopepper]

Unfortunately agencies have done so much to loose trust that something like this isn't believed. Certain commissioners will certainly  use this opportunity to hurt hunting, but that doesn't mean the identification of it here means it was a plant.

Using again what I saw in Utah, there was initially a lot of skepticism there also. Many hunters went out of their way to not have their deer tested, thinking some of the same thoughts I see here. By the time most realized it was a real thing it was too late for some units. Mostly effected were those units where the majority of the mule deer migrated for the winter into the same smaller winter feed area and were compacted for the winter months. I don't know what they'll do here, there is no simple solution yet.  I do know that we'll all regret it if we don't do whatever we can to help stop its spread. 

[turkeyfeather]

Unfortunately agencies have done so much to loose trust that something like this isn't believed. Certain commissioners will certainly  use this opportunity to hurt hunting, but that doesn't mean the identification of it here means it was a plant.

Using again what I saw in Utah, there was initially a lot of skepticism there also. Many hunters went out of their way to not have their deer tested, thinking some of the same thoughts I see here. By the time most realized it was a real thing it was too late for some units. Mostly effected were those units where the majority of the mule deer migrated for the winter into the same smaller winter feed area and were compacted for the winter months. I don't know what they'll do here, there is no simple solution yet.  I do know that we'll all regret it if we don't do whatever we can to help stop its spread.

And what is that? From what I have ascertained......there really isn't much you can do.

[baldopepper]

Unfortunately agencies have done so much to loose trust that something like this isn't believed. Certain commissioners will certainly  use this opportunity to hurt hunting, but that doesn't mean the identification of it here means it was a plant.

Using again what I saw in Utah, there was initially a lot of skepticism there also. Many hunters went out of their way to not have their deer tested, thinking some of the same thoughts I see here. By the time most realized it was a real thing it was too late for some units. Mostly effected were those units where the majority of the mule deer migrated for the winter into the same smaller winter feed area and were compacted for the winter months. I don't know what they'll do here, there is no simple solution yet.  I do know that we'll all regret it if we don't do whatever we can to help stop its spread.

And what is that? From what I have ascertained......there really isn't much you can do.

Bury the "they're out to get us" mentality that seems to take over a lot of the threads. As I stated, I don't know what they'll do here, I suspect mandatory testing and perhaps some restrictions in units if it's found.  Some states have had luck containing it with hard restrictions on removing animals from an area where it's found.  To start off with a they're just trying to screw us attitude so to heck with them, is not the way to go.
 

[Stein]

If you have a disease that can last 1,000 years in the soil and is highly communicable, the thought that it wouldn't spread to WA seems like more of a conspiracy than when it did.

There is no doubt some hunters are bringing bones and skulls back plus just natural deer movement.  It all makes for an inevitable problem that no state has any answer for other than kill all the deer every time you have an outbreak.

Sure, we can not transport bones, but you can't tell the deer to not walk around.  At best we can somewhat delay the inevitable.

[bearpaw]

I have quite a few family and friends who live in Wisconsin, a state where CWD has a strong foothold, getting CWD hasn't been the end of deer hunting for WI.

The state did reduce deer numbers significantly using hunters as the tool to accomplish that goal. For several years they had what they called "earn a buck", for every doe you shot you got a buck tag, the program seemed to have worked, the deer population was reduced but not eliminated. Family and friends still report that they have pretty good hunting there.

Idaho immediately started a program in the area where they found CWD, by issuing additional deer tags to reduce the deer population. They are still being very proactive with that program.

I expect the same type of response here in WA, reduce the deer poplulation to try and prevent the spread of CWD. In much of northeast WA the deer population is already at low levels due to blue tongue a couple years ago, so the spread of CWD should not be as fast in most areas. However, Spokane county has a pretty high deer population due to so much private property and no hunting areas. If I was making decisions on how to prevent the spread of CWD in the Spokane area I would be most concerned about increasing hunting opportunities in the urban areas where deer numbers are too high and more likely to spread the disease, in these areas the deer population should be reduced the greatest and as soon as possible!

[dwils233]

In much of northeast WA the deer population is already at low levels due to blue tongue a couple years ago, so the spread of CWD should not be as fast in most areas.

I agree that our populations out here are low, and it seems that frequent droughts have kept them low- Our blue tongue cycles seem to be coming every three years, in the past they seemed more spread out to allow herd repopulation.

I also think that the same thing that conditions that cause blue tongue transmission (congregating around smaller water sources), would also be where CWD transmission would occur- in other words, if this year is a bad blue tongue year, it'll also be a year which increased risk of CWD spreading. Double whammy for an already diminished population

[hunter399]

In much of northeast WA the deer population is already at low levels due to blue tongue a couple years ago, so the spread of CWD should not be as fast in most areas.

I agree that our populations out here are low, and it seems that frequent droughts have kept them low- Our blue tongue cycles seem to be coming every three years, in the past they seemed more spread out to allow herd repopulation.

I also think that the same thing that conditions that cause blue tongue transmission (congregating around smaller water sources), would also be where CWD transmission would occur- in other words, if this year is a bad blue tongue year, it'll also be a year which increased risk of CWD spreading. Double whammy for an already diminished population

I agree with both statements.
The problem is our biologist will not agree. Will say our deer/elk/moose population are at normal levels.
Our commission/WDFW have had plenty of opportunities to increase population of these herds. Through many proposals and petitions that have been brought in front of them.

Until I see multiple cases ,I'm not even gonna blink an eye.
I drive 395 daily for work ,every day there is new road kill that they can test. No excuse to drag there feet.

[Stein]

I have quite a few family and friends who live in Wisconsin, a state where CWD has a strong foothold, getting CWD hasn't been the end of deer hunting for WI.

The state did reduce deer numbers significantly using hunters as the tool to accomplish that goal. For several years they had what they called "earn a buck", for every doe you shot you got a buck tag, the program seemed to have worked, the deer population was reduced but not eliminated. Family and friends still report that they have pretty good hunting there.

Idaho immediately started a program in the area where they found CWD, by issuing additional deer tags to reduce the deer population. They are still being very proactive with that program.

I expect the same type of response here in WA, reduce the deer poplulation to try and prevent the spread of CWD. In much of northeast WA the deer population is already at low levels due to blue tongue a couple years ago, so the spread of CWD should not be as fast in most areas. However, Spokane county has a pretty high deer population due to so much private property and no hunting areas. If I was making decisions on how to prevent the spread of CWD in the Spokane area I would be most concerned about increasing hunting opportunities in the urban areas where deer numbers are too high and more likely to spread the disease, in these areas the deer population should be reduced the greatest and as soon as possible!

Do you think the current commission will approve that strategy, assuming WDFW would propose it?  It seems to be more of a shut down hunting and let nature take care of itself leaning.

[bearpaw]

I have quite a few family and friends who live in Wisconsin, a state where CWD has a strong foothold, getting CWD hasn't been the end of deer hunting for WI.

The state did reduce deer numbers significantly using hunters as the tool to accomplish that goal. For several years they had what they called "earn a buck", for every doe you shot you got a buck tag, the program seemed to have worked, the deer population was reduced but not eliminated. Family and friends still report that they have pretty good hunting there.

Idaho immediately started a program in the area where they found CWD, by issuing additional deer tags to reduce the deer population. They are still being very proactive with that program.

I expect the same type of response here in WA, reduce the deer poplulation to try and prevent the spread of CWD. In much of northeast WA the deer population is already at low levels due to blue tongue a couple years ago, so the spread of CWD should not be as fast in most areas. However, Spokane county has a pretty high deer population due to so much private property and no hunting areas. If I was making decisions on how to prevent the spread of CWD in the Spokane area I would be most concerned about increasing hunting opportunities in the urban areas where deer numbers are too high and more likely to spread the disease, in these areas the deer population should be reduced the greatest and as soon as possible!

Do you think the current commission will approve that strategy, assuming WDFW would propose it?  It seems to be more of a shut down hunting and let nature take care of itself leaning.

I think that's what the WDFW will recommend and also what a normal commission would decide to do. I have no idea how the anti-hunting WA Wildlife Commission will act? They might use CWD as an excuse to reduce hunting, even though every other state has increased hunting to fight the disease, these fake commissioners might use any reason to reduce hunting opportunities?

The fake Washington Wildlife Commission is literally the hunter's worst enemy in WA state!

[Tphill41]

Thanks for the information!