There currently is dire concern about mule deer declines across the Western US and additional concern in regard to spread and prevalence of CWD.
Some of you may not be aware of the long history of CWD in Colorado. CWD was originally detected in mule deer in an experiment station near Fort Collins, Colorado in the early 1980's. CWD was first documented in wild populations in Northern Colorado in 1985.
One little known fact is that CWD has been in wild mule deer in this same Northern Colorado area as early as 1969. CWD has likely been in Colorado for over 50 years! There has never been a die-off and the mule deer in areas where CWD first came into existence in 1969 are doing just fine.
A great example of deer doing fine where CWD has existed since the 1980's is on the Arsenal near Denver. The CPW actually culled this area way back in the 1980's but discovered culling did nothing. The CPW has allowed the herd to increase and world class mature bucks have thrived every year since culled practices were suspended in the 1980's. There is no doubt that older age class bucks and deer herds survive and do fine where CWD exists. Below is an older age class buck currently found on the Arsenal where CWD prions in soils have existed since the early 1980's.
Culling projects, increase in deer tags, and late rifle rut season dates have been used by wildlife managers to possibly prevent the rate of the spread and prevalence of CWD as early as the 1980's in Colorado. Unfortunately, none of these large-scale projects have been successful at preventing the spread and prevalence of CWD prions that last centuries on the soil and landscape.
It appears that Western States are re-inventing the wheel with culling projects, deer tag increases, and late rifle rut season dates that were already discovered to be ineffective in Colorado back in the 1980's and 90's when CWD first was discovered. I thought it would be a good timing to bring to attention several large-scale CWD projects that I will include in the next post.
What I find interesting with this earlier research is that each of these large-scale project's results mention that concentrated efforts on thinning and monitoring CWD herds were ineffective. Several of these publications actually mention that predators do a great job of culling weak and sick deer. My guess is that tough winters and drought years also do a great job of reducing CWD prevalence.
Wildlife managers may actually be doing more harm than good by increasing deer tag numbers and eliminating older age class bucks. It has become apparent that captive deer breeders are using this to their advantage by using CWD alleles to their advantage. It seems odd to me that the same thing hasn't been used in wild deer herds.
There are two genotypes of deer with gene 225. One is 225S and the other is 225F. The 225S deer can get CWD more easily and die from it in three years. The 225F deer are much more resistant and if they do get CWD, they live seven years. Dr. Hobbs at CSU did a long-term study in Livermore that showed that out of 12 deer that got CWD during his study, only 1 of 12 was 225F. He also concluded that CWD would not lead to the extinction of deer. Dr. Hobbs also noted that the 225F deer were becoming more numerous as time went by because 225S deer were getting the disease easier and more often and die off.
In addition, the removal of mature bucks, only some of which are 225S bucks that are thought to get CWD during the rut from interacting with several groups of females while searching for estrus females, is the wrong thing to do. These older CWD positive 225S bucks are spreading the disease to 225S females and also getting the disease from 225S females in the first place. But by removing the mature bucks that MIGHT carry CWD and other mature bucks that are not carrying CWD, we are pushing CWD into the remaining younger bucks all the earlier in their life cycles when they start breeding more often because the older bucks are dead. This means more bucks get CWD at a younger age, which is not good.
If wildlife management programs would allow 225S deer to slowly die out through natural selection, the 225F deer will become the most plentiful genotype. In some areas that have had CWD for many years, the 225F deer populations are already at 50%, up from 10%. Captive deer breeders in TX and other states have already stopped breeding 225S white-tailed deer and their facilities are almost completely CWD-free. It will take longer in the wild but this is the solution, not humans killing more deer. CWD is now found in the soil, water and can even uptake in plants that deer eat. We are not going to stop it with more licenses where CWD is already fairly common. This increased harvest is actually making CWD prevalence last longer.
With that said, it is important that hunters and mule deer enthusiasts stand up and resist some of the culling projects, increase in tags, and late rifle rut season dates proposals. None of these are science-based and have proven to be ineffective at preventing the spread and prevalence of CWD. These strategies seem meaningless if CWD prions persist in soils for centuries.
We may want to re-think long-term management strategies and go back to the basics by stepping back and allowing mother nature to take her course. Allow "survival of the fittest" to win battles. Hopefully surrounding states learn from Colorado's mistakes.
Some of you may not be aware of the long history of CWD in Colorado. CWD was originally detected in mule deer in an experiment station near Fort Collins, Colorado in the early 1980's. CWD was first documented in wild populations in Northern Colorado in 1985.
One little known fact is that CWD has been in wild mule deer in this same Northern Colorado area as early as 1969. CWD has likely been in Colorado for over 50 years! There has never been a die-off and the mule deer in areas where CWD first came into existence in 1969 are doing just fine.
A great example of deer doing fine where CWD has existed since the 1980's is on the Arsenal near Denver. The CPW actually culled this area way back in the 1980's but discovered culling did nothing. The CPW has allowed the herd to increase and world class mature bucks have thrived every year since culled practices were suspended in the 1980's. There is no doubt that older age class bucks and deer herds survive and do fine where CWD exists. Below is an older age class buck currently found on the Arsenal where CWD prions in soils have existed since the early 1980's.
Culling projects, increase in deer tags, and late rifle rut season dates have been used by wildlife managers to possibly prevent the rate of the spread and prevalence of CWD as early as the 1980's in Colorado. Unfortunately, none of these large-scale projects have been successful at preventing the spread and prevalence of CWD prions that last centuries on the soil and landscape.
It appears that Western States are re-inventing the wheel with culling projects, deer tag increases, and late rifle rut season dates that were already discovered to be ineffective in Colorado back in the 1980's and 90's when CWD first was discovered. I thought it would be a good timing to bring to attention several large-scale CWD projects that I will include in the next post.
What I find interesting with this earlier research is that each of these large-scale project's results mention that concentrated efforts on thinning and monitoring CWD herds were ineffective. Several of these publications actually mention that predators do a great job of culling weak and sick deer. My guess is that tough winters and drought years also do a great job of reducing CWD prevalence.
Wildlife managers may actually be doing more harm than good by increasing deer tag numbers and eliminating older age class bucks. It has become apparent that captive deer breeders are using this to their advantage by using CWD alleles to their advantage. It seems odd to me that the same thing hasn't been used in wild deer herds.
There are two genotypes of deer with gene 225. One is 225S and the other is 225F. The 225S deer can get CWD more easily and die from it in three years. The 225F deer are much more resistant and if they do get CWD, they live seven years. Dr. Hobbs at CSU did a long-term study in Livermore that showed that out of 12 deer that got CWD during his study, only 1 of 12 was 225F. He also concluded that CWD would not lead to the extinction of deer. Dr. Hobbs also noted that the 225F deer were becoming more numerous as time went by because 225S deer were getting the disease easier and more often and die off.
In addition, the removal of mature bucks, only some of which are 225S bucks that are thought to get CWD during the rut from interacting with several groups of females while searching for estrus females, is the wrong thing to do. These older CWD positive 225S bucks are spreading the disease to 225S females and also getting the disease from 225S females in the first place. But by removing the mature bucks that MIGHT carry CWD and other mature bucks that are not carrying CWD, we are pushing CWD into the remaining younger bucks all the earlier in their life cycles when they start breeding more often because the older bucks are dead. This means more bucks get CWD at a younger age, which is not good.
If wildlife management programs would allow 225S deer to slowly die out through natural selection, the 225F deer will become the most plentiful genotype. In some areas that have had CWD for many years, the 225F deer populations are already at 50%, up from 10%. Captive deer breeders in TX and other states have already stopped breeding 225S white-tailed deer and their facilities are almost completely CWD-free. It will take longer in the wild but this is the solution, not humans killing more deer. CWD is now found in the soil, water and can even uptake in plants that deer eat. We are not going to stop it with more licenses where CWD is already fairly common. This increased harvest is actually making CWD prevalence last longer.
With that said, it is important that hunters and mule deer enthusiasts stand up and resist some of the culling projects, increase in tags, and late rifle rut season dates proposals. None of these are science-based and have proven to be ineffective at preventing the spread and prevalence of CWD. These strategies seem meaningless if CWD prions persist in soils for centuries.
We may want to re-think long-term management strategies and go back to the basics by stepping back and allowing mother nature to take her course. Allow "survival of the fittest" to win battles. Hopefully surrounding states learn from Colorado's mistakes.
