Rise in NW CWD reports causing concern...

[elks96]

In a recent meeting with the CPW it was noted that they are trying to figure out why there has been a recent up tick in the prevalence in CWD in the NW region. The official who spoke about it was clear that this does not mean anything major other than they had more cases of CWD recently.

They are not sure if it was because there were more sick animals, or the hunters were more cognizant of the issue and were more likely to have a test done when the animal looked/acted funny. Since the testing is voluntary they really have nothing more than the fact that more animals test positive recently.

There is a chance that they will bring back mandatory CWD testing for NW corner area next fall.

 

[MAT]

That's a pretty stupid statement by CPW. CWD is a progressive disease. It's also density dependent. Infection rates on game farms is upwards of 80%. There WILL be long term (possibly permanent) impacts on hunting if nothing is done.

https://www.bowhunting.com/blog/2015/10/08/how-will-cwd-affect-bowhuntings-future/

https://www.bowhunting.com/blog/2016/01/13/wisconsin-dnrs-cwd-policy-fails-the-public/

 

[jims]

From what I understand, the highest rate of CWD in Colo was concentrated north of Ft Collins and was around 4%. Although not all deer show symptoms the weak ones likely get eaten by predators and the healthy survive. The CPW was aggressively harvesting/culling deer in the hotspots but this stance has settled in recent years.

 

[elks96]

>From what I understand, the highest
>rate of CWD in Colo
>was concentrated north of Ft
>Collins and was around 4%.
> Although not all deer
>show symptoms the weak ones
>likely get eaten by predators
>and the healthy survive.
>The CPW was aggressively harvesting/culling
>deer in the hotspots but
>this stance has settled in
>recent years.

Yes they had dropped the mandatory testing for a long time and relied only on voluntary testing. At first the voluntary testing still kept good numbers, but fewer and fewer hunters are having heads tested.

They are not sure if there has been a spike in cases or if they are only getting deer that look unhealthy to test, etc. The truth is unless they have a set sample standard and control method they can not say for sure.

However the total number of positive test has spiked up.