worried about CWD?

[10 poyntr]

Just curious, is anyone really worried about the CWD disease that got so much publicity last year? I fish in Minnesota, but hunt deer in Wisconsin. I promise you I'm more worried crossing my street or getting shot out of my treestand than "catching" this "disease", which still doesnt have proof anyone ever has attained it!About 100,000 hunters stayed home last year due to the scare in Wisconsin. Wow, the power of the press! Good huntin!

[Gissert]

I'm concerned for the herd itself, but have no fear of eating venison. I hunt Colorado, and they have had CWD in the elk and deer population since at leat the late 60's. I know of no known case where CWD has effected a human.

[setterguy]

I am no scientist by any means, in doing my own private polls it seems that CWD has been around for a long time. Some of the older guys at deer camp said they used to call it "wandering disease" becasue the deer they saw woud just wander around oblivious to everything. Now if you don't eat obviously sick animals I don'think you have anything to worry about. In Wisconsin they have a zone that they are trying to eradicate the whole herd, well a buddy of mine went there and shot 2 does and 2 nice bucks, and let me tell you, those deer were delicious!! Good luck and just use your head when it comes to eating any animal, if it doesn't seem right don't eat it!!

[Sgt. Rock]

But the paranoia means no bringing back whole deer carcasses from WI. Gonna be a real pain sitting in the parking lot of the gas station after registration skinning and boning out an animal. Not sure where to throw the carcass then either.

[10 poyntr]

Hey Sgt Rock, Are you bringing back deer to Minnesota from Wisconsin? I actually live in Illinois, and this year we CAN bring back field-dressed deer to Illinois, if it's brought to a licensed butcher withing 72 hours. Last year, of course, it was deboned meat only. Check the Minn. regs or does anyone know?

[Sgt. Rock]

Yeah MN regs stae it must be cut up so no skeletal or brain tissue can be transported.

[huskminn]

Setterguy, what you have heard of is probably EHD or Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, which has been around forever and is a disease spread by biting midges. It affects mostly whitetail deer and much less so affects mule deer. Over the years, EHD has been responsible for huge herd die-offs in many western states.

CWD has been around since the mid 1960's when it first discovered in a deer research facility in Colorado. It is a spongiform encephalopathy (sp?) similar to scrape found in sheep, mad-cow disease (BSE) and, yes, even similar to Cruetzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD) that naturally occurs in humans.

We have been assured that there has never been an incidence of CWD transferring to humans--that is the same thing they said about BSE before the first people in Britain began to die from it.

Wearing long rubber gloves during field dressing is a good idea and is frequently suggested by the DNR. However, they also recommend thoroughly cleaning (soap, bleach) knives and saws used to dress out a deer carcass. I wonder when I see this recommendation because CWD is caused by an abnormal prion (part of an amino acid) that is completely unaffected by bleach, soap, hot water, etc. It can't be killed by anything other than extremely high-temp incineration--and sometimes even that leaves a few remnants.

So, what good does it do to clean your knives in a bleach solution? Absolutely none.

Researchers don't completely understand how the disease is even transmitted, but they know that mothers pass it on to offspring and they know it can spread rapidly when deer are bunched together (captivity or wintering areas). In research facilities, it has successfully been passed on to rodents, mink, goats and even calves.

Mad cow disease began when scrape, long found in sheep, somehow jumped a species barrier to cattle. It was not thought possible, but did eventually occur.

No one knows if CWD can or will ever jump an existing species barrier....will it show up in horses, cattle or people? Scientists think not....but that's what they thought about scrape, too...for centuries.

Am I worried about CWD? Odds are extremely good that I will never come into contact with it and, if I do, odds are even better that nothing bad will happen. It does have the ability to kill an awful lot of deer, though...and elk, and I assume moose, too.

Gives a person some things to think about....

[BLACKJACK]

From the DNR website:
"Meat from deer or elk should be safe to eat, according to officials at the Minnesota Department of Health, provided that hunters take the following precautions: Don't eat meat from animals that look sick or ill. Don't eat the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes.

Dress the animal properly -- minimize handling of brain and spinal tissues, wear rubber gloves when field dressing carcasses and wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is complete. Although CWD has been known to exist since 1967, there has never been a reported case of CWD in people or cattle."

It boils down to common sense, don't shoot a sick animal and stay away from the infectious parts. Boy, am I going to miss those pickled eyeballs. And as Gissert said, this has been around Colorado for generations without humans getting it.

[NoodleSalad]

I live in Mn and the herd up north is healthy. Wolves! I don't care what anyone says- you take away natural predators and nature has a way to balance it out. (CWD) I just can't believe that those meat packers in WI are such IDIOTS - they decided to waste everything in the so called eradication zone. Do you guys suck the spine over there? -NS-

[Insp Gadget]

As a career foodservice guy, I'm not too worried about CWD. I've read all the info and agree that when handled properly, the risk is minimal if at all.

No different than the miriad of other transmittable illness, (various food poisonings, bactiera, etc.) you have to handle it poorly to be at risk. Use of Bleach is a good idea, not for CWD necessarily, but for the other things as well. Let bad stuff grow on your knife or saw, and you contaminate the new meat.

Go Go Gadget!