Chronic Wasting Disease in the Four Corners Area in SW Missouri

[Briar Lee]

My family farm is located in an area we called the four corners growing up. It’s an area of mostly rolling fertile prairie farms with hardwood forests on top of hills that in days gone by was perfect for dairy farming, near the intersection of St. Clair, Hickory, Polk, and Cedar counties.

Before my ancestors could have dairy cows they needed to kill every last whitetail deer and they did. All of them.

Then in the late thirties the Missouri Department of Conservation (hereinafter The Game Wardens) reintroduced whitetail deer and in spite of heroic efforts the deer won and now there are more whitetail deer than rabbits or squirrels, plus wild turkeys that also were once eliminated and have made a comeback.

It seems the Game Wardens have detected a lot of chronic wasting disease in deer in the four corners area.


The Game Wardens have sent me a letter and they promise to also call me wanting me to consent to allowing Chronic Wasting Disease targeted removal management on my farm from January 16-March 15, 2024.


I get to shoot them myself or I can designate somebody or trained Game Wardens will come and kill them.

If they don’t have CWD I can keep the meat but I’ve not developed a taste for deer meat. I’ll give it to charity.

Has anybody ever actually seen a deer with CWD?

My son is excited to get official blessing to shoot deer for the sake of shooting deer.

But in my old age I sort of feel sorry for the deer. I’ll allow the hunt, but I’m kind of rooting for the deer.

 

[Hillcrest]

Proper game management requires culling deer herds either by hunting or by introduction of predators such as wolves or mountain lions. The deer are starving to death due to overpopulation and inflation at the grocery store. I personally would not eat venison from a wasted deer but that's just me.
Many people in Connecticut supplement their tables with venison and pheasant from hunting (more than the politicians seem to know.) Deer cause over $5 Billion worth of damage per year due to overpopulation due to restrictions on hunting; But then, Connecticut was/is the insurance capitol of the world. Without telling residents, the state released mountain lions rather than approve hunting permits. Now we have a mountain lion problem. Go figure ...

If you allow the hunt on your farm make them remove the carcasses or bury them; They might do it by helicopter and machine gun as some states do. (A Gov't solution).

just 2 cents adjusted for inflation ...

 

[Tbaggins]

Proper game management requires culling deer herds either by hunting or by introduction of predators such as wolves or mountain lions. The deer are starving to death due to overpopulation and inflation at the grocery store. I personally would not eat venison from a wasted deer but that's just me.
Many people in Connecticut supplement their tables with venison and pheasant from hunting (more than the politicians seem to know.) Deer cause over $5 Billion worth of damage per year due to overpopulation due to restrictions on hunting; But then, Connecticut was/is the insurance capitol of the world. Without telling residents, the state released mountain lions rather than approve hunting permits. Now we have a mountain lion problem. Go figure ...

If you allow the hunt on your farm make them remove the carcasses or bury them; They might do it by helicopter and machine gun as some states do. (A Gov't solution).

just 2 cents adjusted for inflation ...

Better a lion problem than wolf problem like Montana has. All too often I see videos praising wolves as a form of game management. They spread disease and massacre for fun.

And im very much against the government stepping in with other solutions besides hunting. In the end more problems are caused and our tax dollars get to pay for them hiring culling teams to wholesale slaughter what could be someone’s next meal. Or have game herds that are completely mismanaged by predation.

I eat mostly game meat and have never had anything tested for cwd even though we have it here. Maybe it’ll be the next mad cow in 30 years. The problem is the prions will remain in the soil at the kill sight, or even where the animal takes a dump. The next animal that comes along and grazes from the area will pick it up. The only way of destroying the prion is incineration.

Anyways Briar Lee I feel for ya, hopefully there will be a solution in the future that saves wildlife.

 

[Sig]

Luckily it hasn't reached us yet, but its knocking on our door.
We have way too many white tail deer in our area and not enough hunters.
My wife and I grow all of our own food.....except salt, sugar, spices.....and tap maple and have bee hives apple and pear trees, as well as blueberries and other berries.
We have cattle (Irish Dexter), hogs, sheep, turkey, chicken, rabbits and nine stocked ponds. We also have goats but we do NOT eat them.....they are our pets......if you know, you know.
Anyways, we also hunt and trap for food......deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbits, game birds, water fowl, beaver, porcupine........
We have 600 acres that our family has owned for 180 years. I plan on keeping our herds healthy and will seriously hunt the deer down if CWD comes. I know our local DEC is keeping a close eye on the herds.
Coyotes are coming back strong but they cannot keep up with the deer population. And the coyote prefer easier meals and tend to hunt livestock and pets.
This may sound odd to those that know im a veterinarian, but animal conservation is very important and NOT killing white tail deer is a HUGE detriment to the species.
In the turn of the 20th century, white tail were almost extinct due to over hunting and extreme culling for reasons mentioned by the OP.
But, they are very resilient and bounced back. Unfortunately, the predators that were also eliminated have not bounced back...... the coyotes are really trying, but they really are lazy and not great deer hunters. I mostly see them eating roadkill.
Ive had to eliminate 2 coyotes and my dogs got 3 in the last few years. They come for our chickens and rabbits and pets. Our dogs have stopped that for the last few years.

 

[GardenStateoftheArtBriar]

USA has a really bad problem with Liver and blood Fluke and Schistosomiasis/Fasciolosis/Fasciolopsi
The deer are infested and so are a ton of other livestock
Problem is Medical Industrial complex won't aknowledge it as a western problem
I spoke to a vet - he's seen tons of dogs with it
Treatment is a pain and is difficult - bottom takeaway is many people are walking around with it too and it's awful - Egypt has dealt with this for decades
If they tell you to cull - you should probably do what they say for whatever reason they say

 

[Hillcrest]

Better a lion problem than wolf problem like Montana has.

We have Coywolves in my part of Connecticut but they are rare; mainly fox, black bear, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lion. To the best of my knowledge there is only one Coywolf in my area ... or at least I have only seen one 3 times in the last five years. They are beautiful predators ... at least the ones I have seen all look healthy and groomed. The coyotes can look mangy. The fox and bobcat are also well groomed. I see deer all the time and they look healthy so far. In fact they sleep on the hillside several times a week. I don't discourage them in the event I too need to supplement the table someday. ().

The problem with all of these is the stupid signs people put up looking for a missing cat or dog. You let it out at night and its now gone forever, get over it and take your signs down ! (Private gripe!)