As a landowner and hunter in a CWD zone, I have worked closely with the Missouri Department of Conservation, and have invited them to speak at our coop meetings. While nobody likes having CWD in their area, our deer herds are looking good for 2024. The 2023 special CWD area firearms season and landowner approved culling are keeping positivity rates flat.
Missouri Shows Us How to Manage CWD for the Long Haul
It's flat. I doubt their slaughter is the reason. Kill them before they die is not what I call "management."
This is common sense management (Indiana):
Dear Indiana hunter,
Indiana DNR has confirmed the state’s first positive case of
chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an adult male white-tailed deer harvested in LaGrange County. CWD is a fatal infectious disease, caused by a misfolded protein called a prion, that affects the nervous system in white-tailed deer. It can spread from deer-to-deer contact, bodily fluids, or through contaminated environments and remains in the soil for many years.
The sample for this case was collected by a licensed taxidermist through DNR’s CWD Taxidermist Incentive Program. CWD has previously been detected in the four states bordering Indiana (Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky) and is now found in 33 states. Because CWD had been detected in Michigan near the Indiana border, a detection in LaGrange County was likely.
There have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hunters strongly consider having deer tested before eating the meat. The CDC also recommends that you do not eat meat from an animal that tests positive for CWD.
Indiana DNR’s CWD response plan is based on the latest scientific information about the effectiveness of CWD management options. Currently, there are no management actions that have been shown to cure deer of CWD, prevent deer from getting CWD, stop or significantly slow the spread of CWD, or eradicate it from the deer herd. Therefore, our plan focuses on monitoring the spread of the disease to inform Indiana residents how they can safely navigate CWD’s presence.
DNR’s management efforts will NOT focus on eliminating CWD from the deer population in this area of LaGrange County since the disease is self-sustaining in nearby populations, making elimination unlikely.