CWD in Wisconsin

CWD contaminated soil research is needed to find out how long the prions remain alive in the soil.   We need a quick and easy test to detect CWD in soil. So say it last for 1, 5, or 10 years in soil. What do we do about it? Short of fencing in all contaminated areas( which i would think would include every piece of dirt a deer has ever spit on, eaten on, or died on), burning every plant to the ground, and setting up buffers around these contamination zones, how would knowing how long it last in soil help to slow or eliminate it?   

Hay grown in CWD contaminated soil absorbs the prions via the roots into the plant.   How many other plants absorb CWD in the same way ?  We do not know. OK, so say we find out, what do we do with that information, and how does having that information help to slow it down or eliminate it?

What is the relationship between CWD and global warming ? We don't know, and likely never will but I'll play along. Either "global warming" affect CWD or it doesn't right? So say it does, what do we do about it? How would having that information help to reduce or eliminate CWD? CWD has only been detectable for ~60 years, hardly a timeframe in which the effects of a warming or cooling of a billions of years old planet can be accurately determined.

The list of ways CWD has been proven to spread has increased over time.  Knowing how it spreads is valuable information. Valuable information for understanding it, maybe. Is any of this information actionable though? Even the best case scenario, if a preventative, or a cure were found, these are wild animals. Their lives consist of 2 thing, make more deer, and survive. There are deer that even in urban areas, live their entire lives without ever being seen by a human. How would a cure be administered to a species that's top priority is avoiding contact with humans?   

Research on these topics and others is ongoing, but it takes time.  During that time the disease spreads. I do find it interesting how the research portion of the annual CWD budget continues to decline year over year, while in the past year, the PR portion of the budget has nearly doubled. 

The fact that Trouter thinks that hay is a specific type of plant is just about enough for me.

Sounds like you just explained why it isn't being stopped trouter.  I think you helped that position more than your own.

Are we going to dig up all the contaminated soil?  Are we going to tell farmers they can't plant their fields?  Will we eradicate all deer off the landscape for the entire time it takes for a prion to break down?  Will we stop deer from traveling/rutting and all the deer to deer behaviors that come with that?  Will we stop them from bedding in the same areas year after year?   Should be a pretty obvious nope....

With cancer, people go to the doctor or hospitals for treatment.  Do you plan on bringing wild deer into a Vet?  Apples to oranges comparison.

Remember VHS, do you really think minnow rules stopped it?  That was a knee jerk 'look we did something' reaction, just like they do for CWD.  Neither stop it but it makes some people feel good. 

I'm fine with it being studied, don't get me wrong.  But I'm also not expecting some magical fix to come of it.  Even if after all these years they figure it out, just the application of it would be daunting in a wild herd.

CWD contaminated soil research is needed to find out how long the prions remain alive in the soil.   We need a quick and easy test to detect CWD in soil.   

Hay grown in CWD contaminated soil absorbs the prions via the roots into the plant.   How many other plants absorb CWD in the same way ?  We do not know.

What is the relationship between CWD and global warming ?

The list of ways CWD has been proven to spread has increased over time.  Knowing how it spreads is valuable information.  

Research on these topics and others is ongoing, but it takes time.  During that time the disease spreads.

Yeah lakeshine is correct.  We all know cancer is real but why the heck study it?!!  They'll never come up with a cure.  It's just a big government waste of money!!!

Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity in 1759.  But it wasn't until 1880 that Thomas Edison invented the first incandescent light bulb, and the first American home didn't have electricity installed until 1882.  Just think of all the wasted time, money, and energy over those 124 years!!!!  What a waste.......

Lakeshiner is 100% correct.  As of now cwd just wastes taxpayer money.

The point a lot of you are missing is that most people actually believe its real.  Its just that none of the science has found a way to slow it.  So follow the science...to nowhere.  That's basically why people talk negatively about it.  Those of you touting the science are ignoring that it hasn't stopped the spread to this point.  So don't just instantly talk negative about those people, actually think and realize what they are saying.

The reality is that short of some sort of 'cure', there won't be anything done.  Explaining why is just beating a dead horse.  If you haven't figured that out by now, you never will. 

The article I assume you're all discussing: ​WY CWD article​​​

“Anti-intellectualist” here! I’m such an anti-intellectualist that I don’t lose a wink of sleep over CWD. None. Even if I believed this was Armageddon for deer hunting, I think most agree that it’s always been here, can’t be cured, can’t be mitigated, and does not have much real effect here outside of the failed human influence to turn the tide of something out of our control.

Just like COVID, many love CWD. They love it more than the absence of it. There’s money to be made, grants to be issued, and a self-inflicted crisis to be created that certainly will not go to waste by governing officials. Just wait… shortly before November 5 it will make the jump to humans. 

Wrong Fin Bender. The information comes from Wyoming Game and Fish via a blog i subscribe to. The information i referenced is easily verified should ​you care to actually research the matter a bit. For all i know, Durkin may have accessed the same information.
The important thing is that the situation i referenced is real, it is documented by multiple " non govermental" sources and its being studied heavily due to the geographical isolation of the impacted herd and the fact that the disease has spread much faster than seen in other "hot" areas.

The article that Madforlabs is referring to was written by Patrick Durkin. A newspaper guy who I'm quite sure is a card carrying member of the communist party. A guy who writes "outdoor" articles where he politicizes everything and then blames everything and anyone associated with a certain political party (R) for the issues he conjures up. He writes political opinion pieces with a little pseudo-science mixed in under the ruse of a "outdoor" article.  If you read his stuff you'll clearly see that he dislikes most hunters and outdoorsmen. In the article MFL referred to he calls us stupid. His stuff is biased and tainted, hardy science, and reeks of "anti-intellectualism." 

As hunters, I think we all care about the deer and their future. CWD is not a joke and even the people who don't seem too concerned about it still wish it wasn't here. Some on this site want to believe everything the government says is the absolute gospel regarding CWD. It is not. Its a big bureaucracy that wastes money constantly. And it just does stupid things that any commoner can understand as dumb. For example baiting. I don't bait and in fact I hate it. However we are told that baiting will spread the disease but multiple deer visit multiple scrapes using a licking branch is apparently of no concern. Should we run through the woods destroying licking branches above scrapes? Also we should kill piles of deer to make sure they don't have the disease that will kill them. What? We have studies that show deer traveling 100's of miles so how are going to control that? The people that set the policies for CWD are likely the same ones that said waterfowl shot in Canada could not be brought into the USA to help minimize the spread of bird flu. Do they know that waterfowl migrates? These people are experts? So when people talk about science should some common sense be included because I don't see it. The so called experts will study this thing till kingdom come and I doubt they will have anymore solutions that they have now. I have close to zero faith in the government "experts"  Since the government is great at pissing money away why not turn it over to the private sector and offer a billion dollar payment for a cure. I'm sure that will inspire some new thought and innovation than what our gov is doing. I am absolutely concerned about CWD but I'm also concerned that GOV isn't the answer to fix this problem.

My issue is that it's been here for a long time.  Years before being exposed.  Going off by what I've seen over the last 30 years, it doesn't seem that harmful to the deer population or people. Tell me how I'm wrong.  

Randy Newberg, a highly respected hunter and public lands advocate did an interesting podcast recently. "Follow the science unless you dont believe it". Pretty much sums up the attitudes of many here. The "anti-intellectualism" trouter refers to is alive and well on this site. Easier to wish it under a rug than acknowledge that a serious matter exists and the only way to better understand the disease and its full ramifications is scientic research ​and that takes money.

Interesting that the CWD Research allocations have been steadily declining while the CWD PR budget has doubled...