Too superficial a response to be helpful in my opinion Jack. Lets dig deeper. Assume the questions are; How is CWD contracted and how does it spread? What are the contributors including mineral sites, baiting, and deer breeders?
First, to qualify any responses I may have I am not a deer breeder. Frankly deer from breeder facilities don't interest me much and I have no allegiance to the industry at all. That said I have been around deer breeding facilities since the early 70's starting with the research pens at Ms. State run by Dr. Harry Jacobson. I currently have several close friends heavily involved with deer breeding so I am quite familiar with how deer breeders operate and many details involved.
I do use mineral stations on my farm and also am currently running 150 protein supplemental feeding stations of which 20 are on the farm I live on. I observe deer around these stations essentially daily.
So with those caveats I think it interesting to explore the questions about CWD unemotionally and recognize it appears to me there is more unknown than known though important to us all who love deer. Starting with mineral stations and baiting one question is how many ' different ' deer might visit any particular station. Agreed it somewhat depends on population density, but also would propose that the preponderance of deer visiting any station are the same ones over and over. I would also propose that these deer all know each other intimately and have frequent contact with each other. The idea that a baiting station or mineral block somehow changes the dynamic dramatically enough to create a 'tipping point' doesn't register with me. Probably most of us have had the opportunity to see herds of deer all gathered around acorn trees, food plots, loafing areas, etc etc where they are licking, grooming, tussling, jockeying for position, fighting and behaving like deer. Much the same behavior I observe around a feeder. To me whatever vector that made its way to a mineral or bait station will also be just as prevalent wherever deer congregate as they do in normal behavior patterns.
I realize many contend that deer breeders are responsible not only for creating CWD but for its spread . I have a few questions about that. How did CWD ever show up in a particular deer breeders facility in the first place [ excepting the facility in Co. where it apparently originated ]? Are we assuming there is no CWD that doesn't originate except from deer breeders? Seems unlikely to me. I can appreciate that if CWD does show up in a particular breeders facility that a) it will be likely to spread through out the facility and b) there should be definitive legislation to deal with that just as there would be with any captive animal related disease.
Another question is how does CWD spread from one spot to another? Seems the likely scenarios include ; 1) deer breeders transporting infected deer from one place to another. Many states have moats around them not letting captive deer in or out so how many deer actually get transported out of state by deer breeders? And what % of those are actually infected? 2) State agencies.- They have transported deer all over the nation, state to state, county to county in great numbers. Can we be sure they have never transported contaminates?
3) Research facilities - I know for a fact that Ms. State has sent deer all over the country as well as received deer from all over the country. Reasonable to assume other universities and research facilities have done the same. The numbers of deer they move are material and they have also released numbers of deer into the wild. 4) Hunters- It would seem unarguable to me that hunters move more deer parts around the country annually than all the above combined by a large margin. It seems confirmed science that dead deer parts can transfer the disease. Where are all the deer parts hunters move ? As I appreciate it the Prion never degrades but that science is above my pay grade.
I am all for finding solutions to the CWD problem. I don't think there is any one simple scapegoat. I personally think the idea that mineral and baiting stations are contributory is shallow, political and totally irrelevant . I personally believe it an overreach to outlaw deer breeders blaming them for the spread of CWD.I believe appropriate standards, measurements and controls should be placed on deer breeders and in doing so the risk they represent can be eliminated. I fear any effort to control hunters moving infected parts place to place will be ineffective UNTIL all hunters understand the problem and solution. This will take an expansive educational process. Lastly , and this is just my opinion, I do not think the sky is falling with CWD and solutions will evolve. Ironic that one solution being explored involves a vaccination which most likely will need to be administered orally...thru a feed station.
