CWD question for the Wisconsin CWD unit hunters

[Ben.MN/WI]

Our area of Minnesota is slowly have a CWD expansion, so I wanted to see what the guys in the Wisconsin CWD zones have seen since the disease was first found 20+ years ago. Minnesota still brings in sharpshooters to kill deer on properties in neighborhood with CWD. I'm definitely concerned about that, so I wanted to find out how the hunting has changed for others in similar situations.

I also know that Wisconsin has taken more of a passive approach. Have the mature buck numbers changed now that CWD is extremely common in some areas?

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I'm also interested in replies from guys in other states where CWD is common - Wisconsin is just the state that first came to mind since it is relatively common in the southern half of the state.

 

[bueller]

Illinois just recently announced they had suspended their sharpshooting efforts

 

[gunther89]

We are located in Sauk County which has one of the higher % of CWD. Deer populations have exploded in many areas within the CWD hot spot. You can still find mature(4.5+) bucks but the infection rate within them has gone up. We have killed 6 bucks on our place that we're 4.5+ and 3 of those have come back positive.
I do know other areas have been hit harder by cwd to the tune of 75% of bucks being shot have CWD.

 

[Turkish]

We are located in Sauk County which has one of the higher % of CWD. Deer populations have exploded in many areas within the CWD hot spot. You can still find mature(4.5+) bucks but the infection rate within them has gone up. We have killed 6 bucks on our place that we're 4.5+ and 3 of those have come back positive.
I do know other areas have been hit harder by cwd to the tune of 75% of bucks being shot have CWD.

So if one were after 5.5 year old deer, would you say they’re harder to find?

Have land values suffered in the hotter zones?

 

[ksJoe]

I'm curious if you're eating cwd positive deer?
I've not had any deer tested, so I don't know if I'm eating cwd positive deer.

 

[gunther89]

So if one were after 5.5 year old deer, would you say they’re harder to find?

Have land values suffered in the hotter zones?

I'm not sure if they're harder to find. The hardest part is getting them to 5.5 years old without them being killed by hunters before then. I know some spots that have really good neighbors and they routinely have 5.5+ yr old bucks to hunt.

Land values have gone up. If you look at land in Dane, Iowa, Sauk, and Richland counties, it's normal for land to be 5 grand+ an acre. It's scary how high prices have become.

 

[gunther89]

I'm curious if you're eating cwd positive deer?
I've not had any deer tested, so I don't know if I'm eating cwd positive deer.

I personally have only had 1 deer test positive and he looked perfectly fine. We did throw him out but it hurt inside seeing what looked like perfect meat getting pitched. I no longer test my deer unless they appear sick. My cousin has killed 3 positive bucks and ate them and never had any issues. Again all the bucks we have killed that we're positive appeared healthy and had plenty of body fat on them. I will say the only reason my cousin test them is if they do come back positive the DNR will issue you another tag that is good for the same year or the following year. He looks at it as he gets a 2nd bow buck tag.

 

[Brian662]

Plenty of mature bucks where I'm at in SW WI and property values for rec land approaching $8k/acre.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

In terms of being in a cwd zone in southern wisc, I’ll gladly trade acreage with anyone who wants out for a non cwd zone down south. As far as concern, it’s below coyotes for me.

 

[Mortenson]

DNR called this afternoon while we were hunting. Chris (my 12 yr old) checked in a doe during 1st gun weekend and they aged her at 5.5 and put a dot on the map where he shot her at. The phone call was to report she was cwd+. We already ate her heart, liver and some jerky, so we'll finish eating her. Also, my dad shot a button buck that weekend. It was the only deer he saw. He's 77 and was damn proud of his 100 yard shot on such a small target. :/ Maybe this should go on the conspiracy thread, but they opted not to test the lil guy.

 

[SD51555]

I think wisconsin ran out of ammo trying to save the deer herd.

 

[Bill Loser]

Only in a america, "the only way to save the herd is to kill them all!" Lol

 

[gunther89]

It's interesting that they didn't test the buck fawn as the wisconsin dnr has found fawns to be positive.
I think about how many deer woulda tested positive and have been ate. You can't tell me that it wasn't around in the 80s or 90s in wisconsin. People have been eating "positive" deer for as long as I've been alive.