Out of the literally thousands of deer that I have seen, I have never seen a deer with visual signs of CWD. I am not scientist, but as somebody who has spent their entire life outdoors, I do not believe killing/culling deer in the CWD zones is tha answer. If prions are the contagion, as they claim, culling will only spread the disease, as uninfected deer move into the CWD positive areas to replace the deer that have been removed. Not to mention, the bait piles put in place by the MDC (pick your own state's poison pill) will attract deer from other areas, further spreading the contamination. I am not sure of the solution, but I know killing off the herd, ain't it. As for now, I will carry on eating deer meat over some antibiotic, steroid-filled piece of meat that I have no idea what kind of animal it actually came from (ground "beef"), how healthy the animal was before it died or who handled it and sprayed it with what.
Ontario. This post wasn't meant to insult you, or trip your trigger. Or give you a platorm to insult my intelligence or lack thereof, concerning animal husbandry. (I've been around farms and farm animals all of my life). I am sure you are/were an upstanding hog farmer who would never feed his hogs medicated feed, etc. So, the statement does not concern you or your particular operation. The statement was about mass produced meat, that most people end up consuming. Like most statements, it wasn't meant to be all-inclusive. Simply put I (ME) have no idea how anybody handles the meat they sell or what it is. (Aldi's admitted to selling ground horse meat as ground beef a couple of yrs ago). How many packages of burger have people bought that is nice and red on the outside, but gray and nasty on the inside? Does anybody really know what is in that stuff they sell as "Jimmy Dean' sausage? Because it sure don't look like any sausage from hogs I ever raised. They just recently had another major recall on chicken nuggets. I won't fully rely on the government for anything. Especially concerning my health. They "let us" eat hotdogs and bologna afterall. You are correct that people should worry more about the bacteria on poorly handled venison (I will add, or ecoli on processed farm animals) than about CWD. I agree, thats why I don't take my deer to a processor. I process my deer from start to finish. I care for it like I am eating it myself, because I am. So it ends up being some of the finest meat I will ever be able to feed my family. I don't normally reply to negative responses to things I post, but I hate to see you getting all worked up over something that never was directed at you personally, to begin with. Good hunting and peace to you and yours.
