Gotcha, that is way up there in the corner. I pretty much just hunt public in CO except for a few infrequent opportunities I get to hunt private but have yet to hunt public in AL. Im still trying to figure the sketchy little critters out in a controlled chaos environment.
If the the deer density up there is anything like in Clarke county where the lease is, there is potential to spread pretty quick. That said, it has been in CO for 50 plus years now. I have yet to kill a positive deer/elk or even see one that I thought had it and I have done some CWD cull hunting in a couple units. I dont even test most of the deer or elk I kill anymore ( I hunt low % units mostly), I just dont do bone in neck roasts, saddle roasts, etc with cervids I kill here in CO. CPW (DNR) bounces around with GMU's (zones in AL though we have hundreds instead of 5) and do mandatory testing. GMU's with higher percentages are always mandatory testing units. When they find areas thick with it here they issue more tags to thin density and collect data. I dont see why they would close an area that "has" it. Make it a mandatory test area, let more bucks get taken (they travel more and are more likely to spread), make it convenient and let it be. Its going to make its way wherever it's going to make its way regardless. Let people hunt and get the data. Its still not even proven that it has or will jump the species barrier. There is some lab data that shows that it may at some time be able to but they haven't been able to force it to yet. You'd think at this point its been long enough that we would have seen a case we could link it to or even a lab experiment that jumped but it hasn't happened. They have found prions in lion turds but haven't confirmed any cases in lions, not that it has anything to do with us. Point is, it sucks that its down there now but its not the end of the world. I am sorry that morons in CO let it out of their game ranch in the late 60's if that is really where the epicenter was, which still isn't totally clear.
