Mule Deer - CWD weigh on diminishing deer

[katqanna]

CWD weigh on diminishing deer

A group of 45 biologists, hunters, ranchers, administrators and land managers met Aug. 6 in Daniel for the Inaugural Wyoming Mule Deer Summit to brainstorm how it might help boost the beleaguered herds. Game and Fish has an objective of 564,150 mule deer, but there are only about 374,400 in the state today. Their plight is such that advocates doubt whether the slate-hued muley can make a comeback.

Chronic wasting disease generated little discussion at the summit, other than the recognition that it’s a problem in some parts of the state. The relative of Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease in humans is endemic – maintained in the population — in 62 of 135 Wyoming deer hunt areas (46 percent), according to a WyoFile calculation made from Game and Fish map updated to 2013.[/url]

Wyoming CWD Map

 

[Trigger50]

Yep. Wisconsin gave up on their CWD efforts. It wont be long & CWD will jump the river to MN. Probably 5yrs or so. There has been postive deer within 20 miles of the border.

 

[Stillhunterman]

There is definitely something wrong on the mountain, and it's been around for a while. It's effect is being felt across the board out west with Blacktail Deer, Mule Deer, Elk, Moose, Sheep, and others. Seems though, it almost always comes down to habitat: and I'm not just talking about the amount of healthy 'looking' browse, grass, forbes, etc. The science has been slow in making the transition from established parameters to more out of the box type thinking, but it is making progress.

Mineral deficiencies are being tied to more than a few species/maladies, but a LOT more work needs to be done. There are other environmental factors that may be influencing/magnifying these negative mineral deficiency effects; the current research looks to be promising in that regard. Game managers, biologists, researchers, hunters all have their work cut out for them, to be sure...

A small tidbit of info:

http://www.reeis.usda.gov/web/crisp...tive-and-free-ranging-rocky-mountain-elk.html