Hunters Express CWD Concerns

[bigwisconsinbucks]

Hopefully the Michigan hunters don't have to deal with what we had here in WI. The DNR totally blew it out of proportion and wasted a ton of money. I hunt in the CWD zones and have experienced it firsthand. The regulations are very confusing and some hunters don't know when the seasons are or what they can shoot. O yeah i forgot to mention that the deer numbers are about the same. We haven't killed all the deer like they wanted. We aren't worried about our meat and have continued to eat our deer.   Good luck Michigan. I hope your DNR is performs better than ours did.

[Sailfish]

I sometimes wonder about "science".

Someone comes up with a hypothesis, and implements a law or rule based on it.
Often times using the phrase "Well we're just going by best available science" to validate the law or rule.
I am not taking a stance on baiting or not, just seems like the "experts" always come up with something that make the masses scratch their collective heads in wonderment.

What I know is is that baiting occurs 1) year round (or less) with food plots or food dispensers  or  2) a week or two during a hunt (corn, sugar beets, whatever).

But nature has provided the deer with apple trees, pear trees,  cornfields (sort of), oak trees, berrie patches, etc  that deer (and other animals) congregate much more heavily and frequent more often than most baiting piles.
Will farmers, ranchers, homeowners be forced to cut those down as well?

I tend to be very cautious by nature, but this seems to be more along the chicken little syndrome lines if you ask me.
But I have seen it before here in the south and I am sure no state or natural resource is immune from the "best available science"

[DeerCamp]

Getting rid of baiting I can start to see some good of it. However another question has come to my mind on this whole thing. Did they just get rid of it to create money? Look at it here in the state of Michigan at what our terriable gov has tryed to do.

1. She has tryed to raise hunting licences for us to 60 bucks a tag. That would be 120 for a combo! --This is for residents for crying out loud! I dont even want to think what she would try to set for a non resident.

2. She has gotten rid of most of the dnr in this state, she keeps cutting them to save money.

Right there are two good reason that state she isnt really for hunting. She's hurting it more than anything. She keeps raising prices to make her look good. In the end these 2 will just see a decline in hunters and deer harvested by hunters.

I went to bed last night and couldnt stop thinking about this topic. I know that baiting can lead to more deer with CWD. But like sailfish said, what about corn feilds, and plots ect...? Is she going to make that go down too? Or are the dnr just trying to make this law so there are more fines? This would make sense. They have for YEARS been trying to have the deer population drop. Thats what the CWD would do for us right? Yes it wouldnt be good, and I dont like this CWD one bit! I want it gone. But just think if this kills off deer and creats more fines from baiting shes at a win win for her right?
 
Just think about it...Why didnt they ban it in the UP too? If it's going to spread so fast it will be up there in a matter of no time. Baiting or Not!
 
I hardly ever bait, I only bait when hunting heavly hunted deer.

[EatDeer]

ORIGINAL: hunter480

ORIGINAL: DeerCamp

As you can already tell from previous post's its made me sick! CWD is somthing that shouldnt be taken lightly, however I believe the DNR is over-reacting to this already.  They ban baiting in the whole lower part of Michigan because of one deer in a pen that has this. Thats a little extreme. Im very scared that they will get the message out as "KILL, KILL AND KILL SOME MORE", like they did with the deer in the TB area's. This really has hurt the deer in those area's. From talking to most hunters and locals, they say the dnr has made this a bigger deal than it should be. I really hope this doesnt happen to all of Michigan.. Or this could really reck this fine sport

I shudder to call hunting a sport.....but...

Is it possible to overreact to this? Even as the herd is threatened, you cling to your preferred hunting method, baiting, even though it`s been identified as a likely source for the spreading of this disease, that will make the herd extinct.

This says a ton about what the knowledge and priorities of the common hunter are....

"Most"hunters feel the DNR is overreacting....I didn`t realize "most" hunters had degrees in wildlife  biology and management.

You would curtail most hunters opportunities for the potential to grow bigger racked bucks, but you don`t want to sacrifice to possibly save the herd from this disease......

Absolutely incredible.

 I have no problem with preventive herd disease control, deer managers and biologists have a job to do, and I would like to think they do it well.  But they can't jump in there with the state DNR, and demand hunters make the harvest effort without explaining the issue. I understand baiting is causing the spread of the CWD, but wouldn't baiting make it easier to harvest deer until the population reduction is complete? Another point I'd like to make is, deer that are feeding in a corn field, aren't  spreading salvia on the same ear of corn to many other deer. Comparing a baiting pile to a corn field, really isnt practicle. Slowing the spread of CWD has more to do with populaton reduction(harvesting doe's), then antler size, I really am missing how that could relate to the issue? The picture in the D&D hunting newsletter really shows how disgusting  the disease can be. I would want to do anything the biologists feel is the correct method of management, if CWD was a consern in my county, and I'm sure many others feel the same way.     

[ranwin33]

I realize that many associate baiting with CWD and I don't doubt that it may help with the spread.  But I also have to question how it is that CWD isn't then found in Texas.  From what I see on TV, baiting and feeding deer is a big part of what they do there, yet the state remains CWD free.  Given the size of the Texas deer herd, is this just a disaster waiting to happen?