Since chronic wasting surveillance began in Wisconsin in 1999, 2,797 white-tailed deer have been tested for the deadly deer disease in Buffalo County, a rolling landscape of farms and wooded areas along the Mississippi River that’s known around the world as “white-tailed mecca.” “
The results of 23 years of testing were “disease absent”.
Until Dec 29
The Department of Natural Resources announced last week that a two-year-old hind harvested by hunters in the city of Lincoln, Buffalo County, tested positive for CWD.
As such, it is the first deer to have the disease detected in the county.
However, the discovery came as no surprise to anyone.
“It was inevitable,” said Mark Noll, an Alma hunter-farmer who is also chair of the Buffalo County Deer Advisory Council. “We had (CWD) in adjacent counties and it just seemed like a matter of time.”
CWD found in most counties of Wisconsin
Detection of CWD in another Wisconsin county has become routine. Since the first discoveries were announced in Badger State in early 2002, the disease has slowly but steadily spread in both the wild population and captive herds.
As of last fall, 60 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties were listed as “CWD-affected” on a DNR map. The genie is out of the bottle; Wildlife health experts say there is no realistic chance of eradicating it with current technologies.
For more than a decade, the DNR has followed a “test and monitor” strategy towards CWD.
So the news of the disease emerging in another county is not new.
But in this case, it could lead to more people taking notice.
According to the Boone and Crockett Club, Buffalo County is the nation’s No. 1 for trophy white-tailed buck. The county has 150 entries in the club’s record book, easily beating No. 2 St. Louis County, Minnesota (102).
More:Smith: A deer hunt to fulfill Leopold’s legacy
Since CWD, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy caused by a prion (misfolded protein), often kills deer within a year or two, it can obviously prevent animals from growing old.
Hunting habits unlikely to change in Buffalo County
For hunters after giant bucks – which often reach their trophy potential by the age of 5, 6 or 7 years – anything that deprives bucks of the population before they reach “booner” status is a cause for concern.
So will CWD’s finding in Buffalo County increase support for actions that could help slow the spread of the disease?
The deer-rich county has had a population reduction goal for many years, but has consistently failed to meet its antlerless deer harvest goals.
Will the disease finding in 2023 lead to more hunters shooting at females?
It’s not likely in Buffalo County where the hunting gear industry, focused on making profits on big-set bucks, plays an outsized role.
“It’s hard to get hunters to shoot females,” said Tom Indebro of Bluff Country Outfitters. “They pay to come here to make money and that’s how they want to spend their time. I know we have too many deer in places, but I just don’t see how that’s going to change.”
Indeed, the challenge of managing a wildlife disease is more difficult in landscapes that are almost entirely privately owned.
In fact, Home Grown Outfitters in Buffalo County has announced that in 2023 it will not be killing deer on properties it owns or leases.
“All customer farms will be closed and closed to hunters in 2023 as we introduce our first off-year,” says Home Grown on its website.
The outfitter, which has been on a buying spree in Buffalo County in recent years, said it will “still plant all food plots, monitor activity and frequently hunt with cameras, but we will not be punching tags on our customer farms, which will have a significant impact on the age brackets of our.” Farms and offer even better trophy hunting in the future.”
Buffalo County doesn’t just have what it takes to produce big bucks. With a high density of deer, it is also the perfect environment for the spread of deer disease.
Because CWD spreads relatively slowly, it can be many years before a problem in Buffalo County becomes apparent.
The finding has triggered state legislation, extending a three-year baiting and feeding ban in Buffalo County. The DNR will also hold a meeting on January 11 at 7:00 p.m. in Fountain City to provide information about CWD in Wisconsin, local CWD testing efforts, and disease surveillance options being considered.
The agency has already asked deer hunters in Buffalo County to help in efforts to find where CWD occurs. Those harvesting deer within 10 miles of the newly discovered CWD positive case are particularly encouraged to have their harvested adult deer tested for CWD.
However, the discovery will likely follow the path forged by similar “wild sparks” in Lincoln, Shawano and other counties. It will lead to a call for more testing, but little more.
“People have been asking me if (the DNR) is going to bring in the snipers,” Noll said. “No, they won’t. They just want to monitor and see what the prevalence is and no real action is going to take place. In that regard, I find it sad to just let go of the disease. But that’s where we are.”
Comments are closed.