Originally posted by Barnacle Brad: Okay - so lets define the positions:
One position asserts that blowing the head off of a deer will get nasty material ON the carcass.
That is bull puckey, unless he removes the hide and rubs it on the meat. Once the hide is off so is the brain matter, or spinal fluid.
While I don't aim for spine shots, I have butchered spine shot deer. A spine shot deer is one of the ugliest and messiest of any wound to have to butcher around. The debris from the spinal cord and resulting fluids are not off the meat once the hide is because the contamination is inside the hide. What happens to those fluids once the hide is removed? It runs down the carcass. One does not have to purposely rub the hide on the meat to cross contaminate it. While the probability is remote, the possibility is there that someone while preparing the animal to field dress can get CNS residue on their hands or knife, and then contaminate the meat while field dressing, Same is true when butchering. You claim to cut away all blood meat and disposing of it before you process your deer. How many folks cut away the blood meat and then proceed to cut the backstraps and tenderloins with the same knife after only wiping the knife off with a paper towel. Experts tell us this doesn't work and leads to cross contamination. Again, sometime a spine hit is accidental or cannot be avoided. The experts tell us to try and avoid them or to be careful when they do occur. Thgis is just continuation of the common sense you speak of. Not bull pucky. The bull puckey is skinning a head shot deer and then cleaning out the body cavity without properly cleaning your hands or tools. Kinda like washing your hands after going to the bathroom and then wiping your hands on your underwear.
Originally posted by Barnacle Brad: Both arguments assume that ANY animal be treated AS IF it were sick and capable of making Human Beings sick.
Are the arguments plausible, or possible, or probable?
All I know is that for myself - I have not seen first hand a person getting sick from Prions.
Many folks have been infected by prions, just cause you have not seen it don't make it a lie. No folks have been known to be infected by the CWD prion yet. As I said, while it is thought that it has not yet evolved to do so, folks thought the same of the "Mad Cow" prion. We were wrong on that one. As for the sick animals....only deer with advanced forms of CWD exhibit symptoms. The majority of animals affected do not show any symptoms. Once deer exhibit symptoms, they do not live long. IOWs most deer with CWD exhibit no symptoms. Even if they did, how many folks while in a hunting situation observe an animal long enough to determine it's sick? For most folks it's OMG, a deer and bang. Thus the experts tell us to treat every animal as if it has CWD. Kinda like treating every gun as if it is loaded. Again....common sense.
CWD has been around in Wisconsin for quite a while. The hysteria exhibited by hunters and others when it first was discovered here was comparable only to the amount of misinformation and fallacies going around. Funny, I see the same hysteria and fallacies from folks in other states as it is found there. The information is out there, one only need to look and heed.
Originally posted by Barnacle Brad:Here is a thought....
If anyone is that concerned or obsessed with prion contamination, they should at least not harvest any sick looking critters, or not hunt in areas known to have documented cases of CWD or other forms of the disease.
As I said, most animals with CWD exhibit no symptoms, and most animal have the disease for 18 months or so before they
may show any symptoms, so that throws out your first suggestion. CWD has been documented in most of the southern half of our state. This is where a large part of the state deer herd is and located. The CWD is a disease of high populations and close proximity, thus this is where hunting needs to be done. The deer themselves and their meat is not a threat to humans, nor is hunting and processing them......as long as one take a few minor precautions. Again, these precautions are not just for the safety of the hunters and their families that eat the meat, but to protect other deer from unnecessary exposure. If it's bull puckey to you, so be it. But till you can show me credentials that prove you know more than the experts, I'll follow their suggestions.