Avoiding animal diseases and parasites when hunting for food

I'm not so sure. I'm not saying you're wrong, and there is much evidence to support that but I've seen herds of 400+ deer in washington state, all malnurished, all sickly, and in them less than 10 bucks, all spikes or otherwise too small for legal harvest. no big bucks in the entire herd and year after year these herds are not allowed to be harvested because in that area it's buck only, 2 point or larger(on each side). those herds have been around for more than 10 years and when some outdoorsmen took the law into their own hands and started culling out the herds fish and game set up extra patrols to "stop poaching" rather than culling the herds themselves or open up does... those herds are going to eventually become a jumping off point for disease and it's going to destroy deer hunting for years in eastern washington for decades. winter is too mild there to kill off the unhealthy ones.
 
Nodes are numerous along the animals neck bones which can possibly contain CWD. I do not cut roast from the neck nor do I make hamburger or steak from that meat. I purposely keep that boneless neck meat separate from the rest of the animals meat also. At latter date its cubed cut seasoned and hot packed canned with the use of a pressure cooker for my safety and my family's. Some hunters just got to have that one bony neck roast for their table fair. Not me. I can get along with one less roast containing many Nodes. Years ago MPLS Star Tribune newspaper printed a deers Lymph Nodes locations throughout a deer's body. Still have that page taped to a kitchen cabinet door in my cabin. I was surprised how many Lymph Nodes there are and where there located.
One Node that many of us have come across during home butchering is the one found in the animals rear leg. Nasty smelling and looking liquid is exposed when that node cyst is cut into. Can you imagine someone unknowingly eating something quite similar in their Sunday venison neck roast. Not in this house will that dinner take place. Those who have a difference in opinion feel free to do as you please with your harvest. This write is how I handle and cut my deer. BTW: Do not feed deer during the warm months. Helps to eliminate CWD passing from one animal to another.
 
with deer I never take the neck, leave that for the dogs, with elk I take some but definitely no roast, just altogether wrong type of muscles.

and thank you for killing my appetite by giving me the image of eating deer lymph:eek: I've been needing a new diet plan, just need to pull this thread up every time I feel like eating, I should lose a bundle.
 
Some years back a neighbor of mine shot a cow and dragged it to an open area. In about two weeks, there was nothing but dry bones all scattered about. Coyotes, buzzards, beetles and ants did a thorough cleanup. The skull was dry and empty--and mice eventually ate the horns.

Prion deer die naturally, right? Same process of "recycling". Thus I don't see how my leaving a maybe-prion carcass for coyote bait is any different from the natural process.
 
Seems this thread has deviated now to justifying mercy killing, culling, and wanton waste. Dont come to Big Horn County and pull that crap unless you want to become part of the recycling process yourself...

Please disregard my rehtoric and take this to heart: advocating, condoning, or otherwise justifying such practices are irresponsible to say the least. Participating in them is unethical, illegal and unsportsmanlike. The only exception is a legally taken and tagged animal that is determined by a game biologist to be diseased.

I have found carcasses of bucks in the Washtucna area of Wa state. Tall wide forks, not the three points required but otherwise healthy. A victim of culling or mistaken identity? Either way the shooter is responsible and should do what is right after the animal has been downed.
 
Good topic. Very informative thread.

Somebody mentioned the FDA. I am here to tell you that you would not believe what is considered safe.
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Bingo. The FDA is corrupt as heck. As but one example, they say aspartame is safe, despite many studies that say it's poison, and even killed off one of 5 monkeys it was given to, and scant few studies that say it is safe. The FDA is little more than a puppet for big food. [Sidebar: Avoid aspartame (nutrasweet, equal, aminosweet) & saccharin (sweet n low) like the plague, especially aspartame. If you must use a sugar substitute, use sucralose (splenda) or rebiana.]

On CWD in ungulates/cervids, wasn't the last large concentration of cases from the eastern WA / eastern OR / western ID area? I think it was mulies. Are there any confirmed cases of humans dying from eating meat of a CWD infected cervid? Or just speculation & circumstantial evidence?
 
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Originally posted by Art Eatman:


Prion deer die naturally, right? Same process of "recycling". Thus I don't see how my leaving a maybe-prion carcass for coyote bait is any different from the natural process.
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The difference is if the carcass is deposition somewhere other than the immediate area from where it was killed. Not everyone hunts in their backyard and not everyone processes the deer on the spot where it was shot. If a hunter travels 50 miles to a hunting spot and then takes the deer home to process and then dumps the carcass in the woods behind his house, he may be infecting deer that previously had no exposure. This is how, other than the transposition of live infected deer(as in high fence hunting preserves and deer farms) the prion spreads into new areas. Even dumping the carcass on the same property where it was shot can lead to unnecessary exposure. It is thought the prions can live in/on the ground dormant for many years. The more infected animals left to lay around, the more prions deposited and the more there are to infect healthy animals. While you are "recycling" the carcass, you are also "recycling" the disease. This is all in the last link from the Wisconsin DNR I posted.......http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/disposal.html

Originally posted by Jimbob86:

When the problem is too many deer, this is not an issue.

The "unhealthy" animals won't make it through the winter to spread more disease..... nature is self correcting like that.
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Again....most animals are infected for 18 months or more before getting sick and dieing. Death is quick once they get sick. Winter has little to do with it. Other problem is, in many areas, the reason deer have high densities is the food source, whether it's natural or artificial such as food plots or other supplemental feeding. This brings the animals in close proximity to each other and makes for the passing of the prion from one animal to the next easier. This is why supplemental feeding is banned in parts of Wisconsin where CWD has been found. This disease has been around for a long time, but was never a problem when deer were in natural numbers and th deer fed on natural browse. Only now when predators have been eliminated and man allows the animals to live longer and in higher concentrations has it become a issue. Baiting, automatic feeders and food plots put a high concentration of animals in a small area. It is believed that the prion is passed by contact via saliva. the odds of a deer encountering another deer's saliva at a feeder, salt lick, bait pile or small food plot is much greater than when the deer are randomly browsing like they normally do.
 
Sorry guys, but reading this thread has started my head hurting. I don't know how a topic can get dissected in such a manner. I am nearly 70 yrs. old, have been hunting and eating wild game and fish all my life with not much to show in the way of adverse effects. I admit I have relented in recent years to wearing latex gloves when processing and making sure the game was properly cooked to a temp sufficient to kill the miscreant creatures living within it. Perhaps CWD is adding to my difficulty with these new fangled electronic devices.
 
Seems this thread has deviated now to justifying mercy killing, culling, and wanton waste. Dont come to Big Horn County and pull that crap unless you want to become part of the recycling process yourself...
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are you serious? I grew up in BHC. my family was friends with numerous Crow Indians. anytime we needed meat they would give us their meat. they hunt year round, regardless of if they need meat or not. you really think BHC has any herds left worth culling?

I also distinctly remember fish and game culling when there was an outbreak of blue tongue, PROPER game management.
 
oh, my bad.. you live in the Big Horn County that isn't a Rez. ook you probably have some deer and elk left worth protecting:D
 
Considering the fact that we all have ancestors that ate carrion, and that even fairly recently most of our ancestors didn't know how disease was transmitted, it seems we can create hysteria with little basis.

When I re- started back hunting a few years ago, CWD was a big deal in Colorado, so antelope hunting was where I focused. After a few years, the CWD scare died down, and the Division of Wildlife informed us that there is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans. However, the DOW still will submit tissue samples taken from your harvested dear or elk if you stop by an office. So if you are worried about the disease, that is one way to potentially determine if your animal is carrying the prions. I have friends that have eaten venison right through the CWD epidemic and probably have consumed meat from infected animals. When I harvest a deer or elk, I take the carcass by the DOW office and have them test it. When we cook up some venison, we don't even think about CWD.

Here is a link to the Colorado Division of Wildlife:
http://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/ResearchCWD.aspx

Bear hunting is a new area that I am hoping to experience (if I can buy a muzzle loader tag) and that might get interesting. Trichinosis is a real threat, and when cooking any meat that I might get, we will be darn sure and heat it up good. Ticks and lice and fleas are things that we don't want, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Good thread! Lots of interesting opinions and facts here.
 
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