Managing for CWD

Controversies when Managing for CWD
Alyce Kacena
04-20-11

Chronic Wasting Disease is a very political disease. The reason for this is because it affects one the most highly sought after resource of Wisconsin, white tailed deer. Managing CWD is a very controversial topic and the reason for the controversy lies within the diseases etiology.
Chronic Wasting Disease is caused by miss folded prions, which are a type of protein in the brain. These proteins can be transmitted through saliva, urine and other bodily fluids. This causes huge problems when trying to manage for the disease. For example, a good majority of hunters in Wisconsin like to put out bait piles, salt blocks and mineral blocks in order to attract the biggest of all bucks. However, these methods can be a huge source for transmission of CWD among white-tailed deer, which leads to controversy between biologists and hunters. Hunters do not enjoy being told that they cannot practice hunting methods that they have been using their entire lives. So, when the DNR attempts to manage CWD by telling hunters that they cannot bait white-tailed deer any longer, issues between the DNR and hunters arise.
Another controversy concerning the management of CWD, is earn a buck. Earn a buck means just that, in order to obtain a buck tag one must first kill a female deer. The Wisconsin DNR has attempted enforcing this management strategy in order to reduce the white-tail deer populations. Studies have shown that CWD is more easily spread when animals are over populated and living in close proximity to each other. So, if you reduce the white-tail deer populations, you reduce the spread of infection. Well it turns out that a majority of WI hunters do not like this method of management. This is because most WI hunters either: feel bad about killing female deer, believe that the white-tailed deer population is to low already, or they just simply want to get a trophy buck.
My personal opinions on both controversies tend to favor the DNR’s type of management. This is because their management strategies are backed by science, and I am big on scientific facts. These two controversies are only two examples of a long list of controversies concerning the management of CWD. These are just the two controversies that I felt the most strong about. I believe controversies concerning the management of CWD will be an ongoing thing, and will most likely continue to be reoccurring political issues. White-tail deer are one of the biggest revenues for the WI DNR, and because of this the DNR needs to find a happy medium with WI hunters. I don’t know what that happy medium is, but it needs to be discovered soon because CWD is becoming more and more common across the state of Wisconsin, which means we have a huge problem.