[jimbridger]

http://citizensvoice.com/news/pa-game-co...-deer-1.2051868

Hope this link works. Looks like the PGC is thinking of using sharpshooters to target deer in areas where CWD was found. Good Idea???? Bad idea???? Will it work???? Waugh!

 

[jimbridger]

[No message]

 

[Laylow]

Its here and it isn't going away.

 

[TENPT]

Are they going to shot the large antlered older bucks they've been stockpileing>? Maybe that's part of the reason CWD is spreading. They might as well go back to the old ARs.

 

[dpms]

Makes sense for the PGC to try this since it hasn't worked anywhere else.

All the PGC has been successful at so far is deterring hunters from hunting in areas where they should be.

 

[kudu58]

They might as well go back to the old ARs.

For the sake of slowing the spread of CWD, that is a fact. No sense giving protection to any deer that may be carrying. All that will be accomplished though is slowing the spread.

 

[LONZO]

Deer relocate for the most part when they are 1.5 yr olds, so if this is when they are moving and transporting cwd, maby should shoot all the 1.5's and let the older ones go.

 

[TENPT]

A poachers DREAM.

 

[R. S. B.]

Makes sense for the PGC to try this since it hasn't worked anywhere else.

All the PGC has been successful at so far is deterring hunters from hunting in areas where they should be.

What do mean it hasn't worked anywhere else? If you mean they haven't eradicated CWD by extensive culling you are correct. But there is no way of knowing how much more wide spread CWD would have bene in the areas they had major culling programs had they not reduced the herds in those areas.

In fact if you did some research on the subject you would find that Illinois was pretty darn successful it halting the spread there with massive culling. So much so in fact that neighboring Wisconsin is re-evaluating their prior decision to back off on their massive herd reduction. WCD is spreading in leaps and bounds there again and Wisconsin has recently proclaimed they made a mistake by backing off due to the public and political pressure they were receiving to do so.

Dick Bodenhorn

 

[Curly Maple]

Have they received an estimate from the snipers yet?

 

[dpms]

In fact if you did some research on the subject

I have and continue to do so. I love it when you and others just pull the old "learn up on it card" when others disagree with your positions on CWD. There happens to be plenty of wildlife professionals, that disagree with your positions. You are retired LE, correct?

 

[Curly Maple]

http://citizensvoice.com/news/pa-game-co...-deer-1.2051868

Hope this link works. Looks like the PGC is thinking of using sharpshooters to target deer in areas where CWD was found. Good Idea???? Bad idea???? Will it work???? Waugh!

We were talking about this..this morning. How do you get on private ground to do it? Imagine having a lease and someone comes up and says they are going to kill all the deer on your property....

With a fence don't you need right of way agreements? Put them through back yards ? What about highways...are they going to gate them?

 

[R. S. B.]

In fact if you did some research on the subject

I have and continue to do so. I love it when you and others just pull the old "learn up on it card" when others disagree with your positions on CWD. There happens to be plenty of wildlife professionals, that disagree with your positions. You are retired LE, correct?

Really, why don't you go ahead and post some links to the reports from the wildlife professionals who disagree?

Here are just a few of related links from Wisconsin.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/04/14/chronic-wasting-disease-spreading-among-wisconsin-deer/

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/prevalence.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/1...-247165301.html

Dick Bodenhorn

 

[dpms]

Do a search just like you did for those links. There is plenty of alternative opinions if one is really interested in looking at them and digesting what is being said.

 

[jimbridger]

Dick did you read the article. Like you said Ill. had better success using the targeted approach vice the Wisc. method of herd reduction. This method seems to work better because the family groups and small local herds hold in the same area.

I just don't know if anything will stop it because it is held so long in the soil. Doing nothing is not an option. Cost can be a problem if other than hunters are used to manage our herd. It also open a larger can of worms beyond our CWD problem if every answer we have is to hire guns. Waugh!

 

[cspot]

https://www.texasdeerassociation.com/pdf/THE_SKY_IS_NOT_FALLING.pdf

If you read the article, you will see that apparently there is some issue with the sampling protocol in Wisconsin that "influenced" the increase by leaps and bounds.

 

[cspot]

How long are they going to keep the cull up? What will the cost be? Even if somewhat effective in the short-term, it still won't stop the disease in PA.

If they go thru with the sharpshooters, it is an utter waste of time and money. CWD is just another disease that deer get and has never been shown to have significant population impacts on deer.

The average incubation is 2-4 years with 16 months being the minimum. What is the average age of the deer population in PA?

 

[R. S. B.]

Do a search just like you did for those links. There is plenty of alternative opinions if one is really interested in looking at them and digesting what is being said.

Well then go ahead and post the links to them. I can't find anything suggesting anything that works at controlling it any better than herd reduction. It doesn't seem anything will stop it once it is here but slowing the spread does seem to be reasonably effective where they have reduced the populations verse where they have done nothing.

Dick Bodenhorn

 

[dpms]

I just don't know if anything will stop it because it is held so long in the soil. Doing nothing is not an option. Cost can be a problem if other than hunters are used to manage our herd. It also open a larger can of worms beyond our CWD problem if every answer we have is to hire guns. Waugh!

The PGC has done a great job of telling folks what CWD is. It has done a very poor job of telling folks what CWD is not. Now, since it appears they cannot or will not rely on hunters to reduce deer numbers, a already cash strapped agency is exploring opening a can of worms to do a job that hunters should be doing.

Where does it stop? When CWD spreads, which it will, is the PGC prepared to sharpshoot Pa's deer across the state.

When the PGC establishes deer eradication areas, will the unfortunate hunters that hunt in those areas buy a license to go deer hunting? Most only hunt deer twice a year. If they are not scared to death from the gloom and doon already prophesized, will it be worth it to them to even buy a license?

When is the PGC going to issue a bulletin that any feed purposely placed out for wildlife that deer can consume, is now illegal in these areas? Or are they just going to target hunters that are responsible for a fraction of the deer feeding that goes on in this state. Are they afraid of the negative press when the Audobon folks go ballistic? Maybe they are gun shy from last time they messed with a "bird lady". Yet, they sharpshoot deer and target hunter with their policies.

 

[R. S. B.]

I just don't know if anything will stop it because it is held so long in the soil. Doing nothing is not an option. Cost can be a problem if other than hunters are used to manage our herd. It also open a larger can of worms beyond our CWD problem if every answer we have is to hire guns. Waugh!

The PGC has done a great job of telling folks what CWD is. It has done a very poor job of telling folks what CWD is not. Now, since it appears they cannot or will not rely on hunters to reduce deer numbers, a already cash strapped agency is exploring opening a can of worms to do a job that hunters should be doing.

Where does it stop? When CWD spreads, which it will, is the PGC prepared to sharpshoot Pa's deer across the state.

When the PGC establishes deer eradication areas, will the unfortunate hunters that hunt in those areas buy a license to go deer hunting? Most only hunt deer twice a year. If they are not scared to death from the gloom and doon already prophesized, will it be worth it to them to even buy a license?

When is the PGC going to issue a bulletin that any feed purposely placed out for wildlife that deer can consume, is now illegal in these areas? Or are they just going to target hunters that are responsible for a fraction of the deer feeding that goes on in this state. Are they afraid of the negative press when the Audobon folks go ballistic? Maybe they are gun shy from last time they messed with a "bird lady". Yet, they sharpshoot deer and target hunter with their policies.

Go ahead and tell everyone just what the Game Commission should be telling everyone CWD isn't since you seem to have it all figured out.

The Game Commission has been providing a lot of extra antlerless tags to hunters in the CWD areas in an attempt to allow hunters to reduce the deer population. So, what more do you propose they do to allow hunters to get the job done? Unlimited and never ending seasons for those areas? Do you think the public would go for that over using sharpshooters who they aren't even going to know are out there. It has been proven in the past that sharpshooter can cull more in one night than unlimited hunters can remove in a month, and do it without most people even knowing they are doing it.

As for whether deer hunters will continue to hunt where the herd has been reduced by sharpshooters; I don't guess anyone knows the answer to that. Now I have one for you. Will hunters do the job of reducing deer numbers enough for to properly manage them when CWD is so wide spread in an area there is a high probably they would be killing a deer with CWD? It is pretty much a double edged sword no matter which why they approach it.

As for the feeding issue there is already sufficient regulation to address the issue. Just because the Officers enforcing it use a different approach and judgement than you would prefer I am confident they are being as effective in the enforcement as the legal system and courts will allow.

I know, I know!!! Everyone who has never spent a single minute of their life enforcing the laws always knows much more about how it should be done than the people who spent a lifetime in the enforcement profession.

Dick Bodenhorn