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First CWD meeting

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turkeyriver

PMA Member
Just got home from the first CWD meeting put on by the DNR up here in Monona. Dale Garner did a good job as usual outlining the history and spread of CWD. What everyone was wondering is the course of action. Nothing earth-shattering is going to happen. DNR just wants increased sampling in the area during hunting seasons and reports on fresh roadkill this spring and summer. What will happen if there isn't cooperation from hunters in donating these samples remains to be seen. All the test results from Allamakee are back and there was just the one positive. If after 3 years of testing there are no more positives, everything goes back to the way it is now. Like Dale said,"All we have now is a spark, hope it doesn't turn into something bigger." Time will tell.
 
As a non resident hunter/fisherman/tourist who frequents NE Iowa the discovery of CWD caught my eye. Out of curiosity I checked out the Iowa DNR's CWD Response Plan to see how it differs from Michigan's

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/cwd_joint_plan.pdf

It looks like the Iowa action plan would be to measure off a 5 mile radius from where the first free ranging CWD deer is found (the "index case") and kill a sufficient sample of the population for testing:

Approximately 300 free-ranging deer ≥16 months of age will be killed
expeditiously in the surveillance zone and tested for CWD. Efforts
will be made to ensure the sample is geographically representative.
This sample would provide sufficient statistical power to be 95%
confident of detecting the disease if it is present in the area at a
prevalence of at least 1%. Two methods may be used to obtain the
sample, one preferred, the other alternative, to be used only if the
preferred method fails to gather the needed number of animals:
Preferred: Landowners will be recruited to kill deer from private
land, with DNR staff available to assist landowners on request.
DNR staff will kill deer on public land.
Alternative: The Director and the Secretary of Agriculture will
expeditiously seek a Declaration of Emergency from the Governor
in order to gain legal access to private lands of individuals refusing
to cooperate in surveillance. Subsequently, DNR staff will kill
deer on those lands.​

Apparently your DNR decided not to do this?​

In any event, Good Luck to you all and hopefully the end result will be something that gets your herd headed in the right direction health wise​
 
I was glad to hear their plan of action. Now we just need to cooperate with them and hopefully nothing else will show up.
 
I heard in between water ville and hwy 76. Regardless that's gotta be very near Yellow River State Forest.
 
I guess its just a waiting game now. All we can do is hope for the best. I Bowhunt this area...it gets hit hard during the gun seasons.
 
jjohnson said:
I heard in between water ville and hwy 76. Regardless that's gotta be very near Yellow River State Forest.
Click to expand...

Do you know if they killed the 300 deer within the 5 mile radius of where they found the first infected deer like their plan describes?

Maybe they did but nobody wants to discuss it publicly for whatever reason?

Maybe they didn't because 1) I've misinterpreted Iowa's plan or 2) they decided to deviate from it?

I know this affects you guys way more than it does me; if I lived there I'd want to be on top of what my DNR is doing especially given the issues our common neighbor Wisconsin has had....
 
No they didn't kill anything. The plan is to test everything they can get their hands on roadkills, harvests,etc. If nothing tests positive in 3 years continue routine testing.
 
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