Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is becoming a cause of alarm throughout the wildlife community. Once extremely isolated, cases are popping up around the country. Whitetail deer populations have proven to be so resilient and prolific that their health was mostly taken for granted in the last century, yet not today.
Elk Get it Too
Elk hunters in Colorado can have their game tested for CWD and specific units are known as CWD zones where animal may have contracted the disease. So far, eating venison from infected animals has not proven dangerous to human health, yet meat from an elk with CWD can be legally discarded. Elk are not only a magnificent game animal but their venison is among the tastiest of wild game.
New Regulations
This post is from Larry Weishuhn wildlife biologist and one of the nation leading outdoor writers. His encounter with law enforcement turned out well, yet practices that hunters have been following for years may now break the law. Especially concerning is the requirement to transport meat in quarters. Boning out game animals has been an important feature of hunting and allows adventurous sporting men and women to travel much deeper into back-country. If you plan a Western trip, be sure to check your state regulations.
Here’s the caution:
Up ahead on the highway crossing from New Mexico into my home state of Texas was a friend who had recently taken a really nice 5×5 bull elk. Before leaving camp he had carefully boned out the delicious venison, so there was no question about having four quarters of elk meat, plus backstraps and inside tenders. He had also removed all the meat from between the ribs and from the neck. These were on ice in several coolers. He left the cape or headskin on the skull and planned on delivering it to his taxidermist when he got home to Dallas. A cool front had blown in toward the latter part of his hunt so the cape would be fine.
Entering one of the first towns on the Texas side of the border, we passed a Texas Game Warden. Upon seeing the elk head on the back of my friend’s pickup the warden turned around and fell in behind him and turned on his lights. My friend pulled over, as did the Game Warden. I followed suit.
