Tag: cwd

Michigan Deer Hunters Need More Thinking Afield

By Glen Wunderlich

The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) has compiled its annual “State of the Whitetail” report based on data gathered from the whitetails’ range across North America and what follows is a snapshot of how Michigan stacks up to other states.  Keep in mind that the information cited is from hunting seasons from 2017/2018 and prior and not the most recent seasons just completed.

For the 2019 Whitetail Report, QDMA compared harvest data from the three most recent seasons available: 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18.  

Beginning with disease reports, Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a bacterial infection of the respiratory system. Bovine TB is a chronic, progressive disease that can take years to develop. There is no vaccine. Prior to 1994, only eight wild white-tailed deer and mule deer were reported with bTB. Since then, it has been discovered in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin. With the exception of Michigan, bTB appears to be eradicated in the other states.  As of late November 2018, over 21,000 samples had been tested in Michigan with five new positive cases that year.  As you may know, the DNR had established two additional short deer seasons in Alpena County to mitigate the spread of this disease.

In October 2018 Michigan DNR discovered its first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Upper Peninsula, just four miles from the border of Wisconsin. Additionally, two bucks suspected to be CWD-positive were harvested in late November in Gratiot and Eaton counties, where CWD has not previously been found.

Across the U.S. motorists killed over 1.33 million deer in 2017-18; that’s a whopping 22 percent of the deer harvest!  Michigan continued its bang-up job contributing some 87,959 whitetails to the roadside tally putting it in second place behind Pennsylvania’s staggering total of 141,777.  For another perspective, Michigan drivers killed .34 deer per road mile.  Based on these dismal figures, Michigan should consider lowering the cost of antlerless deer licenses below the current amounts – especially in CWD Management Zones – if it ever wants to get serious about minimizing vehicle/deer collisions.   And, the result of more antlerless deer being taken will have delivered the desired effect to minimize the spread of CWD.

Bowhunting opportunity and harvest has dramatically increased during the past two decades. In 2002, only 15 percent of the total deer harvest was taken with archery equipment, and that increased to 23 percent in 2017; amazingly, New Jersey archers took nearly 60 percent of its total deer harvest.

Michigan hunters took 311,000 whitetails with 5.5 hunters per square (PSM) mile behind only Pennsylvania’s total of 339,600 with its 7.6 hunters PSM.  This puts Michigan nearly three times the national average of bucks taken PSM!

Michigan’s antlered buck harvest is up 14 percent over its five-year average with a total of 226,656 bucks taken in 2017.  Compared to the previous year alone (2016), the total was over 30,000 more bucks taken.  However, when analyzing the composition of the bucks taken by age class, Michigan’s propensity to kill adolescent bucks (those 1.5 years old) at the rate of 46 percent of the total bucks killed continues.  In addition, with only 22 percent of the bucks taken having been 3.5 years old or older, Michigan has the fifth lowest number in the country.  Not surprisingly, there appears to be a correlation between these age-class totals.

The antlerless deer kill figures represent a five-percent decrease over the previous five-year average, although 2017 saw 5,000 more antlerless deer taken than the previous year.  What’s most concerning about the antlerless kill numbers is the fact that some 24 percent of these animals were fawns!   Either our hunters are hungrier than those in other states or we could certainly do a better job of identifying our intended targets.

One final statistic seems to be in order:  the number of non-resident deer hunters participating in Michigan deer hunts.  A scant two percent of our hunters were from other states putting us behind all but North Dakota’s one percent.  Compared to the leader in this category – Kansas with its 27 percent non-resident tags issued – Michigan with its sheer deer-herd numbers has not been a desirable destination for out-of-state whitetail hunters and it’s not because we don’t have deer.

So, there you have it – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Michigan can do a better job of deer management whether it’s on behalf of the DNR’s policies or that of its army of hunters.

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Michigan’s Drastic Action to Stop CWD in its Deer Herd

By Glen Wunderlich

With the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) and Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MDARD) confirmation of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a free-ranging deer in Meridian Township earlier this month, deer hunting, as we’ve known it in the surrounding area, is about to change drastically based on the state’s surveillance and response plan for the disease.

There is no easy way out of this dilemma and options to control the spread of the disease are going to be brutal.  Actions the DNR will take include the following immediately:

  •  Completing a population survey in the area where the CWD-positive deer was found.
  •  Establishing a Core CWD Area consisting of Alaiedon, Delhi, Lansing, Meridian, Wheatfield and Williamstown townships in Ingham County; Bath and DeWitt townships in Clinton County; and Woodhull Township in Shiawassee County. Unlimited antlerless deer hunting licenses will be available.  Mandatory checking of deer will be required in this area during hunting seasons and restrictions will apply to the movement of carcasses and parts of deer taken in this area.
  •  Creating a CWD Management Zone, which will include Clinton, Ingham and Shiawassee counties.
  •  Implementing a deer and elk feeding and baiting ban, which will include the Core CWD Area and the larger three-county CWD Management Zone.  Provisions of the baiting ban are as follows:

All grains, minerals, salt, fruits, vegetables, hay, or any other food materials, whether natural or manufactured, which may lure, entice or attract deer are prohibited. This ban does include mineral and salt blocks, but does not include natural or manufactured lures/scents that are not “food materials”.  Food plots are not subject to the ban.

  •  Prohibiting the possession or salvage of deer killed by collision with a motor vehicle within the Core CWD Area. Also, residents are asked to call in the locations of road-killed deer within this area so DNR staff can pick up for testing. Research shows CWD-infected deer are more likely to be hit by vehicles because of their illness.

Some chronically CWD-infected animals will display abnormal behaviors, progressive weight loss and physical debilitation. There is no cure; once a deer is infected with CWD, it will die.

The DNR asks help from the public and hunters in reporting deer that are unusually thin or exhibiting unusual behavior (for example, acting tame around humans and allowing someone to approach).

To report a suspicious-looking deer, call the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab at 517-336-5030 or fill out and submit the online observation report found on the DNR website.

To report road-kills found in the Core CWD Area call the Wildlife Disease Hotline at 517-614-9602 during office hours and leave a voicemail with location information.

CWD is also transmitted indirectly from contaminated items in the environment such as soils where it persists for decades. Where the disease becomes established, environmental contamination likely drives CWD outbreaks perpetually.  Once CWD is established in an area, all methods tried to date have failed to eradicate the disease.

Density reductions should target entire family groups (does and their fawns) to minimize the probability of disease persistence, and yearling bucks to minimize the  probability of disease spread via dispersal.

Once established, CWD outbreaks can be expected to last for decades.  If hunters do not kill a sufficient number of cervids to provide an adequate sample, DNR should collect additional samples via designating special hunts, landowner shooting permits, agency-directed culling and/or other methods as deemed necessary.

In southern Wisconsin, CWD is endemic, increasing in prevalence at a rate of 4% per year, with the affected geographic area continuing to expand.

In contrast, New York discovered CWD in 2005 in the free-ranging deer population.  Initial surveillance found only one positive free-ranging deer and subsequent surveillance has thus far failed to detect additional infected deer in the wild. The swift, aggressive response (which included agency culling and enhanced opportunistic, targeted, and hunter-harvested surveillance efforts) taken by the wildlife agency appears to have occurred prior to CWD becoming established in the population. While it is still too early to determine if CWD has been eradicated entirely, New York’s response may have at least limited its spread.

That may the best we can hope for in Michigan, as well, but it’s going to be rough road ahead.

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DNR, MDARD update Michigan’s plan for managing chronic wasting disease

GW:  The revisions in the newly modified CWD response plan are focused more on affected areas, rather than the broad, far-reaching actions in the previous plan – no doubt resulting from hunter outrage.  But, now, if neighboring states are found with CWD, Michigan’s plan may swing into action.

The Natural Resources Commission adopted changes to chronic wasting disease baiting and feeding regulations, as outlined in the state’s newly revised CWD response plan, at its regular monthly meeting Thursday in Lansing. Read more

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