Did you hear the latest? That line is sure to get attention at the water cooler, the barber shop and the gun store counter.
Your humble outdoors scribe (that's me) thinks that part of the job here is to keep you informed of all the latest news. Just like any other area in life, the hunting, fishing, shooting and wildlife world has all kinds of news and views. Some good, some bad.
Let's dive in.
Research still shows that CWD will not affect humans.
We have talked about chronic wasting disease here in these chats many times. CWD is an infectious disease that affects members of the deer family, cervids. Whitetail deer, mule deer, moose, elk and caribou are all susceptible to this always fatal disease. Wildlife biologists tell us that CWD is not spread from bacteria or a virus but by a tough little microscopic varmint called a prion. Prions are infectious, single proteins that cause the sponge-like degeneration of the brain in infected animals.
Scientists now think that prions are very durable and can withstand long periods of time and many decontamination methods. Prions are able to bind or attach to different types of soil as well as plants, and CWD may spread in this way as well as via animal-to-animal contact. Several states now have confirmed finding deer with CWD, including Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Last I heard, Georgia does not have any confirmed cases of CWD yet, although neighboring states Alabama and Tennessee do.
I believe if it were ever proven that CWD could be transferred from deer to humans, it would be devastating to hunting in this country. The whitetail deer puts more hunters in the woods and sells more hunting licenses than any other game animal.
Well, so far, so good.
(READ MORE: For better venison on the table, the work begins in the woods)
The latest research on this seems to be from the National Institutes of Health, and I'm quoting here from the NIH news release in the matter: "A new study of prion diseases, using a human cerebral organoid model, suggests there is a substantial species barrier preventing transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) from cervids — deer, elk and moose — to people. The findings, from National Institutes of Health scientists and published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, are consistent with decades of similar research in animal models at the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)."
Talk about predator control.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced recently it killed 81 brown bears and 14 wolves from May 10 to June 5 in a 530-square-mile area of state land. This is actually a smaller area (about half) of caribou calving grounds the ADFG covered in 2023, when it took 91 brown bears, five wolves and five black bears.
Why? This is part of a project to improve calf survival in the Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska. The ADFG reports that this herd has declined by about 94% since the late 1990s. Ninety-four percent! Do you think they might have needed a little predator control?
As usual, this action brought complaints about why licensed hunters weren't allowed to do some of the removal, and usually I would agree with it. You have to remember, though, just how big and vast Alaska is; those of us in the eastern U.S. especially have trouble visualizing it. This area (and much of Alaska) is so remote that hunters would never be able to get there and remove the number of animals needed to help the survival of this caribou herd.
I personally applaud this action in a day and age when it is getting harder to talk about reducing predator numbers to benefit any game animal. The wolf situation in the American West is a mess, to say the least, and is going to get worse before it gets any better, if it ever does. Elk populations and elk hunting are going to suffer.
(READ MORE: Let's follow this trail north to Alaska)
Public land hunting is going to be better, and worse.
The number of hunters on public land increased in the past few years, especially during the COVID mess. Now there is more emphasis on hunting public land in the wonderful world of the internet and social media. It has become a "thing," a trend, to focus on public land and take animals such as deer and turkeys there, where it is often more of a challenge than on private land.
I don't really have a problem with that myself, figuring anything that shows hunting in good light is a welcome thing.
However, some who regularly hunt on public land do not welcome anything that will increase numbers there; as they see it, that is just more competition. Well, we have to remember that it is public land, it is supposed to be accessible to all of us who buy a hunting license. You will almost always have some competition on public land, but I still maintain that some public land is underutilized and there are times when you may have some areas to yourself.
Now you know that I am not talking about the first week of the buck firearms season, or maybe the first few days of the spring gobbler season. You know you have to stay away from many areas of public land at those times.
For those who exclusively hunt the big bucks on public land, there is a way to be successful at it, and it involves the usual things in life to be successful: time and hard work. The real gurus of the big buck hunters will tell you (if they talk to you) to spend time in the areas where the other hunters don't go, usually the roughest, most remote places on the map.
The other hunters' tree stands and trail cameras will show you a lot of where they are concentrating. You have to get to that little sliver of land where no one wants to walk, a place where the big bucks can feel comfortable and let down their guard.
Is there such a place in your public land haunts? That is what you have to find out — if you have the energy to walk there and the time to do it.
"Guns & Cornbread" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.
