ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN

AGFC should tread lightly with CWD regulations

Chronic wasting disease is obviously bad for deer and elk, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission should be cautious about overreacting.

We believe CWD has been in at least one small part of Arkansas for 20 years or more, but deer continue to thrive in an area that has a prevalence rate of 23.3 percent.

The AGFC has confirmed nearly 100 cases of CWD in north Arkansas since February. Almost all of those were whitetailed deer, and almost all were in a concentrated area in Newton County.

But only one or two of those deer might actually have died from CWD. The rest died from gunshots during a month-long sampling effort, or by collisions with motor vehicles.

During the 20-30 year period that CWD is believed to have been in Arkansas, our deer population has grown in size and stature. Even in the Newton County "hot zone," there are more deer now than there were in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the past four years, hunters have killed more than 200,000 deer in the state, and more than 210,000 for three of those years. In 2011-2012, we just missed the 200,000 mark at 192,510.

Our suspected CWD period roughly coincides with the duration of the state's three-point rule that defines a legal buck as having at least three points on one antler.

Hunters consistently kill 5-10 bucks a year with racks large enough to qualify for the Boone and Crockett and Pope & Young record books. In 2015, a Drew County buck broke a 40-year state record for typical racks. It was the largest typical ever killed by a hunter in the South, and it ranks fifth all-time.

That's real data from the CWD era, so CWD has obviously not had a demonstrable effect on our deer. Don Davis, a CWD expert from Texas with more letters after his name than an all-night Scrabble game, acknowledged Thursday at a Game and Fish Commission briefing that CWD is more a perceived problem than a real problem.

Nevertheless, elements of the AGFC's proposed regulations package to manage chronic wasting disease might be more influenced by internal and external pressure -- real or perceived -- than by solid science. The commission is reconsidering some of the more stringent proposals, and we anticipate it will soften them.

Donny Harris served as chief of wildlife management for the AGFC in 1997-2004, and also as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in 1990-1997. He's retired and has no stake, but he managed the store when CWD became a national story.

"I don't believe it's [CWD] the worst disease affecting whitetail deer or elk populations in Arkansas," Harris said. "That would be epizootic hemorrhagic disease."

EHD kills about 2.5 million deer annually in the United States, and it kills quickly. It's been present in Arkansas for a very long time and it strikes often, but it hasn't wrecked any deer herds.

In contrast, as mentioned earlier, CWD is suspected in the death of only two deer in Arkansas.

Harris said prudence suggests taking a calm, measured approach. Collect vast amounts of data and build accurate models of the disease in our state before acting in a way that will degrade the public's confidence in our deer, and its trust in the professional biologists that manage them.

"It's hard for Game and Fish to deal with this wolf they view as nipping close at their heels," Harris said. "Look at the big picture. What's going to happen if we do nothing? We've done nothing for over 30 years. Now we see a prevalence rate of 23 percent. So the do-nothing doesn't scare me very bad."

As a deer hunter, I have only two concerns about CWD. Is it safe to eat a deer that has CWD? Fifty years of data say it hasn't been unsafe to date.

If CWD comes to my home hunting grounds, will it kill our deer? Again, there's no evidence to suggest that it will.

Deer and deer hunting have thrived and excelled with CWD in our midst for a long time. That tells me that CWD might not be as serious a problem as we've been conditioned to believe.

Some are criticizing the AGFC for being a little heavy-handed with some of its proposed regulations. But if CWD shows up in their county, the same people will lambast it for not doing enough. That appears to be a no-win situation, but the AGFC can turn it into a winner by treading carefully and not squandering the goodwill it has earned for its excellent deer management over the past 20 years.

Sports on 06/19/2016

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