The deadly C.W.D. or Chronic Wasting Disease is a debilitating disease that appears to affect the central nervous system in deer and other similar hoofed animals. It is believed to be spread through the ingestion of the animal’s own waste when feeding in concentrated lump baiting and feeding areas, where unethical hunters will dump piles of corn and other attractants in one spot to then kill the vulnerable animals while the entire herd is feeding in the concentrated area.
The disease has been well documented in New York, Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania for several years.
There has been a decline, however, as these states have banned the sale of so called “Deer Corn” and other attractants in retailers like Wal-Mart and other sporting good stores. Additionally greater strides have been taken by wildlife agencies to stop these unethical practices through stricter penalties, stringent enforcement, and consistent regulations that apply to both public use and private lands.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has not taken any heed to these statistics or policies. Regulation standards in Tennessee are more relaxed for private land than public use lands. The TWRA, however, has chosen the “Throw the Baby out with the Bath Water” approach, by increasing bag limits and proposing season extensions in the affected areas. This will not only most likely have little effect on disease reduction, but poses a much higher risk to hunting public who may unwittingly come in contact with the disease when harvesting, and field dressing the infected animals. This malpractice will also increase the use of bait hunting, thus increasing the spread of this deadly disease.
This is just another example of the reckless and rogue agency’s mismanagement practices that has led to several blunders in recent years, and probably the reason for the steady decline in interest from outdoorsman. Rather than prohibiting the sale of these products, and enforcing violators using these unethical practices, having consistent regulations, and using the funds that are generated by licensees for the promotion of healthy and prolific W.M.A.’s and waterways, they introduce non native species like Alewives, River Otters, and Muskellunge that are a detriment to native species.
Most of these blunders are the result of catering to lobbying from special interest groups, not from the hunting and fishing license holders that pay for these experiments. If they are going to introduce anything, they should consider introducing the Axis Deer. They have a different breeding cycle than Whitetail and would provide greater opportunities for hunters. The TWRA in part of zone # 3, The Bridgestone Wilderness Area in particular, for instance burns large tracts of otherwise good habitat and food source, all for the sake of rumors that it will help the recently introduced Bobwhite Quail that have been released there through lobby from special interest, to which, by the way, no pause or hunting moratorium was put in place to allow the introduced birds to get established. This practice of burning of large tracts of otherwise abundant food sources is interrupting the habitual feeding cycles of the indigenous species like Whitetail and Turkey. Again it is the lobby of the special interest for the Quail that has taken precedence over those who pay to use the Bridgesonte Wilderness Area.
On top of all that, the TWRA has the nerve to complain publicly, about the decline in license purchases. These and other reckless policies have caused the agency to increase the cost of a Sportsman hunting and fishing license to a whopping $166.00 and that’s without any additional permits. Do they realize how much meat someone can just go to the store and buy for that kind of money? If they spent less money on literature, public relations, and special interest requests, and more on actually enforcing violators and improving the conditions of their Wildlife Management Areas for wildlife like their designation claims it is supposed to do, it might improve their financial dilemma.