Positive CWD Result
 

This year I was fortunate to harvest my first Mule Deer buck, and like with any of the deer I had taken I submitted the head and went on processing the animal. I deboned and cut up myself and then took the meat to a local butcher to have it made into sausage (had no time to do it myself this year).

Yesterday I got the call that my result was positive (The head was submitted Nov.9). My plan is to dispose of the meat and not take any chances, but I'm wondering what the experiences here have been with positive CWD results?

Also I've read some threads on here about being issued another tag for next year, and wonder how that works for those of you that have been through the process?

Cwd
 

IMO you are wise in your decision not to eat this particular deer. If you read this year's regulations, even the World Health Organization is advising not to eat meat from an animal that tested positive for CWD.

Margo Pybus likely called you directly or will be shortly, she will go through the process and your options.

LC

post#3
 

I am making an assumption you have been through this process,did you need to ask about a replacement tag or was it part of the call?
Thanks for the input ,i could not find any info about replacement tags on the sites i searched.

Just a question? Why on earth would you do Anything with the meat until you found out what your CWD results first.

They called initially, said that something was up and they needed further testing. Got another call indicating the positive and then they outlined the options.

LC

This is why I do not take any meat to a butcher.....

So do you notify the butcher? And everyone he also cut meat for?

One of the reasons for me.

The Alberta gov HAS to get moving on improving the CWD testing system.

No s**t... I never thought about that. The next couple guys likely have cross contamination. 😳

We can blame the gov for everything if we want ( I usally do). But please tell me how the gov could stop a cwd pos deer from entering a butcher shop in under a hour from being shot?
If I was a butcher, I would refused any deer from a cwd zone.

You really don't know. The OP may have not even got his deer in his sausage.....

more info
 

What zone........what butcher

We cut and grind our own meat, but there really is no protocol nor "rule set" that needs to be followed or is even suggested by the government on what to do when you have a positive result.

LC

X2

This is why I don't hunt close to any CWD Wmu's........

Ian puttin in for one next year. I hope mine tests pos so I get another tag......;)

Silver Lab ...... maybe read the OPs first post a little more closely before coming down on other people ...... here I will help you out.

Assuming the sausage was made cross contamination is a very real possibility.

I read it word for word. I didn't mean to "come down" on anyone, that wasn't what I was getting at. Iam sure the OP and others didn't think it would be a issue. It is with me.
I don't care who deboned it, it doesn't matter. That meat is contaminated in my opinion.
My point is we shouldn't be taking or butcher's shouldn't be accepting any deer, elk, big foot or any other animal into a place where it could contaminate other meat brought in by others.
How many people went home with cwd pos meat?

That last line is the important one.... Sorry but it's irresponsible to have brought that meat in. The butcher needs to be notified.... This could really blow up into something nasty. The meat should have been froze until cleared, then brought to the butcher.

Another reason we do our own. We butcher but separate and freeze all CWD zone meat until we hear back. I guess going through it 3 times we know the drill.

LC

There was a group of 4 hunters that harvested 4 mule bucks and 3 tested positive. This was in zone 9 which is north and east of Maple Creek. I hope this doesn't turn into a slaughter again.

That might not be an option. Positive case in Fort Saskatchewan this year. Just got back from Wainwright and there was talk that they expect CWD to be province wide within 10 years. Mandatory testing province wide for all species since it has been found in WT, moose and elk as well.

Pretty soon Alberta will be a CWD zone..

That's a really scary thought

Yes she called, and I will be in contact with her again next week.

To clear up some of the questions...

In the past all results have been negative, and this time I took it for granted that it would be again... thus why I took the meat in before receiving the results. Likely an expensive lesson moving forward.

As for cross contamination, likely not an issue here. I talked to the owner and the butcher, they assured me they don’t mix meat and they clean their grinders daily. I deboned and cut up this deer before taking it in, all they did was grind and put into casing. I also provided my own bin with the meat when I dropped it off. However I’m thinking in the future they will stop accepting game meat until documentation of negative CWD results is given.

Moving forward I will take Lefty’s approach and keep my meat separated and frozen until results are in. Hopefully as we all become more educated and experienced we can learn from each other to stop this from happening again... which is why I share this.

Cwd
 

The government should be dropping the hammer on everything east of highway 2 to try to slow down the spread of CWD to the rest of the province.

This isn’t the governments fault, they had results to me in 3 weeks. Not sure if they have the resources to improve this time frame.
Most butchers I have talked to recently have stopped accepting game meat. I’m not sure if CWD is the only reason, but I imagine it’s a factor.

If the government was serious about CWD they would declare the entire province a CWD zone and require mandatory registration of all animals within 72 hours of kill and provide results within 72 hours of registration. They are not.

Last year I dropped off off our heads in November and received the results in March. That’s not acceptable at all.

Many people I know hunt the CWD zones especially for whitetails, they don’t process deer themselves so what are they supposed to do with a whole deer while waiting for results. They take them to the local butcher for cut and wrap and some don’t even have the CWD testing done.

I wonder how many deer go untested at all?