Robert T. Smith: Pennsylvania deer management?

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is spreading in the state’s deer herd. There are now potentially too few hunters to control a deer herd that is always looking to expand naturally, and with this expansion goes the disease. Who will help keep the spread in check?

CWD is a contagious, always-fatal brain disease that affects members of the deer family. It was discovered in Pennsylvania’s free-ranging white-tailed deer in 2012. Since then, the number of deer testing positive for CWD has risen and the area in which it is found has expanded.

CWD has an incubation period averaging 18 to 24 months from infection to the onset of noticeable signs. The most obvious sign of CWD is progressive weight loss. Other noticeable signs include behavioral changes such as decreased deer-to-deer interaction, loss of awareness and loss of fear of humans. Diseased animals also may exhibit increased drinking and urination and excessive salivation.

In general, CWD studies suggest that shedding of infectious prions may likely be progressive during the course of the disease, from initial infection, to incubation, to certain death.

The Centers for Disease Control and prevention recommends that hunters do not eat meat from CWD- positive deer and should follow steps to reduce risks associated with CWD in deer:

• Do not shoot, handle or eat animals that look sick or act strangely.

• When field-dressing a deer or handling meat, wear latex or rubber gloves, avoid handling its internal organs, especially the brain or spine, and do not use knives or other tools you use in your kitchen.

Considering the many months-long incubation period for CWD, it is impossible to tell if the animal you have harvested has CWD unless testing is conducted. Who will desire to hunt deer under these circumstances with the potential to accidentally eat a diseased deer?

A new paradigm was adopted by the Pennsylvania Game Commission in the late 1990s and early 2000s to drastically reduce the number of deer in the state, to promote healthy forests and healthy deer. The PGC’s paradigm shift also showed its desire to accommodate a multitude of other “stakeholders” in its decisions. The hunter’s wishes appeared to no longer to be of primary importance.

Many hundreds of hunters left the sport due to a lack of encounters with their quarry. This had a fatal impact on the social interests of hunters and the financial interests of those affected by hunter participation numbers.

As a part of its paradigm shift, the Game Commission put in place antler restrictions to select for older, larger bucks; i.e., older deer with the propensity to dramatically expand their range in the fall by rampaging around large areas of the countryside during the mating season rut and representing the worst-case spreaders of the incubating CWD.

In response to the spread of CWD in the state, the Game Commission has done little, other than select for the worst spreaders of the disease, older large antler bucks, implement a CWD testing program for dead deer, and yearly update the extent of the spread. Colorful maps are diligently developed to depict the problem areas and are annually reimagined and shared with their hunting customers.

As a reported but clearly not verified scientifically based organization, other than its ability to manufacture pretty color pictures depicting the march of the disease across the state, the Game Commission has been lacking in a useful response — to the detriment of meaningful wildlife and habitat management.