CWD - Taxidermist tossed the head - now what?

[kingpin]

Hey friends,
so this year I had the fantastic opportunity to harvest my first mule buck. Big enough and happy enough to make me happy - I took him to the taxidermist - head / antlers / and cape.

Because the mandatory head submission is new in my area, I made sure to talk to the taxidermist and make arrangements to pick up the head after it was skinned out and antlers were taken.

Now - crap happens, I get that, but the facility ended up tossing the head - so now I have no head to submit and a freezer full of deer meat that I'm not sure what to do with. (I have spoken with the taxidermist and agreements have been reached)

What's the general feeling here? I don't feel right tossing the meat - but at the same time there is always the possibility that there's CWD....I processed my own animal and he appears in good health (dead but otherwise healthy).

What would you do?

[MountainTi]

I'm assuming it was cut up boneless? I'd eat it.

[kingpin]

Yup - youre right cut up and bone out. I did it myself - packaged and in the freezer. Waiting for processing into the smoked meats.

[DRhunter]

Originally Posted by mountainti

i'm assuming it was cut up boneless? I'd eat it.

x2

dr

[Chief27]

Originally Posted by kingpin

Hey friends,
so this year I had the fantastic opportunity to harvest my first mule buck. Big enough and happy enough to make me happy - I took him to the taxidermist - head / antlers / and cape.

Because the mandatory head submission is new in my area, I made sure to talk to the taxidermist and make arrangements to pick up the head after it was skinned out and antlers were taken.

Now - crap happens, I get that, but the facility ended up tossing the head - so now I have no head to submit and a freezer full of deer meat that I'm not sure what to do with. (I have spoken with the taxidermist and agreements have been reached)

What's the general feeling here? I don't feel right tossing the meat - but at the same time there is always the possibility that there's CWD....I processed my own animal and he appears in good health (dead but otherwise healthy).

What would you do?

What did the body condition of the buck body look like? Did it seem skinnier than what would be expected this time of year or rather healthy? I know that's not a terrible amount of helpful info.
The mulie I got a few years ago, when I got up to it I could tell it wasn't right, but the head submission confirmed it so I disposed of the meat. I would suggest talking to a wildlife biologist in your area or researching the prevalence of CWD in the area you hunt?
Then again if its going to be smoked and salted, hard to say no to jerky sticks and summer sausage

[Dan4570]

Unfortunate event for sure. I had a whitetail doe test positive for CWD in 2019, nice,healthy and fat. Based on the numbers at the time. WT doe had only accounted for 1% of CWD cases. I had eaten the heart and some of the meat by the time my test results came back saying positive. I did however dispose of the rest if the meat and was very paranoid at the time. I guess time will tell if the prions kill me 🤷🤣

[Positrac]

Eat it.

Many areas down south that were mandatory head submission are now not. It’s not because there isn’t any infected deer, because there’s been tons confirmed right up to this year. CWD is just not a worry when it comes to human consumption, especially if the deer is boned out.

I get it. I get squeamish thinking about it too. But in all reality CWD hasn’t jumped to humans. If there was a concern then it would still be mandatory to submit the head for testing.

Just my 2 cents and others will disagree.

Imagine how many deer make it into the butchers that are never tested or that turn out to be positive months down the road when the results come back. Good chance you take a deer in to be butchered and it was done with the same equipment right afterwards.

[trigger7mm]

Eat it. I’d be a lot more concerned about my health being harmed by a drunk driver or a texting driver, than by some deer meat.

[Pathfinder76]

Are we still waiting for that one case to transfer to a human? What are the odds it will be you? Eat it.

[Desert Eagle]

Originally Posted by chuck

Are we still waiting for that one case to transfer to a human? What are the odds it will be you? Eat it.

Perhaps the same was said about bats pre covid. Bahaha

[Positrac]

Originally Posted by Desert Eagle

Perhaps the same was said about bats pre covid. Bahaha

Oh, you’re nowhere near up on your news if you think Covid came from anywhere other than a lab and I’m not talking the labs that Chinese would eat if given a chance..

[kingpin]

thanks everyone for the replies - I wasn't sure if there should be any concern or what. I'm not overly paranoid but it was something I've pondered on for about a week now.

He boned out good, only lost one shoulder. But the rest is hanging out in the freezer waiting to make friends with seasoning and smoke.

Time will tell if I made the right choice or not - seems like something is going to kill us - might as well as be a tasty meat snack!

[Chief27]

Time will tell if I made the right choice or not - seems like something is going to kill us - might as well as be a tasty meat snack![/QUOTE]

That's honestly the best policy I have heard! If it's going to be anything, might as well be deer meat. Thanks for the laugh!

[North40Rules]

Originally Posted by Chief27

Time will tell if I made the right choice or not - seems like something is going to kill us - might as well as be a tasty meat snack!

Man, that's funny!

If you did not cut into the spinal column while butchering you should be ok. If someone tells you that you are walking in circles in a couple of weeks, head straight to your hospital's emergency!

[mrcrossbow]

call me paranoid. but i dont want to be the first case. and every one says oh ill stop once a case happens never thinking if there is one case there will be many more to follow. i think i read some were that a test group of chimps or some other monkeys that were fed cwd meat and they ended up getting it. and i remeber when was only deer. now its moose and elk that have also been found with it. and pirons dont die from fire, heat cold etc so cooking it wont do diddly. yep better safe then sorry, always another year for deer meat, lots of deer , only one of me. have i mentioned better safe then sorry? and it only takes once? just my 2 cents.

[Smoky buck]

Just feed some to your co workers you don’t like and wait a couple months

If your co workers end up sick don’t eat it if they are fine dig in

It’s a win either way really

[Roderek]

Originally Posted by kingpin

(dead but otherwise healthy).

That made my day, hopefully no one ever says that about me.

[walking buffalo]

Comments about the meat being safe if the spinal column is not cut are just wrong.
CWD prions are in the meat too.

If you decide to eat it, that is your choice.

Just consider who you share it with.

Is it ok to feed your kids CWD infected meat?
Or others who are not aware of the concerns with CWD and are not able to make an educated personal choice before consuming infected meat?

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Positrac

Eat it.

Many areas down south that were mandatory head submission are now not. It’s not because there isn’t any infected deer, because there’s been tons confirmed right up to this year. CWD is just not a worry when it comes to human consumption, especially if the deer is boned out.

I get it. I get squeamish thinking about it too. But in all reality CWD hasn’t jumped to humans. If there was a concern then it would still be mandatory to submit the head for testing.

Just my 2 cents and others will disagree.

Imagine how many deer make it into the butchers that are never tested or that turn out to be positive months down the road when the results come back. Good chance you take a deer in to be butchered and it was done with the same equipment right afterwards.

It is still unknown if CWD has infected people.
NO competent CWD researcher will state that people have not been infected, just that there are no conclusive cases as of yet.

No, the reduction in mandatory testing has nothing to do with the current concern of human infection.
The reduction in testing is 100% due to the inability to finance mandatory testing over the ever expanding infected areas.

[calgarychef]

I’d be a little pi$$ed at the taxidermist to be honest. I know it’s a mistake etc. but following simple instruction shouldn’t be too difficult and I’d “think” that a taxidermist ought to have heard about testing heads etc.

[fishnguy]

^ Yep. Same.

I don’t think I’d eat the meat though if CWD was prevailing in the zone. Definitely wouldn’t feed it to my children. That’s just me.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

^ Yep. Same.

I don’t think I’d eat the meat though if CWD was prevailing in the zone. Definitely wouldn’t feed it to my children. That’s just me.

I agree.

[Dick284]

Never weighed a deer with the head and hide on, but I did weigh more than a few all skinned out and ready for processing.
Any whitetail buck the crossed the 150 pound mark all undressed, legs cut off at the “knees” was big honking deer. I think our heaviest was in the mid 150’s.

Then we had the scale flip off the cheesy S hook it came with and it’s no more…… we just keep shooting and processing, it was fun while it lasted.

[patrol1957]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

^ Yep. Same.

I don’t think I’d eat the meat though if CWD was prevailing in the zone.

Would you hunt in that same area !!!!

[nohlan_4]

You also could be facing a fine if you filled out you harvest report already as successful. I'd be careful with that.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by patrol1957

Would you hunt in that same area !!!!

I’m not worried about CWD as I’m 55 and “think” it might take awhile to manifest, I wouldn’t feed it to my kids, not by a long shot. I have a deer in the freezer, in 1/4’s waiting for the verdict. I’ve been very careful about cross contamination and if it’s positive I feel safe chucking it and knowing that I “probably”;haven’t introduced the prions into my butchering area.

[Frank_NK28]

In speaking with a friend's son who is a wildlife biologist he conveyed to me there is no issue eating the meat from a deer that tests positive for CWD provided it was deboned in such a way that the none of the bone was cut especially the spine as CWD he said is carried along the spine...BUT...I'm still on the fence as it has to be carried through the system somehow? How? Through blood most likely or some kind of way of running through nerve? I don't know?
I filled an antlerless mule deer tag last week in a mandatory test zone. I cleaned the deer in the field then brought it home, skinned it and deboned it immediately while it was hanging whole. Once I had the meat set aside away from the carcass I removed the head and set the remainder of the carcass on a large plastic sheet. I never even cut the legs off below the knee. I left them intact. Then I soaked my knives and bone saw in a bath of warm water soapy and bleach then rewashed them again in hot soapy water before drying them and putting them to use to finish processing the meat the following day and afterward repeated the same clean up for my knives & cutting board & washed the table top and vacuum sealer with hot soapy water then a wipe with a cloth soaked in a mix of bleach and water. Next day as suggested in the regs I dropped the remains off at the kill site instead of disposing elsewhere and took and dropped the head off in the drop freezer. I labelled all the meat well and put it in a separate empty freezer in my shed and am awaiting test results. I still can't bring myself to just dive into it as tempting as those tenderloins and backstraps are but I am eating leftover tenderloin from a whitetail buck I killed tuesday morning as I type this. The buck is from a non-mandatory test zone and I somehow feel ok to eat it untested? Maybe I should rethink that logic?!

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Frank_NK28

In speaking with a friend's son who is a wildlife biologist he conveyed to me there is no issue eating the meat from a deer that tests positive for CWD provided it was deboned in such a way that the none of the bone was cut especially the spine as CWD he said is carried along the spine...

This biologist is wrong.
He needs to go back to school or do a five second google search before speaking any more about CWD.

Viable CWD prions are found throughout the muscle tissue of infected animals.


Let's hope that this rapid test used by researchers to field test for CWD Prions in Muscle tissue is soon available to the general public.
https://vetmed.umn.edu/news/having-d...screen-venison

[Jayhad]

Originally Posted by Frank_NK28

Then I soaked my knives and bone saw in a bath of warm water soapy and bleach then rewashed them again in hot soapy water before drying them and putting them to use to finish processing the meat the following day and afterward repeated the same clean up for my knives & cutting board & washed the table top and vacuum sealer with hot soapy water

According to the bios this won't cut it. 50% unscented bleach and 50% water. Prions are very difficult to kill.


I wouldn't feed a CWD positive deer to my family.

[Full Curl Earl]

And knowing that the Lymphatic (Lymph nodes) system is used for testing for the presence of CWD, we know thats prions are found throughout the animal. We also know that in humans to check if Cancer has progressed, we check lymph nodes as it is a great indicator. I would eat a positive deer steak before I’d drink spinal fluid though! Lol

QUOTE=walking buffalo;4441890]This biologist is wrong.
He needs to go back to school or do a five second google search before speaking any more about CWD.

Viable CWD prions are found throughout the muscle tissue of infected animals.


Let's hope that this rapid test used by researchers to field test for CWD Prions in Muscle tissue is soon available to the general public.
https://vetmed.umn.edu/news/having-d...screen-venison[/QUOTE]