Michigan CWD case...

[yankee doodler]

has been in the news recently. Captive deer herd was culled...all of them, and the property has been quarantined. New regulations from MDNR that requires all deer harvested from a nine township area around the property to be tested.

Also baiting in the lower peninsula banned until further notice...which doesn't bother me as I do not bait, but if you ever drove around MI prior to deer season you'd know there's a lot of people gonna miss out on some seasonal income.

[FisherMike]

YD, as I'm sure you aware of, CWD has been in our herd sense the beginning of time. It's only hit the news in the last ten years or so in the norther lower.
There are dozens of diseases that show up in population of all animals, that have too big of populations. Or the animals are in too close of proximity to one another.

In my opinion, it's not because of 'baiting', but more because of bleeding hearts that feel the need to 'help nature'. Feeding. Bad thing to do when theres an over population and the animals are stressed because of lack of food, winter or any other reason. Let the herd get smaller. Not a great thing to tell a lot of deer hunters and deer huggers I'm sure. Great thing for the herd though.
What do you think?

[crappiefarmer]

I agree. A tract of land can only support so many deer. The numbers can vary depending on different variables. amount of cover, food, water,etc.. There will be a limit to the population either from man or mother nature. Either form man through a hefty harvest or mother nature through disease. Mans method is the most beneficial. Mother natures way just feeds scavengers. Your local biologist can tell you how many deer per acre your area can hold and not run a high risk of disease. there are so many hunters out there that don't understand that they would benefit the herd by shooting the hell out of the deer they have because in many areas, they are just too overpopulated. Bigger bucks and a healthier herd come out of aggressive harvesting. To many people are just hunting for horns. They need to shoot does and hunt for meat too. thinning the does will cause competition from bucks and the best genes will be kept in the herd. selective harvest then becomes important to remove the undesired bucks from the buck population. A good management plan plus a good nutrition plan equals higher numbers of quality bucks. Five years can make a huge difference in a herd if the management plan is stuck to aggressively. Also cut the chances of disease by a huge percentage. CF