Chronic Wasting Disease

I attended a meeting this week put on by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) in regards to the recent discovery of CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) in Arkansas.  The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public of what they know, what they have found, and what they plan on doing about it.  This is a new problem to Arkansas, but is not a new problem in the nation.  Even though it is a new problem for Arkansas, the AGFC has had a CWD response plan in place since 2006.  So they have been watching for this and are ready for this unfortunate event.  They have done their research, consulted with experts that have dealt with this, and have come up some proposed regulations.  You can visit agfc.com and review the prosed changes and voice your opinion.  I highly recommend you visit site anyway because they have additional information on the subject.  They know that it is not probable to completely eliminate the disease, so they are trying to contain it, limit its spread, and weed it out.  They can’t do it on their own, it will be up to the hunters to “manage” the states herd per the states regulations.  What I mean is we will need to follow the practices and regulations set forth by AGFC in order to accomplish the goal.  From what I gathered from the meeting, the overall strategy is to initially manage for a younger deer herd because of how the disease spreads.  I know that won’t set well with a lot people and trophy hunters, but we need to look at the bigger picture for the future health of the herd for generations to come.  It appears the regulations will allow for a more liberal bag limit and more opportunities to harvest deer and elk.  From a hunting and meat point, I think this is a good thing.  Who doesn’t want to hunt more and harvest more deer?  AGFC can’t make you pull the trigger on smaller deer, but it might be worth it if it helps the overall goal.  This is likely to only affect the areas of the state where the disease is an issue.  Right now that is the Buffalo Valley area.  So parts of the state may see very little changes.  In the future once the herd and CWD is in check, I’m sure the regulations will adjust accordingly.  Go to the web site, do your research, and be ready for changes in the hunting regulations this upcoming season.