THESE TASTY TIDBITS we jokingly call “Bambi Wraps” came from a healthy, Texas whitetail deer. I know that to be true since the photo was taken more than five years ago and everybody that ate them is still around to tell you how delicious they were! If I had any doubts, I would have had the deceased deer tested. Contact Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for information on doing that. (Photo by John Jefferson)

by John Jefferson

Our deer lease had a hunter whose wife disallowed him bringing home venison. She assumed all deer had Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Truth be known, she didn’t want him spending money on hunting. At the time, there were few cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Texas. The closest one to our lease was five counties away.

That was in the early days of CWD having been diagnosed here. I hesitate to fault someone for being cautious – if that was her motive.

For those unfamiliar with CWD, it is a disease affecting prions (proteins) in the brain and damaging the spinal cord. It is spread from animal to animal through body fluids, drinking water, or food. Infected animals don’t exhibit symptoms for 18-24 months or longer. Visible symptoms include severe weight loss, stumbling, drooling, and others. There is no known cure; it’s always fatal.

But what does time and research say about whether it’s safe to eat venison from a deer with CWD now?

Lindsay Thomas, Jr. is a respected researcher and journalist with the National Deer Association (NDA). His research included presentations he heard at the Fourth International CWD Symposium held in Denver this past summer. The first CWD infected deer was diagnosed in Colorado in the late 1960s. Much CWD research has been done in Colorado.

In 2012, the first deer with CWD were discovered in Texas. Since then, deer breeder facilities have accounted for over half of the CWD positives diagnosed here. Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopted emergency rules requiring that all deer being transferred from a breeding facility must be tested for CWD before being released. It’s hoped this will slow CWD’s spread.

Lindsay Thomas cited Dr. Joe Abrams, from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. Dr. Abrams reported on surveys of two million hunters in older areas of CWD presence in Colorado, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. Probably hundreds of thousands hunted in CWD- heavy areas. Possibly thousands of them ate CWD-positive venison — knowingly or not.

“There was no indication of these hunters dying at higher rates from prion diseases than the general population,” Dr. Abrams reported.

A Wisconsin study included 642 hunters who ate CWD-positive venison. None developed prion disease. A Colorado study involved licensed hunters in CWD areas, and it showed that the death rate of the hunters closely matched the prion disease rate of general, non CWD – positive eating public. This led Dr. Abrams to state that these data did not show significant risk of deaths among hunters.

A sportsman’s feast in New York inadvertently served venison from CWD-positive deer. Researchers followed twenty-nine participants for fifteen years and found no neurological disease among them.

So – what’s the verdict?

Strong evidence indicates CWD-positive venison isn’t causing disease. Some lab experiments suggest there is a possibility, however.

Scientific certainty, Thomas wrote, is not 100%. Experts encourage testing all deer from CWD Zones.

We have over five million whitetails in Texas. I can’t see a reason to eat suspected CWD-positive venison.

JJ