Wisconsin Considering Paying Hunters To Shoot CWD-Infected Deer

By Tom Knighton

Chronic Wasting Disease isn’t something any wildlife management agency wants to see in deer herds. It’s an infectious disease that can hit large portions of the deer population, which has an impact on the entire eco-system.

To make matters worse, there’s not a lot of incentive for hunters to shoot CWD-infected deer. After all, you still have to tag it which uses up a tag you could use on a trophy or something fit for the freezer. The only reason to do so would be to manage the herd on your personal land, but that only goes so far.

In Wisconsin, though, they’re kicking around an interesting idea.

A grassroots effort to combat chronic wasting disease by paying hunters to shoot infected deer is getting support from retired Department of Natural Resources employees.

Mike Foy was a DNR biologist in Wisconsin for more than 30 years. He was on the front lines of the agency’s response to the first positive cases of chronic wasting disease in 2002. Over the last year he and retired DNR Wildlife Bureau Director Tom Hauge have been trying to raise awareness of the effort called CWD Payment4Positves.

Foy told WPR the state has largely abandoned efforts to …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms