Federal CWD Rule

When CWD first came onto the deerfarming scene in 2002 many of the state wildlife agencies went overboard. States were closing borders and it was a mess. NADeFA asked for a federal CWD rule that all states could adopt. As it has turned out, most states now have CWD rules and most are similar. That allows us to sell deer across state lines if we meet those requirements. As usual, our federal government is slow at doing anything, and 10 years later they may finally have a rule. The idea was for all states to have uniform rules for testing, certification etc. and that would be set at the federal level. I don't know if a federal rule at this late date will do or change much of anything. Instead of leading the feds are following. Everytime they came up with a draft and sent it out, this group or that state would complain and it would go back to do over. It has been 10 years and a lot of do overs - so hard to say how significant this will be.

A federal rule at this point don't mean ****. How is that for honesty? 10 years have been wasted and not a damn thing has been accomplished. State vets still operate using their own biased opinions, science wasn't even thrown out the window because it was never looked at in the first place. Some rich and powerful deer farmers in certain states used CWD as an excuse to corner the market for their own pocket books. And not a damn thing has been done to reward the growers who jumped on the band wagon, followed the rules, and did things the "right way." At this point the federal rules and science don't mean anything. You want honesty there it is. You won't get that from any state agency, state deer assoc, or NADEFA. What can you do to stop the bleeding? Not a damn thing! Money buys speed, how fast do you want to go?

Roger, your comments are brutally accurate and correct. I too share your frustration. The federal rules have been talked to death for a long time and many industry leaders and associations have lobbied the USDA with no success. your comment, "And not a damn thing has been done to reward the growers who jumped on the band wagon, followed the rules, and did things the "right way." is a huge understatement.

Roger you hit the nail on the head. I was at our states cervid advisory committee meeting with our BAH And DNR 3 weeks ago. The head of our BAH stated that he was 100% sure that there was no CWD in our breeding herds in Minnesota, and we were doing a great job of testing. BUT to reward us, our rules were going from 1 1/2 pages to 5 pages and our testing was going from 16 months to everything over 12 months. Our preserves have to test 100% of all animals, both shot and dies. Tag 100% of all animals [ Good luck catching fawns in a preserve]. Inventory 100% of all animals.[ Again good luck in a preserve]. Whats the point of having a Federal plan if no one is going to follow it, most states are going out on there own . Also there is no payment program if they do find CWD in your herd. Its all your loss.



Gary

For being a billion dollar industry, it sure is getting old being told to do "this" and "that" from our wonderful state and federal agency's. For the last ten years we have been treated like criminals! Constantly being on the defense. We all need to revolt! We should be playing offense on both sides of the ball! For an industry that continued to grow during economic stress, state and federal agency's should be catering to us! GOOD LUCK with that though, our government doesn't want anybody to make a frickin dollar.

Wisconsin currently has a governor that is on our side! We need to keep him! We can only hope things change other places as well. Less government is a good thing, certainly in the life of deerfarmers.

Couldn't agree more with you. Scott Walker needs a new chair in the oval office!

It is a pain with some of the laws we have to live by and i am not sure there are any other states like NY with some of the laws we have on the books but i think we are still lucky to be able to do what we do. Laws or no laws. With these being game animals they very well could pull the plug on us. Hows the sayin go.. You play ball our way or we will stick the bat right up your #$%.

All animals were wild game animals at some stage of the game. Over the years attitudes about raising buffalo for example have changed. We keep plugging away with our TV show to hopefully change attitudes and have folks realize this isn't weird or we aren't taking animals away from hunters or out of the wild What we do is legitimate.

Wild Rivers Whitetails said:

All animals were wild game animals at some stage of the game. Over the years attitudes about raising buffalo for example have changed. We keep plugging away with our TV show to hopefully change attitudes and have folks realize this isn't weird or we aren't taking animals away from hunters or out of the wild What we do is legitimate.

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Oh i have no problem with it. The bottom line is reguardless if we like the rules or not this could all be yanked away from us in a heartbeat and then the rules some dont like to go by now might not have been so bad after all.

That is the one thing that worries me the most about raising deer, especially here in Alabama, that we technically don't even own our deer. My dnr guy who inspects me twice a year loves to remind me of this fact and that we are one slip up from them shutting us down. It makes it frustrating to spend this much money and time at something that you are totally at the mercy of an organization that hates what you do.

Did someone say "Salem Witch Trials? " 'might as well have. We are no less than sorcerers conjuring up MONST@#%. The governments have "boarded up the windows" of true science and 'summoned' up their own demonic spirits to drag us to the burning stakes. A verdict has been reached in a court where we were 'found at the crime scene' before evidence of a crime had even been discovered; a court by which all suspects are guilty 'until charged'....I wasn't going to reply to this thread but how could I NOT?

The closest we came to getting shut down was when CWD was found here in WI. Thank heaven we had our whitetail organization - otherwise it would have been easy to do. Gary was president at that time and I can't tell you how many trips to Madison he made. We already were doing the Washington DC thing for WI, and later Nadefa joined us - this was so important in putting a face on the industry and talking to federal level folks face to face. We held a meeting on CWD in DC that next year and a lot of people attended. I remember Chuck Schumer's representative was there as was Hilliary Clinton's. There had been the first CWD positive in NY. We had their attention.



Here in WI Gary had worked for DNR for 15 years so that was very valuable in dealing with them. He knew who was who and how they operated. Since the state had an industry to deal with - not just a few individuals - it made them give us a seat at the table when rules were being discussed. We were able to have some input so the rules put in place didn't shut us down. Our industry now has the backing of some bigger names like NRA and SCI. Hope everyone out there is a member of those two organizations.



By the way - where were all you deerfarmers when NRA was in St. Louis this year?????



I think now it would be a lot more difficult to shut the industry down since it is established. I'll never understand the states that say you don't own the deer??? If you bought them and paid for them, why aren't they yours? Only if you catch them out of the wild might be there be a question and at least here, that isn't allowed.

I have been a Uncle Ted fan from the 70's. I am a small deer farmer who relies on a regular job to feed my family...and my deer. Although I applaud those who could go to the N.R.A. convention, it was/is beyond my means to have been there personally. I want to say that I don't believe you were directly posing your question to me about making the event, I just wanted to account for my situation as I feel many others were likewise unable to attend for the same reason.

Just thought we'd see some folks from Missouri there. Next year it is in Houston, first weekend in May.

Woah fellas lighten up.The federal CWD rule does mean something.It will adderess several issues such as interstate commerce and help the Elk breeders with the exporting of velvet.I understand it is frustrating at times but isn't everything worth fighting for?I hope I am not the only with a positive attitude about the ruling. The posts I have read seem very negitive and gloomy.We must first see what it does and go from there.

Does it restore an indemnity program?? That's a big question. Also, does it require all states to have rules that are the same or less restrictive??? Does it open up states that have arbitrarily decided to close their borders and make their own rules?? These are high profile issues.

Wild Rivers,



I can answer your question about the "ownership" of deer. Here in WV, and I am assuming that Alabama has taken the same stance, the states definition of whitetail deer simply states that it is wildlife and that all wildlife is owned by the state. BUT, so many DNR rules are contradictory. There is one law that states if a deer escapes from a licensed facility it immediately becomes the property of the state. (who did it belong to prior to that?) THEN, if it causes damage or injury, the ownership of the deer reverts back to the very farm that it escaped from. So, we have a deer that has changed ownership 3 times in a matter of cirumstances. How screwed up is that?



Our association has been fighting legislation for over 10 years to get comprimises on some of these laws/rules. The problem is that the Speaker of the House, Rick Thompson, is friends with the DNR. He makes sure that our bills are buried each and every year, so we can never accomplish anything. That is the democratic process.