From: North Dakota Game and Fish Department

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials were notified this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\’s Veterinary Services that a sick-looking mule deer taken last fall in western Sioux County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease. This is the first time CWD has been detected in a North Dakota animal.

Dr. Dan Grove, Game and Fish Department wildlife veterinarian, said a hunter in unit 3F2 shot an adult buck that did not appear to be healthy. “As we do with our targeted surveillance efforts, we collected the sample to test for CWD and bovine tuberculosis,” Grove said.

The Game and Fish Department\’s targeted surveillance program is an ongoing, year-round effort that tests animals found dead or sick.

“We have been constantly monitoring and enhancing our surveillance efforts for CWD because of its presence in bordering states and provinces,” said Greg Link, Game and Fish Department assistant wildlife division chief.

In addition to targeted surveillance, the department annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In January, more than 3,000 targeted and hunter-harvested samples were sent to a lab in Minnesota. As of today, about two-thirds of the samples have been tested, with the one positive result. The remaining one-third will be tested over the next month.

Link said monitoring efforts have intensified in recent years and all units have been completed twice throughout the entire state.

“The deer population in unit 3F2 is above management goals, and hunter pressure will continue to be put on the population in that unit again this fall,” Link said. “We are going to be aggressive with licenses and disease surveillance in that unit.”

Since the department\’s sampling efforts began in 2002, more than 14,000 deer, elk and moose have tested negative for CWD.

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.

See the original article at GotHunts.com

Tags: agriculture, deer, department, linkedin, mule-deer, nervous-system, sioux-county, surveillance, upon-something

This is my 6 point buck.

If you haven\’t read how I harvested this brute of a buck, it was the spot, stalk and tackle kind of harvest. And he didn\’t move at all. He just stood there.

Sadly, now that hunting season is over, my 6 point buck is tucked away in our garage for the season.

And for the record, I\’m not the one that put all those holes in him.  I don\’t pack heat.

Or arrows.

Barbara Baird from the Women\’s Outdoor News also has her does stored away for the season.

Poor girl.  She\’s the shy one.

But would you have a look at this hussy …

It\’s the love shack for does.

Have a good day all … I\’m wondering if she has a red bulb in her porch light.

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Tags: brute, buck, deer, garage, humor, hunting-season, record, season

When I was a small girl, I remember going to my uncle\’s property to hunt deer, turkey, dove, quail, etc with my family. I loved being out in the woods, running free, watching the wildlife. My dad would take me to hunting camp, despite the comments from the older members; dad would put me in the woods with my grandfather\’s Smith & Wesson model 1000 shotgun and say, “sit still and good luck”! I only ever shot one doe, and we never found her…I was heart broken.

As the years went by, the family grew apart. I found myself driving my very old Grandfather to hunting camp, just so I could get another chance at another deer.  No Luck, I grew older as did the relatives, and there was no one to take me hunting, but you could always find me outdoors either at the horse shows or at the mud hole, which is where I met my husband of 19 years.

Bryan has been a hunter all his life and we kicked it off immediately.  We married, had a son and moved to North Carolina and had our second son. Bryan joined a Hunting club in Georgia, that we are still apart of to this day. It was at this club with my husband, that I really learned how to hunt. I was taught how to watch and “let the deer get closer” and where to put a stand, etc. I harvested my first doe on that club, weighing in at 120 lbs, while my husband sat in the truck with the boys watching a clear cut. That was it, I was really hooked! No, I wasn\’t the first woman in camp to hunt, but I was the first to hunt as hard as the men do.  Sure, I have heard the same questions over the years; “How do you do it”? My only answer to that was “How can you not”? The woods are my sanctuary. Things always seem clear when I\’m in the woods. And I have seen some wonderful things in the woods!

Over the years, I have harvested some nice deer and I\’m always proud of whatever I do harvest. I hunt Alligator, Turkey, Deer, Ducks, Coyotes, Fox and Bobcat. I am open to try anything once. I fly fish in the spring and summer months but hunting is always on my mind.

I have been married for 19 years to my “hunting mentor” lol, Bryan. We have two sons, Bryan Jr. and Boone. Bryan Jr. is currently in the Navy and fishes and duck hunts with us when he takes leave. Boone is in the woods and water with us all the time and has become quite the hunter.  I know a lot of other ladies that hunt hard like me and I love meeting other lady hunters.

Jennifer L. Metzker

See the original article at CampWildGirls.com

Tags: boys, deer, from-the-older, georgia, over-the-years, spring, time, turkey, woods, years

Deer hunting season is over here in Indiana. My hunter made his finally exit from the woods a couple of weeks ago. That means …
Bye bye my Lifetime movies. Bye bye my carryout pizzas. Bye…

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Tags: carryout, deer, deer hunting, finally, from-the-woods, general outdoors, hunting humor, hunting-season, lifetime, the-original, the-woods, woods