Just saw an email that summarizes the latest CAB meeting. Now it looks like no whole deer (live or dead) can be brought in to the state? Guess I have to find a processor in TN that I like?

From the article: CAB Update

The diagnosis of the deer in Mississippi made it the 25th state with the disease. Alabama quickly added its neighboring state to the list where restrictions are in place on the importation of whole carcasses or carcass parts from cervids. Those restrictions state that any member of the cervid family harvested in those CWD-positive areas must be properly processed before it can be legally brought into Alabama. Parts that may be legally imported include completely deboned meat, cleaned skull plates with attached antlers with no visible brain or spinal cord tissue present, upper canine teeth with no root structure or other soft tissue present and finished taxidermy products or tanned hides.

Chuck Sykes, Director of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, asked the Conservation Advisory Board at the Montgomery meeting to extend those cervid importation restrictions to all 50 states, territories or possessions of the United States and foreign countries. The Board passed a motion to extend the restrictions.

“Mississippi became positive during their deer season, and we had to immediately close the border to import of whole Mississippi deer because they were a CWD positive state,” Sykes said. “We don’t know where the next one is going to pop up. Yes, it is an inconvenience, but it pales in comparison to the inconvenience we will all have if CWD gets here.”

How do you clean a skull for mounting of the potential prions if you can't even see the dang things? Boiling and bleach are said to not kill them.

It's just the way they recommend. If you don't have a place to clean and debone everything or get rid of the brain and dura around the skull plate then yeah, it sucks. You'll have to find a processor. Deboning is easy. Carving out and cleaning the skull plate is more of a PITA.


The takeaway from that email and information shouldn't be about the CWD, though.

Look in there at the deer "harvest" reporting numbers from GameCheck: just a little more than 76,000. That's down from 82,000+ last year — a decline of about 6,000 reported deer through the mandatory reporting system.

This has been my issue with GameCheck. Is it decreased compliance? (probably not) Decreased number of man-hours? Increased standards for deer? (ie letting bucks walk) Decreased number of deer?

All we know is the number of dead deer, which is obviously also not right, due to compliance.