Episode 443, Dealing with CWD in Michigan with Anna Mitterling MUCC's Wildlife Cooperative Coordinator

An interview with Anna Mitterling MUCC's Wildlife Cooperative Coordinator discussing CWD in Michigan and how the state is dealing with it. 3 years with Michigan United Conservation Club Helps private land owners get together and work together to manage their property for deer and also for pheasants. Helps landowners with deer impact studies Worked for the DNR as a student assistant and did a research project on deer cooperatives Works with the DNR and part of her position is funded by the DNR Worked in the disease lab when the first positive test came in 2008 in Michigan Also owns land in an original CWD zone Talks about responses by hunters in the CWD zones General hunting public doesn't care about CWD until it affects them Make sure your informed and educated on CWD Only about 40% of the hunters are complying with the mandatory CWD check in the CWD zone. All heads are tested for TB but not CWD, only CWD zone heads are tested for CWD Looking at the lymph nodes to see if they are abnormal If abnormal they are further tested Then if positive, they are sent to Ames, Iowa for the gold standard test to confirm a positive. Peak of firearm season they are processing over 1300 heads a day! 22,000 heads tested this year so far Safety gear for the people doing the testing How hard is it to get your deer head tested Sharing testing results Has CWD been here a long time and just now found or is it new? Why worry about CWD since the prevalence is so low now? The positives Michigan has had, all but one of the deer looked healthy when taken The prions have been documented to last over 20 years Impact on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan What is the long term impact? Keeping deer densities low is key to keeping CWD in check Does QDMA's current goals work at keeping CWD in check Reasons for shooting does to help with this problem Where does the money come from for testing? What is the best thing you can do besides getting your deer head tested? Do road kill deer get tested? DNR ran out of test kits and had to wait for more since only one place in the world makes them. How do you know how many doe to shoot in your area per season?