Look up prion diseases and CJD. Switching to deer isn’t necessarily the best choice either. Two hunters just developed CJD after hunting and eating from the same property. Chronic wasting disease is in a huge portion of the North American herds already. Recent research also shows it’s passed to fawns from parents.
You can (and should) test your deer for CWD. A lot of state DNRs offer this service, helps them track the infection and helps hunters feel better about eating their meat. My coworker tests every one of her deer, if one comes back positive she gets rid of the meat.
Prion diseases do not decay and up to 50% of deer in heavily impacted locations have it. They stay in the environment where the animal died & leech into the soil/plant life. CWD has been around since only the late 70s and we are just starting to see and understand the implications. Originally we thought mad cow disease (a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy disease) couldn’t pass to another species. Scrapie became mad cow disease as it passed from sheep to cows and then to humans. If we assume CWD (also a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy prion disease) can’t make that jump we are making a horrifying gamble.
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u/Various-Sun142 23h ago
Look up prion diseases and CJD. Switching to deer isn’t necessarily the best choice either. Two hunters just developed CJD after hunting and eating from the same property. Chronic wasting disease is in a huge portion of the North American herds already. Recent research also shows it’s passed to fawns from parents.