Maybe with the rain and fog less bears will be killed.

The real threat for these suburbanites living in new McMansions built too far out in the sticks isn't from black bears - it's from hick hunters with the guns!

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Broke Back Mountain meets Coen Brothers
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Two dead in Vermont hunting accident

By WNYT.com

Two hunters from Bennington County, Vt., are dead after an apparent accidental shooting-suicide Saturday afternoon.

Vermont State Police say they were called to a location off of Howe Pond Road just after noon for a call of two men with gunshot wounds.

Upon arrival, troopers found the men, Benjamin Birch, 39, and Timothy Bolgnani, 49, both of Readsboro, dead.

Detectives learned from a friend who was hunting with the pair that earlier in the day Birch shot a deer that continued to run.

As the three tracked the deer into the woods, Bolognani fired a shot and accidentally hit Birch, killing him. According to police, Bolognani then took his own life.
Autopsies are being conducted on both men. Police say no foul play is suspected.

I'm not arguing that we as a state don't need to adjust land use policy. Nor am I the kind of person who thinks having guns all over the place is a good idea. But the reality is for several decades there were no or very few bears in New Jersey and now there are too many.

While historically bears populated New Jersey, for many decades they did not. Now there are people living in places on the fringe of civilization and unless the state is willing to pay them to move, the state has an obligation to protect them and allow them to use their property.

Before the bear hunt, the northern and western counties had too many bears. You couldn't barbecue meat in the summer without attracting bears; you couldn't eat dinner outside without attracting bears; you couldn't walk around suburban neighborhoods on garbage night without crossing paths with a bear. Leaving windows open was hazardous because bears could slip into kitchens. Dogs couldn't be let out in yards.

Since the bear hunt has culled the number of bears and instilled in the remaining population a greater fear of humans, the issues concerning bear incursions have subsided.

it's senseless and barbaric...plenty of other ways of controlling the population. Besides these people are baiting the bears with donuts and dogfood then shooting them like fish in a barrel....that's real sport... These animals are for the most part docile and fearful of humans....how often do you hear of a bear fatality in NJ?

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Explains a lot...

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Oops...too late!

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that's not a too-many-bears problem. that's a too-goddam-many-people problem.

What dumb suburbanites need to learn is that these are not dangerous bears -- oh and they need to learn to close up their trash.

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"It's a great thing that the bear population is doing well," Hammond said. "The only struggle we have as managers is just to try to minimize problems so that basically bears behave. And usually bear behavior is directly tied to human behavior."

Hammond said suburban bears pose little threat to humans if they're just passing through. But residents near a bear sighting should take trash and pet food indoors to prevent the wild animals from lingering.
"If people will help the situation by just making these non-natural human provided foods unavailable to bears, we'll really have very few problems," Hammond said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/16/ ... ears-oh-my/#ixzz1fnCmgFiC

Having some people pop a few bears is a useful strategy to control their population and more importantly instill a little fear in the ones remaining. Its great that the bear population has rebounded, but its not so great when that bear population comes in contact with human beings. What are the chances of seeing a bear walk through your backyard in Jersey City? I'd wager zero. But north and west of 287, its all too common.

I don't hunt in NJ but I do in NY and I have taken bears before. There meat is tasty, my family and I use every bit of meat, so to say that it is not used is incorrect.

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Bear meat carries a high risk of trichinosis (worms in your muscles. good times), so I'd wager that's a No.

I support hunting for meat, but this trophy-gathering bullshit is a disgrace.

I'm not opposed to hunting, it's a great alternative to the crap you'll get at the grocery store. However, I highly doubt bear meat is going to be on the menu for any of these guys? Does the meat get donated?

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/ ... urt-Ruling-135019768.html

257 bears killed on first day of NJ hunt



By Brian Thompson
Associated Press
Dec 6, 2011

New Jersey wildlife officials say a total of 257 black bears were killed on the first day of the state's annual hunt.

The number is nearly identical to the first day of last year's hunt.

State officials said the first bear killed was a 166-pound female shot in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area by an Arizona man. The second was a 205-pound male shot in Warren County by two teenagers from Wayne, N.J.

"I called it out, I just said, 'Are you on him?' Said '3, 2, 1' then we shot on 'go' at the exact same time," said K.C. Abel, one of the teen hunters.

In 2010, 592 bears were killed during the hunt. State officials predict a similar count this year. On the first day in 2010, there were about 260 killed.

Environmental Protection Department officials are still tallying up the number of participating hunters.

State officials say the hunt is needed to reduce the state's bruin population, now estimated at about 3,400.

Critics claim the hunt is cruel and the state's bear management policy is flawed.

After going to court Monday, the protesters were allowed the right to demonstrate at certain bear checkpoints during the hunt.

A ruling in state superior court said up to 25 people can demonstrate at the Franklin bear check station in Sussex County between noon and 4 p.m. each day.

A greater number will be allowed to demonstrate at two other weigh stations.

Critics of the hunt had been pushing for the Franklin station permit as it is a high-visibility site.

DEP officials felt it was too a dangerous a spot for a large gathering.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York

I think there is a trailer park somewhere out there for you.

I wish they would come and hunt the Canadian Geese that infest Lincoln Park and Liberty State Park, they are foul fowl!

Robin.

Next week's N.J. bear hunt won't be stopped by opponents' appeal Friday, December 02, 2011 By The Associated Press Three Manchester residents prepare for the start of the bear hunt in this 2005 file photo. Although opponents are appealing this year's bear hunt will go on. Animal activists said today there wasn't enough time for them to challenge a court decision allowing New Jersey's black bear hunt to begin Monday, but that they planned protests next week and will push to block next year's hunt. A state appeals court ruled Thursday that the hunt could go on as scheduled. The court turned away claims from The Animal Protection League of New Jersey and The Bear Education and Resource Group that the state's bear management policy was flawed. Doris Lin, an attorney representing the groups, said they would ask the state Supreme Court to hear the issue. "We are filing an appeal, but there wouldn't be time to get a decision by (today), so there's no rush to go court," Lin said. "But all next week we're going to have protests ? all six days of the hunt." The groups also sued last year but failed to stop a hunt in which nearly 600 bears were killed. Lin said they would file an appeal next week and seek to block next year's hunt. Debate and controversy about the upcoming New Jersey bear hunt begins to heat up New Jersey's six-day bear hunting season will open once again early next month, and with it, the controversy over whether a hunt to reduce bear populations should exist. Division of Fish and Wildlife biologists believe bear are entering and becoming too comfortable around people in populated neighborhoods as well as causing damage to livestock and crops. They believe a hunt is the only way to keep the numbers in line with our densely populated state. Several animal rights groups don't agree. They believe that bear are a self-regulating species and hunts do not control population and this is about the business of creating a trophy hunt. (Video by Andre Malok / The Star-Ledger) Watch video A legal challenge to the hunt succeeded in 2007 and no hunt was held after a court found flaws with the management policy. That court said the 2005 hunt should not have taken place. A new policy has since been adopted. In its opinion this week, the state appeals court rejected the activists' argument that the population management policy was developed arbitrarily. The three-judge panel said repeatedly in its ruling that it deferred to the agency that developed the document. State wildlife officials have said the hunt is necessary to keep the state's black bear population, now thought to number about 3,400, in check. The population has remained fairly stable after increasingly dramatically since the 1980's. There have been confirmed bear sightings in all 21 New Jersey counties. The hunt is only one component of the state's Comprehensive Bear Management Policy, which also includes public education and nonlethal bear management measures. This year's hunt has a limit of one bear per licensed and registered hunter. It is scheduled to run Monday through Dec. 10, concurrently with the state's six-day firearm deer hunting season.

http://www.savenjbears.com

New Jersey bear hunt ends with highest kill count since the middle of the last century

Sunday, December 12, 2010
By TOM QUIGLEY
The Express-Times

MANSFIELD TWP. | New Jersey State troopers on guard for unrest watched Saturday over the entrance to the Pequest Wildlife Management Area as state wildlife officials waited for bear hunters to trickle in with fresh kills.

By mid-afternoon, a scant four hunters with an equal number of dead black bears arrived, and no protester was in sight. The last day of the first bear hunting season in New Jersey since 2005, in Mansfield Township, at least, was quiet.

Yet the 2010 black bear hunt was the bloodiest ever recorded in New Jersey. Before the final day even began, 512 black bears had been bagged -- far outpacing 298 bears killed in 2005, and more than doubling 233 bears killed in 2003.

The last black bear hunt in New Jersey before this year's was in 1970, and that closed a 13-year limited hunting period in which, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, only 46 bears were killed. Black bears first became game animals in New Jersey in 1953.

==========================

New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said the hunt could kill 1,000 bears and that future hunts would decimate the state's bear population.

"The black bear is a symbol that New Jersey still has wild places and should be humanely regulated, not hunted for trophies," he said. He described the hunt as recreational and one that will fail to "do anything to deal with nuisance bears."

http://www.savenjbears.com

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Bull 3?

Why is this even news?

Bears should be killed for their delicious meat and for sexy rug making, threat or non.

They basically deserve it.

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When is the organized centipede squashing going to take place?

Yes, that is about right, some sites have different stats but basically you are much more likely to die from bees, dogs, horses, mountain lions, etc in the US. If you are not looking at attacks specifically you are much, much more likely to die from an auto accident as a result of hitting a deer. Google animal fatalities and other similar search terms for more information.

Also another heads up for NJ hikers, more people have been killed by hunters in NJ than bears...actually i dont know if anyone has ever been killed by a bear in NJ. Anyway, if you are going hiking during hunting season wear bright colors and avoid places where hunting is allowed. Besides spoiling thier hunt you could get hurt.

I have never been hunting myself but on the hunting topic...if you support preserving natural areas keep in mind hunters spend a lot of money, have lobbies, etc and are actually responsible for keeping a ton of land in the US wild. Without hunters we wouldnt have as much wilderness, same for fishermen.

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can you elaborate on that list? a bear only kills a person every 2 years in the US? only 53 ppl a year die from bee/wasp stings?

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Some stats below so people dont mistakenly think bears are the primary animal threat in the nj outdoors.

Average annual US fatalities via animal attack:
Bee/Wasp 53
Dogs 31
Horse 20
Spider 6.5
Rattlesnake 5.5
Bull 3
Mountain lion 1
Shark 1
Centipede 0.5
Bear 0.5
Scorpion 0.5
Alligator 0.3
Elephant 0.25
Wolf 0.1

any encounter with a bear is a dangerous one. they are wild animals.

while we are lucky to not have had any fatal bear attacks on people here in nj, pets have been killed and potentially hazardous situations have been on the rise. the population has grown from about 2400 in 2005 to about 3400 presently.

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a real part of everyday lives, sure. but a dangerous part? point me towards a report of even one dangerous bear encounter in New Jersey in the last five years. worst case, they're a nuisance, like giant raccoons. people who live in bear country know to keep their trash secure and to give the bears wide berth. the bears were here first.

Education would go a long way to reduce encounters, it has worked out west and up north. Unless extermination is the plan the bears and encounters will come back to NJ very soon after this hunt if the source of the problem is not addressed. When a bear gets a hold of calorie rich human food it is like heroine. Bears are smart, after they find a food source from garbage cans, campers, etc, they will return for the food and become a ?nuisance bear?. Nuisance bears are often killed by wildlife management. I have backpacked in bear country quite a bit, since the introduction of bear canisters (food storage they cant get into) bear encounters have dropped dramatically.

We only have black bears here not Grizzlies (which are quite a bit scarier). I have run across over a dozen black bears in the back country and front country in the past couple of years, at least 6 in NJ. I have never had an issue with an east coast bear, everyone except one I encountered seemed to be terrified of humans and ran away immediately. The one exception was a mother bear which had cubs, she tree?d them and hung around below the trees to defend them?so we detoured around the situation. The only black bear I ever had a shady encounter with was out west in Yosemite, it had to have been fed by people. Even then we were able to intimidate it to leave the area. It?s not like Hollywood where bears pop out of bushes on their hind feet with their mouth open salivating, snapping, and roaring. Its more like, "hey is that a black bear" and the bear takes off running.

I think its easy to be against the bear hunt living in Jersey City where the largest wild game is the occasional possum or raccoon or maybe a ferrel cat. But if you live out west or up north along the NY or PA border, bears are a very real part of everyday lives. Culling the population a bit and maybe discouraging the remaining bears from getting closer to human habitats is not necessarily a bad idea.

Is this hunt based on fact or a small amount of gun-toting voters and state employees just wanting to get their trophies?

Former DEP Commish Questions Science of NJ Bear Hunt

Even as the latest count shows 426 bears killed in New Jersey's first bear hunt in five years, former Department of Environmental Protection(DEP) Commissioner Mark Mauriello told NBCNewYork in an exclusive interview that he has serious questions about the science that led to this hunt.....

.....Muriello had doubts about whether the rise in bear complaint statistics to justify the hunt is based in reality.

The DEP's Fish and Wildlife Division said complaints have risen sharply and that this week's hunt will "stabilize" the bear population.

"I always questioned how we could verify to be sure the calls were real," Muriello said in describing his discomfort in using phone calls as scientific evidence.



http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local- ... -Bear-Hunt-111470644.html

nothing wrong with an ethical hunt but hunting for trophies and cubs is just gay. and thats coming from a hunter.

If Gov. Christie wants ?science? to end New Jersey bear hunt, it?s (still) there

WEDNESDAY, 08 DECEMBER 2010 16:16
BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Governor Christie reportedly said at a press conference Tuesday morning that he's open to scientific recommendations from Fish and Wildlife officials to end the bear hunt before Saturday, when it's scheduled to end. More than 260 bears were killed on Monday, the first day.

Here is a chance for the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) ? if they're now sufficiently sated by the number of bears slaughtered ? to trot out "scientific" reasons for an early end to the hunt. It should be easy to do: they're the same scientific reasons used by hunt opponents hoping to prevent the hunt.

Besides numerous charges of corruption behind the decision for this year's bear hunt, science has from the beginning strongly suggested that a bear hunt is not the way to "manage" bears in New Jersey.

1 ? The numbers tell it. In 2005, when the last bear hunt took place, Dr. Edward Tavss, of Rutgers University, demonstrated that "in every site studied, hunting failed to decrease complaints, while non-lethal methods at those same sites worked to reduce complaints."
More recently, in her report, "The Bear Hunt is Not About Public Safety," Susan Randall reported that non-lethal bear co-existence programs have proven to work in the US and Canada; they are "far superior to random, recreational killing."

2 ? Lowering bear fertility is the best way to manage the bear population and reproduction rates drop when food is not readily available. If the laws about trash disposal and feeding bears were strictly enforced ? and deer hunters prevented from corn-baiting, which draws bears ? the bear numbers would drop.

3 ? Readily available information about behavior patterns of New Jersey black bears indicates they are basically timid creatures. Those used to dealing with the bears have come up with numerous ways ? other than slaughter ? to peacefully co-exist with them.

It is well worth noting that no bear has injured, let alone killed a human in New Jersey.

4 ? Defining statistics as a branch of science, try on these stats: New Jersey's wildlife watchers outnumber hunters 20-1 and outspend hunters 5-1. Hunters represent a fraction of 1% of the population, yet they prevail in the very division that recommended a bear hunt to Governor Christie. (What's wrong with this [statistical] picture?)

What are you waiting for, Governor?

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New Jersey?s bear hunt is not about public safety

TUESDAY, 07 DECEMBER 2010 13:48
BY SUSAN RUSSELL

On first day of the hunt, "dozens of trash cans in Alamuchy, Independence and Liberty Townships were not bear proof" ? NBC News

The New Jersey bear hunt is not in the interests of public safety. If it were, more effective and tried remedies exist. Bent upon a hunt, New Jersey's hunting agency will not enforce the program. One of Governor Christie's first acts was to de-fund it.

As "excited" hunters lined up with their kills, including many cubs, NBC News reported a fact that indicted the state's bear policy. Despite an appropriation of $625,000 to the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) for enforcement of non-lethal trash management,

NBCNewYork spotted dozens of trash cans Monday morning in Alamuchy, Independence and Liberty Townships that were not 'bear proof' and in fact could be opened with a pinkie finger. Many of them were not even closed because there was so much trash in them. Likewise, a pizza restaurant in Liberty had an open dumpster overflowing with food packaging.

The Division's director, hunter David Chanda, shrugged that bear-resistant containers were not "mandated." That is the point.

Former Governor Jon Corzine was not anti-hunting. But his staff did its homework: non-lethal bear co-existence programs in the United States and Canada work; the success rates hover at 70-80%, and are far superior to random, recreational killing. In the seven years during which Pennsylvania killed the most bears, complaints sky-rocketed and bears ranged widely, resulting in an intensified slaughter.

Despite Governor Corzine's persistent prodding, and the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars designated for non-lethal purposes, DFW managed to keep a bona fide bear smart program at bay.

DFW printed a blizzard of educational flyers, dotted i's and crossed t's, yet energetically shunned the basic requisites of any bear smart program:

Uniform local ordinances requiring bear-resistant garbage containers and dumpsters
Setting trash cans out in the morning
Enforcement.
With the $625,000 to enforce the bear feeding ban and non-lethal efforts, the agency wrote only nine summonses. DFW's bear biologist, hunter Patrick Carr, told Field and Stream that he would use the time to develop the case for a bear hunt.

Why are the people and bears who live in bear country denied a serious non-lethal program? The Division of Fish and Game's clients and trade partners consider non-lethal programs an existential threat.

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, the national hunters' lobby, called Maryland's Non-Lethal Wildlife Task Force "virtually an act of war against Maryland's sportsman [sic]-conservationists."

The stone wall that prevents an environmentally literate, modern, and humane wildlife policy is the Division, an outdated Trenton bureau partnered with the Archery Trade Association and ATK Ammunition Systems, staffed by hunting activists, and at the service of the game council. Often mistakenly termed "environmental regulators" in the press, game agencies and councils were in fact established to serve a single interest and to propagate hunted species and promote hunting. The name of the agency may have changed; the purpose has not.

Six of the council's 11 members "must be" hunters; the council nominates it regulator, the director of DFW. The former DFW director headed a hunting federation that lobbied for the bear hunt. New Jersey wildlife watchers outnumber hunters 20-to-1 and outspend hunters 5-to-1. The small number of New Jersey hunters (a fraction of 1%) is in decline, yet over 99.9 percent of our state's citizens have no voice in wildlife and land policy.

The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), whose board consists of weapons and ammo manufacturers, "reviews" New Jersey programs, and boasts of influencing state wildlife policy, "out of the limelight."

The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, an umbrella association co-mingles state wildlife agency regulators and trade groups. Together, regulators and industry pool resources and personnel to execute a shared agenda: ammo and license sales. Working through each state game agency, AFWA's nationwide focus, called hunter recruitment, is on gaining hunter access to private and public lands, creating more "opportunities" (in this case, bears), and methods of kill.

Among the photos from the bear hunters' PAC campaign rally for Christie is a shot of Larry Herrighty, assistant operating director for DFW, with a role in bear policy. Along with other state hunting regulators, Herrighty had also contributed money to the PAC, which lobbies for expanded hunting opportunities. Last year, Herrighty told the press that legalizing crossbows would bring his agency 12,000 new customers. That is wildlife management, and it has little to do with science.

There is no evidence that the black bear is biologically overpopulated. The bear is recovering from DFW's so-called sound scientific management ? read hunting ? that brought this remarkable species to the brink of extirpation.

In 1992, when New Jersey black bears numbered, at most, 450-550, the game council chomped at the bit, and urged "population reduction" ? by hunting. In 1997, the Division and the Council termed the inarguably low number of bears "untenable."

DFW refuses to halt hunters' widespread corn-baiting for deer, which draws bears toward populated areas, and provides an unnatural food source that, in conjunction with unfettered trash, can lead to higher breeding rates.

Fifty-two percent of bears killed in 2005 were cubs and yearlings. The targets were deep-woods bears who had harmed no one. In several cases, groups of shooters killed families, sows and their cubs Hunters bait the animals with jelly doughnuts, corn, and maple syrup.

Over 80 percent of New Jerseyans oppose the above practices, the very acts now underway.

Despite its size, and when it comes to people, the black bear is a timid animal. No bear has injured, let alone killed, a human in New Jersey. The degree of difficulty in killing this animal was demonstrated yesterday, when an eleven-year-old girl boasted of the deed.

Susan Russell, lobbyist and campaign director for New Jersey laws banning steel-jaw traps and the wild bird trade, is a wildlife consultant for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and the Bear Education and Resource Group.

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Up to 1,000 bears could be shot by end of N.J. hunt, official says

Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 12:19 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 4:45 PM

A 327.5 pound male black bear is weighed in at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area during the first day of the bear hunt. The bear was taken by hunter Anthony Lingenfelter Jr. of Howell at 7:10 a.m.

A record number of bears have already been killed after just the second day of a six-day New Jersey statewide bruin hunt.

A total of 386 bears were killed on Monday and Tuesday. The Department of Environmental Protection is expecting the number to climb ? possibly as high as 700 or even 1,000 from the 7,800 permits for the first bear hunt since 2005.

Hungry hunters and angry protesters in N.J. bear hunt
Ledger Live for Tuesday December 7th, 2010 - Ledger Live with Brian Donohue. On today's show: We take to the Jersey woods for the state's first bear hunt in five years.
Watch video

First New Jersey bear hunt in five years

The first black bear season in five years opened today in New Jersey. Hunters lined up at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon Township for the required check in of their bears. Also present were a group of protestors voicing their opposition to the hunters and the Division of Fish and Wildlife. Officials estimate the population of bears in New Jersey at 3,400. They anticipate a reduction of 300-400 animals by the end of the six day hunt.

The total number of bears killed on this hunt depends upon a percentage of 300 select bears which were tagged this year. When 25 percent of those tagged bears are killed, the target has been reached, according to state officials.

Patrick Carr, supervising wildlife biologist for the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, said so far 13 percent of those tagged bears have been brought into check stations ? meaning the hunt is about halfway toward its ultimate total. The original target range is 500 to 700 bears, he said.

But Carr also said the number could go as 1,000 of the state?s 3,400 bears estimated to reside in the state.
?Even if we shoot 1,000 bears, we?re still at our 2005 population level,? the biologist said.

Today, Thursday and Friday are supposed to be the slowest days of the hunt, followed by another large number of kills on Saturday, the final day of the hunt. Historically, 45 to 50 percent of total kills are recorded in the first day, said DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese. On Monday, that first day, 264 were killed in the state?s northwestern corner.

The hunt can be called off at any time by DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. But as of today, there are no immediate plans to cut the hunt short, Ragonese said.

?As it looks right now, we?re continuing through Saturday,? Ragonese said. ?The goal is to reduce the bear population.?
The previous record of New Jersey?s three bear hunts was recorded in 2003, with 328 animals killed. In 2005, a total of 298 were killed.

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Prion that causes mad-cow-like disease found in deer meat

http://www.wisn.com/r/1289065/detail.html

Mad Cow-Like Disease Inflicts Wisconsin Deer

Health Officials Studying Links Between Disease And People

There's serious question about the health and future of the Wisconsin's bucks and does after the deer version of mad cow disease hit the state.

Wildlife experts are calling an infection of fatal chronic wasting disease a nightmare they never thought would spread this far north.

Until now, the disease had been confined to western states, such as Colorado and Wyoming.

Now officials are struggling to find ways to fight the deer version of mad cow disease before it spreads throughout Wisconsin's herd -- and possibly to people.

However, right now there are a lot more questions than answers, reported WISC-TV in Madison.

Farmers in Vermont Township, Wis., have already spotted sick, and staggering deer near the place where three bucks were shot last fall. Tests just in show all suffered from fatal chronic wasting disease, the deer version of mad cow disease.

"We have to assume the worst, and plan for the worst, and if it's not that bad, then we've overreacted, but I'd prefer to over react in this case," said Sen. James Baumgart, D-Sheboygan, the state Senate's Environmental Resources chairman.

Baumgart has called for emergency testimony about the disease that no one seems to know much about, except for the fact that up to 70 percent of deer die when exposed.
"We could be looking at a problem with tremendous impact on not only the whole white-tail deer herd, but public perception of the opportunity to hunt in that area," said Dr. Sarah Hurley, DNR deputy administrator.

Extraordinary measures most likely to be implemented include aerial surveys, hiring sharp shooters to get more samples and taking heads from roadkill deer to labs.
Right now there's no evidence people are in danger.
"But no one can predict with certainty that CWD can never cross the human spectrum barrier," said Dr. James Kazmierczak, state veterinary epidemiologist.

For now, hunters told WISC-TV that they don't plan on eating any deer meat.

"Until more tests get done, I think people are going to be a little hesitant on going deer hunting and then eating the deer," said Rick Urben, a Dane County deer hunter.
Some Wisconsin DNR experts are in Nebraska brainstorming with their colleagues from Wyoming and Colorado. Many say federal funds will be needed because getting a handle on this is going to be expensive.

What Is It?

Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disease found in deer and elk, previously contained in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota.

The disease attacks the brains of infected deer and elk, causing the animals to become emaciated, display abnormal behavior, lose bodily functions and die.

The Centers for Disease Control have not found any links between chronic wasting disease and any neurological disease that affects humans.

Should Hunters Be Concerned?

Health officials advise hunters not to consume meat from animals known to be infected with the disease. In addition, they suggest hunters take simple precautions when field dressing deer or elk taken in areas where the disease is found, such as:

Wear rubber gloves when field dressing carcasses.

Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues.

Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.

Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals.