[joesnuffy]

The problem is in the cerebral spinal fluid transfering prions...(thats what I've heard)
The butchers in our area are starting to refuse whole (deer) carcases and will only cut de-boned meat.
I can imagine when they are cutting up a couple of hundred deer a day...the saws are going to cut through spines sooner or later and spray the adjacent meat with infected material...
I live on the edge of the infected area...and am not going to hunt this year...as you are not allowed to inspect the meat before you have tagged it...and if it is infected will I have to pay for its disposal in a hazmat waste site....
no thanks...I may go back home and hunt north of hwy 8 but that as you say will be risky next year...and in the meantime who wants to risk CJ disease for a taste of untested venison?

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

This is not really "CJ disease" (ie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob), which is a similar disease of humans, due to what is apparently a spontaneous and very rare mutation (although there is a genetic susceptibility to having this happen).

So far as is known, after more than 30 years of study of Chronic Wasting Disease of deer and elk, it is NOT transmissible to humans.

[logic101.net]

We are certainly on the same page here. Sounds like you are in WI, but I'm not sure where Hwy 8 is. I hunt in Jackson Swamp (M77). I trust that area this year, but won't next year. Perhaps, if it isn't too late to get the license, we could organize a drive through the area? Really, it is our last chance if the USDA doesn't get off their power kick!

Yes, they say the spinal cord is the conduit for the disease; and even if I shot a deer and had the ability to test it, I would not take it to a butcher. The potential risk is too great. Much is unkown, too much.

But, let's take a look at reality here. I was a meat cutter for almost a decade. The pirons are, from what I have been able to asertain, all through the meat, they just concentrate in the spinal fluid. Is a butcher shop going to wash their grinder between deer? Nope. At $10-15/hr they can't afford to. There will always be some mixing of meat. This is why pork is ground last; they HAVE to wash it before grinding anything else.

I have my own grinder, it's a small one that I got through Cabelas (sp? Sorry!). But, given my history; I like to take the meat through the entire process myself.

With the situation in WI, I would not take any meat to a butcher; there is too much chance of a mix of meat; and who knows how the guy who's deer was ground before you treated his - or if he bothered to test it (assuming we get the USDA to let go of their strangle-hold on testing).

Oh, and as far as the saw, do you have any idea how hard it is to clean off the blade on a meat band saw? The entire thing needs to be dis-assembled. In the past it wasn't a major problem, but now....

Mark A Sity