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Hunters seem undeterred by threat of CWD
By Tim RenkenOf the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
09/06/2002
Post-Dispatch outdoors reporter Tim Renken
A record number of people, some 450,000, bought big-game hunting licenses in Colorado last month. That high number provides an insight to to the nation's wildlife authorities about the attitude of hunters following a year of concern about chronic wasting disease. Their No. 1 worry is that a lot of people will quit hunting out of fear of CWD.
Colorado is "Ground Zero" in the CWD front. The disease was first diagnosed and first spread there. People know about CWD in Colorado after a year of heavy media attention to the story.
"People continue to be very excited about hunting in Colorado," said Phyllis DeJaynes, a license sales manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
A widespread abandonment of hunting would be a multipronged catastrophe. Sport hunting, mostly for big game, is worth $500 million in Colorado alone, $800 million in Missouri and $417 million in Illinois. The national economic impact of deer hunting is estimated at $27.8 billion. Some 312,000 jobs nationwide are directly dependent on deer hunting.
"If people stopped deer hunting, we'd be out of business," said Denny Dennis, owner of a sporting goods retailer in Fenton.
Most state game agencies rely on funds from the sale of deer tags. About $11 million of the Missouri Department of Conservation budget comes from deer tags.
But beyond that, without hunting, an uncontrolled deer herd would damage farms and forest everywhere deer live. And after that, the deer population probably would collapse from famine and disease.
If hunters in Colorado are still excited about hunting despite CWD, hunters in Missouri and Illinois seem oblivious to CWD. The first hunting season here, for bowhunters, begins Oct. 1 and the biggest hunts, for firearms, are in mid-November.
"Hunters here don't know about it," said Orville Sauer of Affton Provisions and Smokey Ridge Meats, St. Louis's largest deer processor. "We've been asking our deer customers about it and what we've been getting is blank stares."
Sauer and other processors would be among the first businesses, along with sporting-goods retailers, affected by any decline in hunting.
In Colorado, processors have said they will refuse to take deer or elk from CWD endemic areas. Sauer said he probably would do likewise.
"Other than that, though, we'll conduct business as usual, keeping our fingers crossed that CWD doesn't show up here," he said.
By Tim RenkenOf the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
09/06/2002
Post-Dispatch outdoors reporter Tim Renken
A record number of people, some 450,000, bought big-game hunting licenses in Colorado last month. That high number provides an insight to to the nation's wildlife authorities about the attitude of hunters following a year of concern about chronic wasting disease. Their No. 1 worry is that a lot of people will quit hunting out of fear of CWD.
Colorado is "Ground Zero" in the CWD front. The disease was first diagnosed and first spread there. People know about CWD in Colorado after a year of heavy media attention to the story.
"People continue to be very excited about hunting in Colorado," said Phyllis DeJaynes, a license sales manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
A widespread abandonment of hunting would be a multipronged catastrophe. Sport hunting, mostly for big game, is worth $500 million in Colorado alone, $800 million in Missouri and $417 million in Illinois. The national economic impact of deer hunting is estimated at $27.8 billion. Some 312,000 jobs nationwide are directly dependent on deer hunting.
"If people stopped deer hunting, we'd be out of business," said Denny Dennis, owner of a sporting goods retailer in Fenton.
Most state game agencies rely on funds from the sale of deer tags. About $11 million of the Missouri Department of Conservation budget comes from deer tags.
But beyond that, without hunting, an uncontrolled deer herd would damage farms and forest everywhere deer live. And after that, the deer population probably would collapse from famine and disease.
If hunters in Colorado are still excited about hunting despite CWD, hunters in Missouri and Illinois seem oblivious to CWD. The first hunting season here, for bowhunters, begins Oct. 1 and the biggest hunts, for firearms, are in mid-November.
"Hunters here don't know about it," said Orville Sauer of Affton Provisions and Smokey Ridge Meats, St. Louis's largest deer processor. "We've been asking our deer customers about it and what we've been getting is blank stares."
Sauer and other processors would be among the first businesses, along with sporting-goods retailers, affected by any decline in hunting.
In Colorado, processors have said they will refuse to take deer or elk from CWD endemic areas. Sauer said he probably would do likewise.
"Other than that, though, we'll conduct business as usual, keeping our fingers crossed that CWD doesn't show up here," he said.
