This ranch is supposed to have records of deer sold to other ranches.

How come the TP&W aren't showing up to kill those herds of deer as well?

Seems to me, they haven't tied all the loose ends up yet.

Been holding that one back , you are a very smart guy,

The state was not taking care of these deer........the guys wife or girl friend or whoever she is was taking care of them. It wasnt a money thing.

I agree completely. They fell into that area of obtaining the herd illegally, so reagrdless if they could feed them and maintain them, the state was not going to allow them to keep them, and I agree with that aspect(why allow these dumb arses to maintain and possiby profit later from illegal activity)?

So they put them down under concerns about CWD? That is laughable. If they just said its a money thing I would understand.

That is where the money comes in, much cheaper for the state to do that then say, move them to an enclosure monitor for a year then cut them loose.

And as mentioned above, they sold deer from this herd to other breeders in the state, technically if they really put these deer down because of CWD, they should be in the process of putting other herds down here shorty, no??

Feed them for a year and observe them or have to pay for 75 autopsies to be done on the brain tissues, either way was going to cost someone some money.

We have deer cross over from Mexico everyday, along with our other bordering states. I don't think killing 75 deer prevented anything considering those facts.

Texas has never had a case of CWD and I wonder if Arkansas has ever had one reported as well.

TPWD is enforcing the recommendations of TAHC and DNR.
Maybe this will help some understand how serious CWD is, and the concerns.


Please watch the video
http://www.cwd-info.org/pdf/CWD%20Brochure.pdf

http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/news/pr/2010/2010Nov_ElkMonitoredHerdProgram.pdf

CWD MAP


I am glad to see the State of Texas is protecting and looking out for our resources.
A quarantine would mean death to big game hunting in Texas. Look at the areas across nation already under modified Quarantine.

Thank you James!

Chris, Did you look at the map. I was shocked at the size of the area with CWD detected in captive game. WOW.

Some people have never heard of the ruin of the Texas beef industry in the 1890s.

They were shooting herds and even cattle driver on sight.

The Video. Also and excellent video on dressing and boneing out game animals.

http://www.welcometohunting.com/video/CWD/cable/cwd.html

Great article, great, the data shows that the closest CWD in the "wild" was diagnosed is central New Mexico.

I like that they openly admit they are not entirely sure how it spreads, I think the articles words were "It is not completely understood how it spreads"

But there has been some CWD detected in "captive" populations just across the border somewhere in Oklahoma, I presume officials there have done the right thing and destroyed them? After all they tested to find this out.

Problem solved?

Again, the herd that TPWD put down showed no signs of CWD?

"Lightfoot confirmed that tests were submitted from six deer at the ranch, and the results were negative for any diseases."

I too am glad TPWD is protecting the deer population. But it is very ignorant to hide behind CWD in the Anderton case and calling it an action for the benefit of the herd.

The Andertons are terds for doing what they did.

TPWD wins no medals in my mind in this instance either.

Junk management at best. If they had some deer that showed signs of CWD I would be behind the action 100%.

Agree to disagree.

What precautions have the TPWD taken to prevent those cases (12) totaling elk, mule deer and whitetails from just walking across the New Mexico/Texas statelines? If a guy illegally transports one, we'll have to kill your herd, but its okay for them to just walk into our state, we'll take our chances, after all, it could be the death of big game in Texas?

How many cases has Arkansas found where this deer came from? nada, none.

Maybe if one of these deer came from central New Mexico were its been reported 12 times, it would be understandable.

How many deer killed annually in Texas are required to be taken to a biologist so the brain stem can be tested to ensure our big game thrive forever?

How many deer in Texas that are shot inside high fences, next to the closest thing to a capative deer thats hunted, are required to be tested?

How many deer are required to be sampled/killed on farms/ranches that raise deer for sale are sampled annually?

Don't you think the TPWD could do alot more to ensure CWD doesn't happen in Texas other than destroy 75 deer that have no ties to any of the states with reported cases?

What has the TPWD done? Made it illegal to transport deer across statelines, and killed 75 deer.

I think there are a couple of colprits to this story. Yes TPWD (executed) this plan poorly. The governing game officials (state and federal have blown the CWD way out of proportion) but if you look at the broad spectrum of game management practices that are available to Texas Landowners compared to other states there is no comparison. I believe the real bad guys are in jail right now and I hate that for their family, but the fact remains you can within the law thrive in the business they were in without breaking laws or being unethical. Yes, I hated watching the video and dont think I could have done it. But before we crucify TPWD lets remember there are a lot of Texas landowners in the same business that obey the laws and regulations. To sum up my opinion on this matter (if they had obeyed the law and had proper documentation the deer would still be alive)(The TPWD done a pisspoor job of handling this situation) people will break the law but is up to our law enforcement to show some class and integrity when enforcing them.

How do you know where those deer came from???? The owners of the deer claim they came from Arkansas but they have shown no proof of that. But hey......criminals wouldnt lie would they??

If one of the tests come back positive the biologist will have to devote resources to studying the population in that area in the off chance one of the deer got loose. It is a safeguard.

In addition to deer brought into Texas illegally, TPWD takes CWD samples in just about every county in the state on hunter-harvested deer each season, adding up to thousands a year. For the folks that don't think CWD is a big deal, I genuinely hope you are not a neighboring landowner when the first CWD-positive deer finds it's way into Texas. From what I know about the disease and have heard about the protocol to contain any CWD-infected aniaml, 71 deer will be a drop in the bucket compared to either.

Hindsight is 20/20. All they had to do was get proof and do the deer business legally. It's obvious by the size of the deer in the pens that they could have afforded the correct paperwork to go along with the trophies in those enclosures. They made a mistake and they are paying for it. Hopefully they can recover from this and go about it the right way next time. I feel bad for all involved in this case.

They took a chance, broke the law, and got caught. If they can't do the time don't do the crime. I don't like people messing with out natural resources. What were they gonna do with the deer?