Hunting -- With An Eye Towards Survival Issues

I was searching through our threads concerning survival hunting and whatnot. I just wasn't happy with the titles I was finding, so I've created this thread.

Can't say that I'm particularly happy with this title. Sorry!

Just saying, "Hunting" is way too broad. I'm trying to hit a title that contains hunting techniques along with "roughing it". What I was not wanting to include was "standard hunting" / "most folk" types of hunting. Example: Guys drive their trucks or ATVs out into the wild, kill something, and drive back home.

Another angle I'm looking for is, "What did our ancestors do?" OK, let's face it, our ancestors did NOT have it easy. I know that my kin sure didn't have it easy. My mom's dad was a subsistence hunter and let me tell you, that man worked and struggled his way through youth. His world was hell.
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OK, so I found a fun video that is also very informative. This couple build a hunting shelter, hunt deer, then prepare and cook the venison.

AND, the video is brought to us by our brethren from The Land Down Under. Thanks!

"Building Complete Deer Hunting SURVIVAL SHELTER In The Unexplored WILDERNESS - HUNT, CLEAN & COOK"

 

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"What are prion diseases? Hunters died of fatal disorder after eating tainted deer meat, researchers say"

Apr 27, 2024

https://www.newsnationnow.com/healt...ter-eating-tainted-deer-meat-researchers-say/

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(NEXSTAR) – A recent report published in the medical journal Neurology suggests that two hunters contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal neurological disorder, after eating venison obtained from deer infected with chronic wasting disease.

For years, researchers have thought cross-species transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) to be plausible. But this latest report, describing what researchers call a “cluster” of cases, presents some of the strongest evidence yet of possible animal-to-human transmission.

“Although causation remains unproven, this cluster emphasizes the need for further investigation into the potential risks of consuming CWD-infected deer and its implications for public health,” researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio, who authored the report, said of their findings.

The two hunters described in report’s case studies had been from the same lodge, and were both known to consumer meat from deer belonging to a CWD-infected population.

Both of the hunters contracted fatal cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, with one presenting symptoms shortly after the other’s death, according to the researchers.

Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a neurological disorder increasingly affecting deer populations, but also other cervid species in the same family. Symptoms usually present around 18 months after infection, and include weight loss, increased salivation, increased thirst, increased urination and loss of awareness, per the U.S. Geological Survey. Cases in deer are always fatal, the agency adds.

CWD can be spread by animals through contact, or through contaminated body fluids, the USGS says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adds that deer can also become infected via food, water or soil that has become contaminated.

The CDC further notes that CJD is not “related” to bovine springform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as “mad cow” disease, despite both being caused by a prion. It has been proven, however, that BSE can indeed be transmitted to humans via the consumption of tainted meat, leading to a disorder called Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, or vCJD. Both CJD and vCJD are fatal, and share similar symptoms, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

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Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/prevention.html

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Hunters must consider many factors when determining whether to eat meat from deer and elk harvested from areas with CWD, including the level of risk they are willing to accept. Hunters harvesting wild deer and elk from areas with reported CWD should check state wildlife and public health guidance to see whether testing of animals is recommended or required in a given state or region. In areas where CWD is known to be present, CDC recommends that hunters strongly consider having those animals tested before eating the meat.

Tests for CWD are monitoring tools that some state wildlife officials use to look at the rates of CWD in certain animal populations. Testing may not be available in every state, and states may use these tests in different ways. A negative test result does not guarantee that an individual animal is not infected with CWD, but it does make it considerably less likely and may reduce your risk of exposure to CWD.

To be as safe as possible and decrease their potential risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should take the following steps when hunting in areas with CWD:

• Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from deer and elk that look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).
• When field-dressing a deer:
  • Wear latex or rubber gloves when dressing the animal or handling the meat.
  • Minimize how much you handle the organs of the animal, particularly the brain or spinal cord tissues.
  • Do not use household knives or other kitchen utensils for field dressing.
• Check state wildlife and public health guidance to see whether testing of animals is recommended or required. Recommendations vary by state, but information about testing is available from many state wildlife agencies.
• Strongly consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before you eat the meat.
• If you have your deer or elk commercially processed, consider asking that your animal be processed individually to avoid mixing meat from multiple animals.
• If your animal tests positive for CWD, do not eat meat from that animal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regulates commercially farmed deer and elk. The agency operates a national CWD herd certification programexternal icon. As part of the voluntary program, states and individual herd owners agree to meet requirements meant to decrease the risk of CWD in their herds. Privately owned herds that do not participate in the herd certification program may be at increased risk for CWD.

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Interesting. I'm somewhat worried, I confess, because I know how many animal diseases wild animals can harbour, as well as parasites. My paranoia causes me to cook the flock out of meat as it is.

Incidentally, I was talking to my vet this morning. Being old, as I am now, I mentioned how as a child I had a couple of pet dogs that caught distemper. A horrible disease. He said Australia doesn't have distemper any more, but he thought it's still in the UK or Europe.

I was also reading on here (can't remember where. Did I mention I'm old? Hahahaha) someone mentioned rabies from dogs. I think it was with reference to the US. Is that still a thing? We no longer have rabies in Australia. Thankfully. I didn't realise it was still around in other countries. Is it in the UK, do you know?

 

This hell disease is still a reality here in the US. Still is true in Iran/Persia ... other countries.

I don't know about now, but back in the 1960s, there was some seven year-ish cycle about the disease's presentation. At university, the state lab was on-campus. In one of our microbiology classes, we went over to the next building to visit that lab and we observed samples of brain tissue that had ultraviolet enhancement via antibody technology (ahead of the times and all that). Glow in the dark crap and all ... . You know what I mean. Anyway, I was looking at a brain tissue sample from a bat (skunk???, hell, I forget) and the rabies virus was MASSIVELY going after the cells under my microscope. Scary stuff, that.

Decades later, two of our dogs went after an infected bat. The dogs, I had to chain-up for a couple of weeks-plus. They'd of course had their vaccinations and didn't go ill. Didn't touch the bat myself. Used a remote claw thingy to pick it up to send it to state lab -- my alma mater was in-town. (I'm a tool-guy nut; well, my folk simply had to fix things, couldn't afford new -- welcome to Appalachia poverty.) Lab came back and the tech tells me that the bat was "hot" -- i.e., massively infected.

Homey doesn't mess with contagions (even though I've been work-buddies with lab guys, just isn't my game, hell no), nor explosives. No no no, call me chicken! Don't want to be anywhere near that crap! BAD!