Disease fears could keep deer hunters at home

DULUTH (AP) -- Chronic wasting disease hasn't been found in wild deer in Minnesota, but fears about the disease might have already given the state's hunting economy a case of the chills.

The state's deer season for bow hunters opened Saturday and there was evidence that many hunters were staying home, despite assurances from experts that humans have little to fear from the disease.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has found the disease in a captive elk heard in Aitkin County. Department hunters are killing and testing wild deer in the area to see if the CWD has spread.

"Every other guy who comes in here says they're not going to hunt this year, either because they're scared of it or because their wives don't want them to bring it into the house," said John Larsen, owner of Bwana Archery in Little Canada.

Business is down about 20 percent from last year, Larsen said, and he blames news stories suggesting that humans may have died from the disease.

Such a link has never been made scientifically, and in fact experts say there appears to be a strong biological barrier that prevents other species of animals or humans from getting the deer and elk disease.

John Chalstrom, owner of the Duluth Archery Center, said his business is also down about 20 percent leading up to this deer season compared with last year. He believes that fear of the disease is at least partly to blame, though he acknowledges that warm weather also may have been a factor.

Some meat processors say they won't handle deer this season for fear of contaminating their equipment, which will make it harder to get deer butcherrf and give hunters another reason to stay home.

Paul Wrazidlo owns Old World Meats in Duluth, a business his grandfather started 50 years ago. He has made the costly decision to turn down the venison business this year.

"It wasn't an easy decision, but it was a natural," said Wrazidlo, 36. "There's too much of the fear of the unknown out there. The information we got from our inspectors wasn't clear enough to satisfy me that this is how you kill CWD."

In Wisconsin, where 31 deer with the disease have been found in the wild herd so far, deer-hunting license sales are off more than 30 percent from this time last year.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials said that they couldn't immediately provide comparable sales figures, but might release such figures later this week.

However, DNR officials said they were encouraged to see that applications for antlerless-deer permits, due Sept. 5, compared well to last year. More than 202,000 hunters applied this year. Last year, 225,279 applied. DNR officials attributed the reduction to a trend in which more hunters who would have applied for an antlerless permit instead have applied for an intensive-harvest permit to take multiple antlerless deer. More than 5,000 of those permits have been sold so far.

Through all of the 2001 hunting season, Minnesota sold more than 400,000 firearms deer licenses, almost 70,000 bow hunting licenses and almost 42,000 multizone buck licenses.

State officials know that even a short-term reduction in hunting could be hard on businesses that cater to the sport, which generates an estimated $250 million annually in the state.

Bill Fleischman of Duluth, a college professor who hunts with a rifle, said killing a deer this season might be more trouble than it's worth.

He said he will probably buy a license because he wants the state to get the revenue for wildlife management. But he said he and his family will feel uneasy about eating venison until a quick, reliable test is developed or scientists have proof the disease won't jump the species barrier the way mad-cow disease did in Europe.

And if they're not going to eat venison, he wouldn't feel right about giving it away either, he added.

"I guess I don't need the additional risk," he said. "It might not even be the risk, but rather the uncertainty."

Fleischman recognized that his decision might have broader ramifications.

"The downside to hunters responding the way I am is that the deer could increase, which would increase the likelihood of spreading the disease."