Impact of Deer Breeding Regulations on Texas Economy

Texas Parks and the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) are driving people out of the deer breeding business, supply & demand has driven the price of live Whitetail deer up dramatically in Texas. This has driven up the price of deer hunting in Texas to the point that Texas hunters are now going out of state and out of state hunters are going to other states, lowering gross income from hunting to Texas. Deer hunting in Texas is a 9.6-billion-dollar business. Without deer breeders in Texas, the amount of money generated in Texas by Whitetail hunting will continue to decline.

The real question is does Texas really want to control or eradicate CWD or eradicate deer breeders?

If Texas wants to really control or eradicate CWD, what is their scientific plan to do so?

Scrapie/CWD has been around for almost 300 years and there is no evidence that it has ever been or can be transmitted to humans.

Scientific Basis for CWD Transmission Concerns

Science – (The Journal of Infectious Diseases” VOLUME 227 ISSUE 12 June 15th 2023)

Pages 1386-1395 states CWD is Scrapie and that sheep can pass Scrapie to Whitetail Deer----whitetail Deer cannot pass Scrapie to sheep and or goats--- and that differentiation from CWD and Scrapies may be difficult at best.

There is no proof that any pen deer has ever spread CWD to another deer outside of a pen.

It has been proven that raccoons, Pigs and Birds can transmit CWD Prions

According to Parks own data--through December 31st, 2023 there have been Approximately 337,770 Cervids tested for CWD in Texas. Of those Tested only 558 Whitetails have tested positive, that is a .18% positive rate---you tell me with a positive .18% rate –IS CWD REALLY A BIG DEAL???

Deer Breeding and CWD: A Look at Testing and Containment Practices

Both Mississippi State University and University of North Carolina research proved that CWD material was in approximately 50% of the Scrapes made by wild deer proving that CWD is in wild deer.

CWD was first found in Texas in a wild free ranging mule deer in Hueco Mountains in 2012, which is many miles away from any deer breeder pens.

There are at least 4 methods to live test deer that can be used to test deer for CWD prior to releasing a pen deer.

All deer let out of a breeder pen in Texas --- after being tested and shown to not have CWD must go to either another breeder or to a high fence release site so all pen deer released are contained and not running loose across Texas.

Transparency and Accountability in Deer Management

Parks and TAHC will not allow a deer breeder to be on his ranch when they come to slaughter pen deer. No counting deer, No evidence, no samples for ranch owner and no videoing of the slaughter. If Park is doing such a great service and proud of themselves why not video it? (See attached letter below)

Parks and TAHC have no science to back up their actions of killing people's pen deer and they are not very smart, hell they killed their own deer [approx. 90] at the Kerr Wildlife Facility because of a supposed false positive. How smart are they ???

If Parks is so damn good at managing wildlife, why after millions of dollars---with the exception of Elephant Mountain ---why are the Desert Sheep Herds declining so dramatically in Texas? – Good luck at getting the truth about Desert Sheep from Parks.

If Parks is really concerned about Whitetail deer, why don’t they concentrate on EHD, hell it kills in excess of 2000 deer annually in Texas and EHD has known causes.

If Parks and TAHC really wants to control and/or eradicate CWD they should have been begging Robert Williams to do research at his ranch instead of slaughtering his 249 deer with rifles instead of humanely euthanizing his deer in his barn with a simple needle.

The real agenda is to eradicate deer breeders not CWD.

The USDA is the entity that provides money for the slaughtering of people’s deer.  USDA rules ---page 34 ---states that USDA will only pay deer breeders for the deer they “own.” Parks signed that agreement with USDA. Parks has helped some Texas deer breeders to receive USDA funds, so does this mean Parks agrees that deer breeders own their deer? By the way, it took attorney Jennifer Riggs 16 months to get this information through open records act---guess they didn’t want anyone to know about it.

Texas Tech Law School wrote a 33-page report that Texas should be paying deer breeders the fair market value for the breeder's private property rights. No captive breeder deer is wild are they? You can read it here.

The Drake Law Journal also authored an article expressing the same opinion as the Texas Tech article. You can read it here.

Real World Example FromTriple AAA&J Ranch

I, Rick Young, have two breeding facilities on my ranch that are over 1 mile apart. In August 2022 facility #2 had one positive test for CWD, facility #1 over 1 mile away had twenty-one 3-year-old bucks that were tested March 2022 and all were non detect for CWD. I had a contract to sell those 21 bucks for $152,000. Parks would not let me sell those deer. Today I have only 12 of those bucks. The other 9 have been killed fighting by the other bucks in that pen. All 9 that have died tested negative for CWD.

Deer breeder Rodney Parish was told he had a positive deer in his pen in April 2023. Tissue from that deer was sent to Dr. Justin Greenlee with USDA. Dr. Greenlee report states Rodney’s deer did NOT show to have CWD. Dr. Greenlee sent his report to Hunter Reed (TAHC) and Mitch Lockwood (Parks) May 1st 2023 and neither shared Dr. Greenlee’s report with Rodney Parish. Today Rodney is still non movement qualified.

Up until 2006 When deer breeders sold a pen deer, we were issued a “purchase permit” proving that deer breeders owned the deer in their pens. Parks changed “purchase permits” to “transfer permits” in 2007.

Rich Young received a kill letter stating Parks will be coming no sooner than April 22, 2024 to slaughter. Rick cannot be on his own ranch in an area close to his pens. His Home and his ranch foreman homes are in the restricted area. Ricks deer are still alive because he obtained a temporary restraining order while a very expensive legal battle rages on.

Today Rick has $705,000 worth of deer in his pens

59 adult Doe valued at $5,000

31 4 yr and older Bucks at $10,000

16 2 yr old Bucks at $4000

18 Fawns at $2000

TOTAL $705,000

These values were determined by gathering current March 2024 prices from the following Texas Ranches:

·       Cross Canyon Whitetails

·       Hatada Whitetails

·       Squaw Mountain Ranch

·       Kris Killan

Rick Young has 6 attorneys working with him on his battle with Parks and TAHC.

Rick and one of his attorneys have tried multiple times to get indemnity money from USDA, Parks and TAHC. Every time they were told no. No money for Rick. If funds are available, money is only paid out to those willing to sign a Herd Plan that endures onto heirs, successors, and assigns. The Herd Plan greatly reduces the value of the property. Only a financially desperate person would sign such a horrible document or a person that does not fully understand such a one-sided open-ended document. The Herd Plan permits Parks and TAHC to change the rules at any time. That would be like playing a football game and scoring a touchdown and after scoring asking the referee, how many points do I get for that touchdown?

To make it as bad as possible Parks, TAHC, and USDA collude together to prohibit deer breeders from getting any money for the pen deer they slaughter unless a person signs their ridiculous “Herd Plan” which is open ended with no specific goals and to make it worse it endures on to Heirs, Successors, and Assigns.

Comparison of CWD Management Across States

Oklahoma passed a law in May 2024 that allows for releasing breeder deer into the wild to help breed out CWD.

Other states take a more responsible approach to dealing with CWD in deer breeder pens. Pennsylvania does not slaughter folks pen deer if a CWD positive is found. Pennsylvania stopped slaughtering pen deer FOUR years ago and has had no ill effects on any wild deer.

Michigan permits deer breeders that have CWD positive to remain in business if that breeder has a hunting ranch to release the deer into to hunt. Michigan has had no ill effects.

Wisconsin, one of the states with the highest rates of CWD does not kill deer in breeder pens if the breeder gets a CWD positive. Wisconsin allows those breeders to release them in their hunting ranches. Wisconsin has had no ill effects.

Wilderness Whitetail in Wisconsin, one of the two largest deer breeders in Wisconsin has been breeding out of deer CWD through selectively breeding the weak genes out of their deer herd with great success.  

Texas is not following the science; Texas is just putting deer breeding out of business. Texas will not stop CWD by putting deer breeders out of business---NO REAL SCIENTIST believes this--- CWD is in wild deer.

Potential for Science-Driven Solutions in CWD Management

Scientists believe that the only way to rid our Texas Whitetail from CWD is through breeding CWD resistant or CWD proof Whitetail, which can only be accomplished with deer pens. Dr. Daniel M. Hardy at Texas Tech University and his colleagues have developed a blood test for the live deer which determines if a deer has CWD or not. Dr. Hardy told me that Parks and TAHC had no interest in his blood test until Tracy Nichols with USDA insisted that Parks and TAHC work with Dr. Hardy with his research and development on the blood test. Dr Hardy asked Hunter Reed in Jan 2024 to be included in deer slaughters so he could collect blood samples to further his research—Hunter Reed never bothered to inform Dr Hardy about the April 2024 deer slaughter ----these deer would have greatly helped Dr. Hardy with his research----This is another reason I state that Parks and TAHC have no real interest in eradicating CWD rather just eradicating deer breeders.

If CWD is a “Gene” issue as Dr. Chris Seabury suggests, then only deer breeders can have any real positive effect in mitigating the ill effects of CWD by selectively breeding out CWD. Without deer breeders reducing or greatly reducing the CWD susceptible genes, getting rid of CWD will be impossible if Dr. Seabury is correct. I happen to believe he is correct and I am damn sure Dr. Seabury knows more about Whitetail deer than Hunter Reed.

Dr. Hardy asked Hunter Reed in January 2024 to be included in future deer slaughters. Hunter Reed failed to incline Dr. Hardy in the Hunt County slaughter of February 2024.

Both Dr. Hardy and Dr. Seabury have tons of research and science on their side to back up their theories. Parks and TAHC have no real science that proves killing pen deer will do anything to protect deer in the wild.

Ask what is Parks and TAHC science-based answer on how to get rid of CWD.

If CWD is so contagious as parks and TAHC say it is… then ask them to explain how the OX Ranch in Uvalde had a positive buck in a pen -- bred multiple doe had lots of fawns -- was in multiple pens -- all the fawns, doe and pen mates were killed -- and all of the deer were negative -- on top of that the OX Ranch has now tested over 3000 deer and ALL have been Negative. So… is CWD really contagious?

If Parks and TAHC REALLY want to control or eradicate CWD, why does Parks not mandate that ALL hunter harvested first kill of the season be tested state wide? This was suggested in a 2023 CWD task force meeting but was rejected.  My guess is that some of the big powerful ranch owners did not want a CWD positive on their ranch.

The Need for Advocacy and Involvement

The vast majority of Texas citizens, deer breeders, realtors (yes, realtors have a big dog in this fight) and the hunting industry as a whole have done absolutely NOTHING to stop the great overreach from Parks and TAHC in this CWD fight.

Folks if you remain silent and do nothing TAHC, Parks & Wildlife and USDA may soon tell you what you can and cannot do with your exotic species and/or even your sheep, goats & cattle.

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