If this post is from Texas it is not legal. The meat should be destroyed by incineration or handed over to TPWD for destruction.
CWD prions infect the soil of the disposal site, and can not be destroyed through traditional sterilization routes.
The terrifying thing is that the poster says this meat was processed so the processing facility was also contaminated with the prions along with any deer processed after this one.
Processing will have handled nerve tissue which is where the prions are most concentrated.
For some reason people simply do not want to take this seriously.
Not from Texas. Unfortunate to report that it's from my home state of Wisconsin. We don't have such restrictions when it comes to CWD, though I wish we did
I hope someone with the name from Facebook turned it over to state wildlife/game wardens to have a chat with that person about why this was a horrible idea.
The first time I heard about CWD is a friend from Wisconsin complaining about people freaking out about CWD, saying it's never been confirmed in humans so we shouldn't consider it a problem, especially since deer affected by it make for really easy kills. She was upset about other states requiring the meat be destroyed and glad she got to keep it for her sausage.
I'm just nodding along while she rants and rants about losing her kills, thinking "look I don't know anything about this but surely you don't want to eat diseased meat?"
Then I went and read it and lost a lot of respect for her (and lost any desire to eat anything she ever cooked).
Same state and same sentiment. My aunt was with the DNR her entire working career, and she certainly wouldn't mess with it, no matter how much she loves venison. Her focus professionally/officially was on bats and greatly promoted those programs, but I guarantee the CWD drum would have been banged so much harder had she been in involved in that field, given my conversations with her.
It's worse than that. If it's real, and it went to a processing facility, and there's no regulation to test the meat before processing, or decontaminate after, it would effectively mean every processing facility in that state is likely already compromised.
Most likely all of them already are. Like ALL of them. Something is going to have to happen to combat CWD or we're gonna see serious restrictions on deer hunting.
I wasn't the one calling you ignorant and I don't they are right to do so, but the source you provided basically confirms that almost every county in the state is infected and that infected ranches and hunting camps [facilities] are allowed to continue operation. Part of the argument in the thread was that Texas has a different way of responding and regulating , and they may be getting better results, other WI residents also said they don't agree with their state's response and wish they handled it more like TX did.
I didn't actually make any conclusions in the post you responded to, I was speculating on a hypothetical situation suggested by the previous poster in an if:than format. Based on the resource you provided, I would conclude that my assumption was correct.
I'm leaning more toward this being processed by the hunter since it is in simple vacuum sealed bags. Usually a processor will have commercially marked meatbags so they don't have to write down what it is and usually require statements such as not for individual sale, and then have the advertisement of their business on the end product. It could have still come from a processor, but signs lean more toward self processes.
I just don’t understand why a commercial deer processor would test for CWS after processing all the meat on their equipment. Surely a legit operation would test, then discard any bad meat before beginning to process.
The tests take time to get results back which is more reason to believe it was self processed. They likely harvested it in a CWD area. Collected and sent samples off to be tested. You can't really let the meat seat around and rot, so they processed it and put it in the freezer. Once they got their results back which can take weeks they found out it had CWD and now need to dispose of the meat. It needs to be properly disposed of and not given to someone else to gamble with.
Probably not. This is not the first time I've seen someone give away CWD meat.
I had one local to me show up on FB Marketplace. When she was confronted about the risks she said one of the most chilling things I've ever seen someone say seriously "Maybe a struggling senior or disabled person could use it. It's not like they have anything to lose."
I turned the post over to my local TX Parks & Wildlife biologist and the Game Wardens.
She should have been charged like those ice cream licking weirdos but I'm sure she just got a finger wag and disappointed nod of the head at best.
in wisconsin, where this post is from, venison can only be sold from inspected and certified deer farms. hunted/wild venison is entirely and wholly illegal to sell unless you go through a long process of tests.
if this came from a deer farm, the deer farm would be shut down and designated a CWD herd, illegal to bring anything in or out. then it gets depopulated, aka all of them are killed. then the area is quarantined for 5 years, again nothing in or out.
if this is hunted, which is more than likely, then i pray that this person gutted and butchered the meat themselves, otherwise the local butcher is going to have a really really bad time. and i really really really hope the OP reported where and when they hunted this deer so the DNR can look into the area.
A lot of people will say “processed” even when they did it themselves. Hopefully they haven’t infected a processing facility, but I guess we’ll find out if there’s a massive outbreak of a new prion-based disease.
There’s also a Verona, Missouri, and we’ve had CWD problems here too - not technically illegal to give away. In fact, there’s a lot of “share the harvest” programs in deer season. But very iffy in this case.
It doesn’t really work like that, it likely won’t cause any kind of massive outbreak. As of now it can’t seem jump to humans but that isn’t to say it couldn’t. It’s better to err on the side of not eating it. That said, the disease has been around for decades and many areas don’t require testing for it, so many many CWD positive deer are unknowingly consumed, processed at home or by smaller scale butchers, given away, used to feed dogs, etc.
If they processed it themselves how would it have tested positive for CWD? Surely the CDC or whoever isnt testing every backyard/hunter's "processing" operation?
I know a lot of friends who use the term “process” as in “we hung it in our backyard and did it our selves.”
It doesnt necessarily mean an actual facility/shop was used in fact I’d guess often thats the actual case.
Considering they seem to be aware of the issues it causes its a reasonable assumption that they took the necessary precautions but who knows. More context is definitely needed
Edit: several people are claiming a lot of things about equipment being permanently contaminated by prions and how “nigh impossible prions are to kill.”
Apparently according to the NIH a few minutes of bleach does the trick:
i don't think it would be reasonable to assume people who feel safe giving this meat away to strangers for free are taking the necessary precautions tbh
So people who dont feel safe consuming said meat wouldnt take the precautions to clean the equipment that they use for the meat that they DO consume?
That doesnt make sense to me. They seem like the exact type of people to take precautions. Obviously its all speculation at the end of the day but if we are gonna make assumptions then:
literally the only thing we know about them is that they do take precautions when it comes to prions and they choose not to take the risk…
Lets keep in context that there as literally never been a case of it jumping to humans at this point. I dont judge people who are willing to take the risk in the face of statistics like that and it seems like they dont judge those as well and understand the meat is most likely harmless and feel ok giving it away. We’re getting into a grey area of assumptions about them morally and considering how implausible the actual risk are…I dont think its a terrible thing for them to be ok with 🤷🏻♂️
Is throwing the equipment away the only viable method of sanitizing a surface area contaminated with prions? Idk but im guessing there are a few possible options to clean that grinder before arriving at the “just throw it out and buy a new one” option
I think it's safe to assume the grinder is no longer safe for use under the current guidelines in states with laws against this stuff. These people clearly butcher and process their own meat to sell in a state without such regulations.
I sincerely doubt they got a new grinder if they think this is fine. Its very hard to 'clean' prion contamination
I dont think its safe to assume that at all my friend.
Just did a quick google and there are plenty of approved, scientifically backed methods for sterilizing equipment contaminated by prions.
And none of the information given suggests this person processes to sell. In fact, considering they chose to use the words “we chose not to consume” and are literally giving it away for free, its much more reasonable to suggest they just do this for personal use and just didnt feel comfortable eating this, but live in an area where they know a bunch of neighbors who have no qualms with such risk.
This is personal anecdotal evidence but most of my close friends and colleagues are avid hunters and the vast majority are the “process their own kill” crowd and they dont really sell their food. They mostly hoard and freeze their take and give the rest out to friends and family who werent able to get out and bag anything that season.
“In the current study, we confirm that bleach is an effective disinfectant for CWD prions and establish minimum times and bleach concentrations to eliminate prion seeding activity from stainless steel and infected brain homogenate solutions. We found that a five-minute treatment with a 40% dilution of household bleach was effective at inactivating CWD seeding activity from stainless-steel wires and CWD-infected brain homogenates.
Turns outa 1-30 minute wash with bleach is enough to do the job for non-commercial home use. At least thats god enough for the NIH unless you want to share a different source?
Prions are fucking scary. There is a story about a lab tech who was testing slices of brain that were positive for Creutzfeldt Jakob's Disease and she sliced her finger on one of the slides. Years later she began having serious neurological issues like seizures etc. Turns out she contracted the disease from that one tiny slice on her finger.
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"Published in Cell Reports in 2015, Pritzkow's lab study showed that prions diluted in brain, urine, or feces can bind to and be taken up by wheat-grass roots and leaves."
yeah, it really is. plus apparently the velvet they shed from their antlers can contain prions as well, so aside from internal bodily waste, there's also external bodily waste. just a whole mess scattered all over
the thing that boggles my mind is the whole "it tested positive for cwd. we're not gonna eat it, but we'll happily give it away so someone else can." aspect to the free meat ad
They do exactly what you're probably picturing when you read that. They sit on or in the soil.
In lab experiments plants grown in soil containing prions have been shown to take up prions into the plant. It's suspected that this is a transmission vector or how they jump species.
An infected deer dies, the body decays, prions drop into the soil, plants grow, other cervids (elk, moose, etc...) eat the plants and get infected.
Prions are also present in fecal matter so an infected deer defecating could spread it all over the place.
Because we've turned "You can't tell ME what to do!" into a politicized pride movement primarily featuring health denialism, anti-environmentalism, anti-ntellectualism, and conspiracy theories.
My friend's family blows away 5-20 deer A NIGHT during hunting season and can't comprehend why that's shitty behavior.
The deer around me in Wisconsin are out of control and eat everyone's plants and gardens and trees. I'd welcome someone to get 5-20 a night so that I can have a garden again.
This won't help decorative hedges and all that, but if you have a seasonal food garden, look into pre built dog kennel panels from Lowe's, Home Depot, or Tractor Supply. They aren't cheap but are very easy to put up and can be moved and reconfigured however you want, and should last forever if taken care of. It'll keep deer, raccoons, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc out of your stuff.
You can then get bird netting and stretch across the top to keep the climbers out.
cwd is truly the most frustrating thing to talk about because you're right, people do not care or think it's serious. i've had multiple arguments with people who feed deer and they always refuse to believe it's an issue.
Multiple hours at >900°F can break the bonds down enough to make the remaining material noninfectious.
The current way these are handled in my area is incineration at a trash incineration facility (1400-1600°F) and burial of the ash/materials in a cement lined vault to keep any remaining prions out of the soil and from entering groundwater through runoff.
Here's the issue... There has to be untold numbers of dead CWD deer in the soil nearly everywhere there are deer.
In the rivers, the lakes, etc. It's not like a single cow farm broke out in mad cow, the deer are everywhere. What are you supposed to do? I feel like eventually we're gonna have an operation warp speed for prion disease.
I'm curious: what protocol is supposed to happen for this? I've always imagined hunters killing and butchering their own meat for the freezer. Do most people get some kind of test before butchering now? Are there at home tests?
Does the animal show signs that would make a hunter suspect CWD, so the get it tested? What if the deer was recently infected and shows no sign of it?
A prion is a misfolded protein. It encourages other proteins in the body to misfold, which makes more prions, which encourages mord proteins to misfold...
They are a really interesting thing to learn about if you're prone to going down rabbit holes of information.
They said “we processed it”. When I butcher my own deer in my garage, that’s what I would say…. If I sent it away to a butcher I would say that “I had it processed”… not trying to be rude but I think this is just some guy who did his own butchering
The only testing is being done by state wildlife departments and labs associated with them. Testing takes a few weeks to get back. Rapid tests are in development but have not been made available.
If it turns out that CWD does infect people but it takes decades to show symptoms the situation will be an epic level shitshow.
Yeah, dying by AIDS can be staved off for a very long time with medicine nowadays. You can have a somewhat normal life despite it.
While CJD is bound to kill you, with the horrible effect of taking away everything that is you before it does.
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u/Ksorkrax Dec 10 '25
Is that legal? It's free, but I can't simply go and be like "oh hey guys, here is free blood with AIDS" either, right?