PERM

Rack Junkies said it best:

EHD vs. CWD: hunters lump them together, but they couldn’t be more different. EHD hit the Midwest like a sledgehammer this year, wiping out entire pockets of deer. When EHD rolls through, it kills up to 90% of the deer that get it and can take out 80% of a local herd in weeks. You want to talk about a real “zombie deer”? That’s EHD, the fever, the internal bleeding, the hooves coming apart. Yet somehow, the media (looking at you, New York Times) slapped a picture of an EHD deer into an article about CWD and created years of confusion in the hunting world. That’s the deer in the picture, an animal on the brink of death from a disease that burns hotter and faster than almost anything else in the whitetail world.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the graphic… the “CWD deer.” Perfect coat, standing tall, looking completely normal, because many of them are. That’s the part nobody wants to talk about. There are documented cases of whitetails living five, six, seven-plus years with CWD. Some live out their entire natural lifespan. The reason? CWD spreads through prions, proteins that don’t die, don’t break down, and can sit in the soil or a licking branch for a decade or more. You cannot shoot it out, and you absolutely cannot eradicate it. States have tried wiping out herds, and guess what? CWD stays right there in the dirt waiting for the next generation. The deer population grows right back over it. So why do we pretend this is a disease we can stop?

Here’s my opinion, and yeah, it’s controversial: CWD isn’t the monster we make it out to be, and we’re wasting money fighting something that cannot be stopped. It’s here forever. Deer evolve with it. The herd adjusts. Hunters keep hunting. Meanwhile, EHD, the disease that actually knocks herds to their knees, barely gets half the attention or funding. So the real question is… why are we pouring millions into stopping a disease we can’t erase, while ignoring the one that actually wipes deer off the map?

Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting is Oct. 22
The Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee (MLFAC) will meet from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, at McQuoid’s Inn, 1325 State Highway 47, Isle, and via online videoconference. The agenda includes brief updates on muskie stocking and status of the yearlong bass season for 2026, as well as a creel update, fall assessment results, and a discussion on winter regulations for walleye and yellow perch.

Members of the public may observe MLFAC meetings, but these meetings serve primarily as a way for the committee to hold group discussions. Ten minutes are reserved for public comments and questions. For the upcoming online meeting, members of the public who wish to observe the meeting or speak during the public comment period should contact [email protected] by Wednesday, Oct. 22 at noon. Meeting minutes will be posted after the meeting on the Mille Lacs Lake management page.

Individuals with a disability who need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the Mille Lacs Lake area fisheries office by email at [email protected] or by phone at 218-429-3031 or using your preferred Telecommunications Relay Provider.

The committee has been active since October 2015. Its purpose is to advise the Department of Natural Resources on the State of Minnesota’s fisheries management program for Mille Lacs Lake.

For more information about DNR’s management of Mille Lacs Lake and how to get involved, visit the Mille Lacs Lake management page. To sign up to receive these email updates, click on “Newsletter” on the left menu and enter your email in the blue box on the page.

A research group from the University of California, Davis recently conducted a study, finding the following:

- One wolf can cause between $69,000 and $162,000 in direct and indirect losses from lower pregnancy rates in cows and decreased weight gain in calves;

- Total indirect losses are estimated to range from $1.4 million to $3.4 million depending on moderate or severe impacts from wolves across the three packs;

- 72% of wolf s**t samples tested during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons contained cattle DNA; and

- Hair cortisol levels were elevated in cattle that ranged in areas with wolves, indicating an increase in stress.

The recovery of the gray wolf is a success story for the Endangered Species Act, and the time is now to recognize that success. Delist wolves now! Contact your members of Congress and ask them to support H.R. 845, The Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025.

Read more about this study at https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/novel-study-calculates-cost-cattle-ranchers-expanding-wolf-population

DNR sets open water fishing regulations for Upper Red Lake : Mar 31, 2025 | News release Anglers fishing on Upper Red Lake during the 2025 open-water season that starts Saturday, May 10, will have a five-walleye possession limit, with only one walleye over 17 inches allowed.

DNR sets walleye regulations for the 2025 open-water season on Minnesota's Lake Mille Lacs - Outdoor News Following years of restrictive regulations, the DNR says the Mille Lacs Lake walleye fishery appears to be in a healthy state.