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As the leaves begin to change color and nighttime temperatures drop, outdoor enthusiasts know that nothing can mean: the season of deer hunting is imminent.
Many hunters have already started preparing their bows for the archery season, which will begin on October 1 st. The regular firearms and muzzl loading season will follow in November and December, respectively.
Although this process has become commonplace for many, venison processors know they will face a series of additional challenges this year due to chronic debilitating disease (CDD).
Given that representatives of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have recently voiced their concerns regarding the processing of venison due to the rise of the MDC , several markets in the region – such as Jones Farm Meats in Saranac and Sage's Meat Processing in Greenville, among others – have made the decision not to accept venison this year.
"Our biggest problems are the possible consequences if we get a deer with a positive test for bacterial dieback disease," said Dean Harter, owner of Sage's Meat Processing. "If I only treated darling and game in our building, I would probably always do it, but we have a lot of retail customers that we deal with all year round who are worried about what that would mean for their meat if we got a contaminated deer. "
Others, however, have decided to continue to offer venison treatments this year.
"It's a long-standing disease," said Adam Eller of Carson Village Market in Carson City. "We have been around for 10, 15 years and tests have become more accurate. If someone really worries about the disease, the best practice would be to have it tested or not to hunt at the start. "
Eller wants to help with this testing process as hunters can drop their game at the Carson Village market and have it tested for CWD in a week or two by MNR.
Last year, Carson Village Market followed the same test procedure and revealed that none of the deer he received was positive for CWD.
"I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I know that all the deer we received were negative," said Eller. "This year we will have the DNR here during the gun season so they will continue to test (CWD) and answer some of the questions we have every day."
Eller understands why other facilities are not offering venison treatment at this time, and said Carson Village Market is taking extra precautions to ensure they comply with the safety protocol.
"I understand why some people are withdrawing," said Eller. "It's because they transform pets from the same building, which I do not do. Our facility is completely isolated from the retail store, with its own chillers, grinders and all that means we do not have to worry about cross contamination. If I had to do it outside of our retail store, I would probably stop too. "
Colin Kelly of Kelly's Deer Processing in Big Rapids has also decided to continue offering venison treatment this year, with some stipulations.
"The main change from our side is that if a deer comes from a central area of the MDC, we can not prepare salami, charq, sausages or anything else with the deer meat before the deer was tested and the negative results were obtained. back to me, "Kelly said.
Much of the meat Kelly uses comes from game farms that have already been tested and approved by the USDA.
While he continues to buy supplies from these companies that are then turned into venison snacks and then sold to restaurants, jerky businesses and private individuals, Kelly is somewhat upset by some setbacks that CWD has caused to his business this year in particular.
"It's frustrating because there were no problems with recall last year," he said. "In simple terms, there is no one who has really gotten sick from eating deer, elk, or anything else that has had CWD.
"So, why are we so worried? This is because no one wants to be the first to get sick. The more USDA tests there are, the more they think that one day, one of these deer will become sick, but it has not happened yet.
More information on the MDC is available at www.michigan.gov/cwd online.
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