You hear it all the time there's no evidence that CWD is spread by baiting and feeding. No implies, well none. Zippo. Zilch. To those who've read up on CWD that's absurd. There certainly is evidence, but a big problem is the information is not easily accessible, plus most of it's highly technical and difficult to understand. Proof? That depends on your perspective. For those who don't want to give up the practice of baiting and feeding no amount of evidence will convince them there's actually proof. Look at how long it took for the tobacco industry to admit their products caused cancer. So will proof solve this issue anyway? Next door in Michigan the pro baiting/feeding crowd admits there's proof that baiting and feeding deer spread Bovine tuberculosis (TB), yet they continue to argue against restrictions (and TB continues to be a problem).

There is a substantial amount of published information on CWD. But how many people do you think even heard of the Journal of Wildlife Management, the Journal of General Virology, or the Journal of Wildlife Diseases? I bet less than a handful in the entire state. Yet it is in these and other well respected independent scientific journals that the real research on CWD is published. So it's not difficult to imagine that there's a severe lack of public understanding on this disease. The DNR is finally working on digesting this information for the general public, something they should have done a longtime ago! In the meanwhile here's a very brief summary of published evidence on CWD transmission. Keep in mind this is but a small fraction of the information that is out there!

• A 1999 paper in the Journal of General Virology detailed an experiment to determine if CWD could be spread by deer eating infected material. Not only did they prove that but they were surprised to find out just how easy this happens. However CWD transmission by eating prion contaminated feed isn't really a surprise, since other prion diseases are also transmitted this way (mad cow, scrapie, mink encephalopathy). Thus they concluded that CWD in the wild is spread by lateral transmission (animal to animal contact), most probably by ingestion of infected feces and/or saliva.
• Colorado State University is conducting a federally funded research experiment to determine specifically how CWD is spread in the wild. The summary reports indicate the consensus now is that it's likely eating of feed contaminated with saliva and/or feces, and this experiment will hopefully determine how much, and when.
• A 1997 paper in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases discusses the history of CWD out west and they mention local residents reporting dead deer due to CWD, contradicting the argument that no wild animals have ever been found dead. They specifically mention artificial feeding as a possible contributing factor. Thus it seems they suspected feeding was possibly spreading CWD since at least 1997.
• A 2002 paper in the Journal of Wildlife Management clearly states that CWD is a contagious disease and that artificial feeding increases the likelihood of transmission between animals. Interestingly it appears that it takes prolonged contact and that casual contact is not likely to spread the disease.

There are several published observations of deer routinely eating feces so this appears to be the primary route of exposure. Spreading bait or feed on the ground would likely increase the chances of transmitting CWD, as opposed to Bovine TB which is more likely transmitted by feed in piles. There are other observations that urine is not likely a source of CWD, since bucks routinely drink the urine of many does during the rut, and the infection rate was not any higher for bucks vs. does.

There are many more published reports on CWD. No one expects the public to read these articles though, but that's not an excuse to say there is no evidence. Scientists don't always explain the facts like they should. But the information is there, in a form they understand since they are doing all the research. Dismissing the opinions of animal disease specialists seems to be a widespread problem with the public and elected officials, especially to those who don't want to believe. If we are not going to trust the experts, we owe it to them to at least have a better understanding of the issues. At least you'll come away with knowing just how in depth and technical this research really is.

If you want to argue how feeding is no worse than winter deer yards, or by deer licking each other you better read up on that too. I can guarantee the published information is not as you think. "Facts" John Adams once said "are most inconvenient things".