Trophy Without Testing: Protocols Every Hunter Should Know
In states like Missouri, where Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been confirmed in wild deer populations, trophy hunting without testing isn’t just risky it’s a public health blind spot. While no human cases of CWD have been documented, the CDC considers it a theoretical risk due to its similarity to other prion diseases. Prion diseases are a rare but deadly class of neurological disorders caused by misfolded proteins that trigger irreversible brain damage. While CWD affects deer, elk, and moose, it belongs to a broader family of prion diseases that have crossed species boundaries before. For a full overview of human and animal prion diseases including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), BSE (mad cow disease), and scrapie see the CDC’s official resource: đź“Ž CDC: About Prion Diseases Why CWD Matters to Trophy Hunt CWD is a fatal neurological disease caused by misfolded proteins called prions . These prions concentrate in the brain, spinal cord, eyes, lymp...