Explaining deer hunting to nonhunters is like trying to communicate to a deaf person what it's like to listen to "Silent Night" each Christmas, or telling a blind person what a Minnesota Viking player looks like.

Brains!

it's not about the deer you shoot, it's the beaver you run into for some hunters.

bassman has it right! The only thing that has changed my view on deer hunting is the ineptness of our DNR and their complete mismanagement and eradication of our deer!

The only thing I worry about with the CWD is the eradication of our herd,Let nature take it's course it has been for millions of years. WE dont need the DNR to do so .In regard to tlouden's comment why do you go to the movies,play cards,garden or whatever you do ? it's probably because you ENJOY IT!

I'm not against deer hunting or anything, but I just don't understand the purpose of it, even though I live in a small town with a lot of hunters. Why do people hunt deer?

crafty - Well said. The way the poll is worded is a little confusing. CWD hasn't changed my views on hunting or eating deer. The way the DNR is trying to eliminate (not control) CWD (which they can't) is what has upset me.
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LONG ARTICLE, BUT READ CAREFULLY.
5. But didn't some people die of a brain disease after eating game meat?
Yes. In 1999, CJD was diagnosed in three Americans in their late 20s and 30s, all of whom had eaten deer or elk. Extensive investigation of the cases by Dr. Ermias Belay, of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, failed to find a concrete connection to meat contaminated with CWD. "We focused on these three cases because the disease is so rare in these age groups, and because they had venison consumption in common," says Belay. "The venison was not from an area where we knew there was CWD, so we collaborated with the USDA to take deer brain samples from the areas where the patients obtained their venison. In over 1,000 samples, we found no CWD. The data we have argues against a link between venison consumption and these CJD cases."

In 2002, after CWD had been discovered in south-central Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story about three Wisconsin hunters who died of brain diseases after a lifelong tradition of sharing wild game feasts. Another extensive investigation failed to discover a link to CWD-the men shared many habits other than just wild game feasts-and it was later reported that only one of them actually died of CJD. A report from the Center for Disease Control concludes: "The risk of infection with the CWD agent among hunters is extremely small, if it exists at all."

I've too have ate it my whole life. My family also butchers it themselves. Our views have not changed. Don't cut all the way to the bone and you're fine. We never did anyway. The only view that I've had that changed is I now enjoy my backstrap fried in butter and soy sauce instead of just butter. :)

Oh boy, localboy has a prion disease. Time to get an axe.

no it hasn't. what has changed my view of hunting deer is the DNR's perceptions and forecasts of the herd population, their scare tactics, and their willingness to give in to Doyle. nothing has changed my view on eating them.
most expensive meat in the world? i could stand right in my back yard and shoot a deer most mornings of the year if I wnated. when I do, I butcher them myself, trust me it's cheap.
all those guys who go north for deer camp, me included, don't ONLY go for the hunt, we go to get away from it all before the coming holidays.
sympathetic animal lovers have been changing peoples views for decades. they will eat them but they don't want to know how the food got to their mouth.

I have been eating it my whole life. It hasn't ncion^$(&nen[ effected me lkelah#@!$#%#^%$hhh320987u09u yet.......

When you figure in all the expenses of getting the deer to your table...it's the most expensive meat in the world. I just get on the phone and order my angus beef and crank up my grill.