Here comes deer season.......

Animal Lover,

Whether you believe in Creationism or Evolution, the first humans were hunters. I particularly like the taste of it as well as need the protein it provides. And yes, I do enjoy the hunt and being at the top of the food chain. Let me guess.....California?

You don't worry about our hunting and I won't mess with your vegetables. In fact I like guys and gals like you because that means there are fewer hunters to compete with.

Up here in northeast suburbia, the deer have overpopulated. In certain areas, isolated populations have gotten so large that their food supplies are in danger of not being able to support the herd. I've got no problem eating meat from any animal that was killed in order to maintain populations at reasonable levels. Hunting doesn't really help the problem, though. There are very few areas where it's legal to hunt and the only thing that will keep the population in check is if we have a cold winter. (After last year's exceptionally mild winter, there is a strong possibility of problems with the deer population this year) With that being said, I like seeing deer in my yard, but I also like venison with a nice teryaki marinade, medium well. As for running during deer season, stay out of the woods or wear orange.

I've been hunting since I was 12 (I am 24 now) and have taken dozens of deer. I personally see nothing wrong with it.

Why?

1)I eat what I kill.

2)Even an animal rights person will admit a wild deer killed by a hunter has likely had a better life than your typical commercially raised cow/pig/sheep/chicken.

3)I shoot nothing unless I am 100% positive I only need one shot, and that one shot will kill the animal very quickly and efficiently.

4)I shoot nothing unless I am 100% sure of where that bullet is going.

There are a lot of ignorant people out there, but trust me, most hunters actually are more like me. Also, a license doesn't cost much (something like $100/year) so it is a cheap source of income. $250 for a rifle which lasts forever and $100 a year for a freezer full of meat. A very sensible investment for a low income family in a rural area.

FYI - If you are going to eat meat, venison is one of the better meats to eat. VERY low fat content and a lot of taste.

Is this similar to mad cow disease? I heard that mad cow actually makes the DNA sorta warped and causes what amounts to mis-firings of electrical impulses. This is what is responsible for the shaking and unpredictable behavior.

Science Major,

It is apparent that you are still a student, because you cannot rid infected meat of the infected prions with any amount of cooking that might be done to prepare the meat for consumption.

What you need to do really is if you live in any country other than the United States, to avoid eating beef of any kind. If you have to eat beef, a steak is much safer than sausage or ground beef for example, because the prion infected areas tend to be concentrated closer to nerve endings and not in the middle of muscle as a steak would be.

While BSE has been spread to cows by the feeding of ground up cows to other cows, it is not the cause of it. It does occur in very rare numbers naturally - or at least in an unexplained way. It is just that when you grind up an infected cow and feed it to many others that they all get it too.

If you live in the United States, it is a very good idea to not eat deer. The state of Wisconsin this spring had a deer hunt specifically aimed at ridding the mad-cow like disease from several hundred thousand deer. This same disease has been apparent in deer in the far west and in isolated other areas of the country also. It is suspected that some people with CJD actually may have contracted this prion disease from deer, and an inordinate number of deer hunters and deer eaters are among those affected.

Naysayers be ware. I will pull up news stories that you can link to if you do.

Mad Cow!

Read my response to Science Major.

Winner, pull up all the liberal, environmental friendly, tree hugging news stories you want. There is, I repeat, THERE IS NO DANGER when meat is cooked properly. Just another scare tactic that the stupid media lies to scare peopke with - just like the West Nile Virus (Which mainly affects birds and horses).....a bunch of crock. 1500 times as many people die from lightning each year as they do from West Nile, but for some reason the irresponsible media like stirring stuff up a bit and over dramatizing it.

Where there may be a danger (if and only if the disease exists)is when the meat is not cooked fully, has not been frozen for over a month, or was dried for jerky meat. Go ahead, Winner and pull up your liberal PETA sources.

Dr. Nut,

You are so wrong about this. A prion is not something that is destroyed with heat. Please get your facts straight before you embarrass yourself trying to prove me wrong.

Here is a non-left-wing story about mad cow and cooking of the meat:

http://www.mercola.com/beef/mad_cow_here.htm

In the above story, you read from Dr. Joseph Mercola that cooking does not destroy this disease in meat.

Here is a non-left-wing story about BSE like disease in deer in Wisconsin:

http://www.channel3000.com/news/1288530/detail.html

Let's see your source for how you can cook mad cow disease out of the meat. You can't find one because it isn't true.

Quite honestly, I hope that you change your ways and stop eating the meat that causes the greatest risk of infection to you - that would be BEEF and LAMB in countries other than the US, and deer or elk here in the US.

There are tons more stories out there that you can all go search for and find. Of course some will be very slanted if you find them on the PETA site or something like that, but there are MANY MANY MANY that are simply from news gathering and medical sources that are simply trying to warn the public of a danger.

I'm sure Dr. Nut that you want everyone to believe that all those people are just animal lovers who just want us all to eat carrots and fruit. You're full of it. Just because you like to do something and just because a left-wing nut like one of those PETA people (I am not one of those) doesn't want you to eat meat doesn't make the BSE and TSE warnings any less true.

I'm sorry, but my name isn't "winner" for no reason. I win, you lose.

Dr. Nut,

I will debate you successfully a second time:

While you are correct that lightning kills more people each year than the West Nile virus, all I have to say is this - so what? By the way though, it is not 1500 times more people. Have you ever taken a math class?

We already knew that lightning was a killer - kills more people each year than any weather-related disaster COMBINED. So what? How does that minimize the effects of anything else? What am I supposed to do, look at any possible danger, and then if it is less than that of getting struck by lightning, I dismiss the danger? When was death by lightning the benchmark for anything?

It is still news about the West Nile virus because it does kill people, and it is a recent thing in the US. Doesn't make the news liberal or trying to instill scare tactics by reporting about it. Birds (that would be blue jays and crows mostly) get it and horses get it more often because they are exposed more often to mosquitos. Last time I looked, there weren't any blue jays buying some OFF at the grocer store for their camping trip.

Try again if you like to dispute me, but you should know that when I write something, it is correct every single time. Let's see your sources that disprove me. Again, there won't be any. Let's hear your argument that stands up better than mine. Again, you can't do it.

Again, I am not "winner" for no reason. Again, I win and you lose.

Again, Winner I guess you can say I am the winner since I continue to eat deer and am not dead yet. Go back and read the Wisconsin Liberal News story - all the way through - not just the title.

It states "Right now there's no evidence people are in danger".

Also, it states only "Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals." as well as "Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed." No where in the article does it talk about red meat consumption being deadly!

Winner, always consider the source and sleep with one eye open! You can argue all you want wonder boy, but I promise you won't win!

No evidence that people are in danger but they are slaughtering the deer anyway? How about if you go package some of that up and feed it to your family?

Man, you really are an idiot - "I'm not dead yet". That's the kind of thing a two-pack a day cigarette smoker says. Just because there is a RISK of something doesn't mean you will get it. Just means that you should consider not doing the risky behavior. Chances are if you went into an inner city (where disease rates are higher) and had unprotected sex you wouldn't get a veneral disease either, but you won't see me taking that chance.

I already told you which part of the animals to avoid - no need to mention it again. I already said the main muscle of an animal is safer.

You are the one who said you can cook mad cow disease out of meat. Well? Where is that evidence? Can't find it? Because you are a full of crap.

Again, it is clear. I win, you lose. You can't even stay with the same name that you gave yourself. I call you Dr. Nut, and immediately you change your name to that. Man, have some backbone and don't let others push you around. I guess it is the inclination of a stupid person to allow that.

Winner,

I challenge you to find where"you cannot cook CJD out of meat."

I actually like the new name you gave me...so I think I will keep it....sorry, you did it!

Dude, quit watching so much 10 o'clock news. You are way too paranoid, can't let media do that to you. I thought you were a winner, not a worrier.

I already did that. It is here:

http://www.mercola.com/beef/mad_cow_here.htm

Honestly, the way this discussion is going, it is like me trying to convince you that the Earth isn't flat. There is so much evidence to support what I say and not what you say. What you say is the stuff of ignorant people on this issue. Many people think you can just cook anything out of anything, well you can't do it with this.

Who's a worrier? I'm a realist. I look at certain risks and decide whether or not to take them. Fortunately for me, I know what the risk are - Dr. Nut doesn't. More than likely I could eat deer and not be affected. I know that. You can't get me to eat some though - it's not necessary. I can get meat from other sources where the risk isn't there at all.

I know there are risks when driving a car, but I choose to engage in those risks because they are necesssary for the quality of life that I have established for myself. Eating deer or beef from another country isn't.

It was Dr. Nut who said that you could cook mad cow out of meat. He is flat out wrong about that. There is nothing worrisome in my speech about that. It is simply that he presented something that isn't true, and I called him on it - how does that make me a worrier? Oh yeah, it doesn't.

Silenced eh? I thought so.

Next time why don't you pick a subject that you know more about than me like NASCAR or how to make "hooch".

Worrier

Everything in your atricle "only suggests" and uses a lot of words like may or maybe and "no direct evidence". Like Dr. Nut (Or Almond or whatever his name is)said the risk could very easily be way over-hypd by the media and support groups behind them like PETA. You still have no concrete evidence and you are too closed minded to admit you are "possibly" wrong.

Mad Cow has not killed any one here in the States and has only a possibility of killing some overseas in Britain. It is kind of like the freaks and weirdos you see in the tabloid magazines - they are always in another country which makes you wonder about the validity of it. Same may be true for Mad Cow and Britain.

Actually I will let Deerslayer continue on with your childish games (how old are you anyway, probably under 25) while I go out for a nice 12 mile run. Oh, I guess I better spray myself down with OFF so that I won't get West Nile or Lyme Disease (that comes from deer ticks if you did not already know that). So long, LOSER!

Then it's settled. The wife and I are going to Outback tonight for medium rare sirloins. That's the kind of life on the razor's edge, laugh at the face of death, adrealine junkie lifestyle that I aspire to.

Hmmmmm...beeeeef.