Steve, marinate yourself and the venison in properly aged bourbon for a few hours. Place the venison in a ceramic kiln and rapidly bring the temperature up to, oh, say, 3000 F for six minutes. That should rid the meat of prions - along with all other carbon based protein matter. Think of it as a form of dieting. If you consume enough bourbon, you won't give a hoot about the missing venison anyway.
Actually, CWD is not yet officially a Transmittable Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) where humans are concerned. It is termed a TSE because it can cross cervid species lines and may well infect some non-cervids. Prions are normal components of many life forms, and not just vertebrates. They actually aid neuron function in man and other mammals, and are consequently found in most higher life forms. Spongiform Encelphalacies are caused when for some unknown reason prions become aberrant and attack neural tissue, causing the spongy cellular effect associated with the various forms of the disease.
To date there is no documentation of the human form TSE, Kreutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), ever having been caused by CWD. BSE, the bovine TSE has been implicated in human contagion. In the UK, 94 cases of CJD were suspected of being connected to the consumption of contaminated beef. Scrapie, the form of TSE that infects sheep and goats has been known for many years, and not one single case of trans-infection has ever been traced to handling or consuming the by-products of these two mammals.
The disease is suspected to be caused by a virinooal, a speck of non-coding regulatory nucleic acid. The protein coat covering this speck of organic dust is something akin to kevlar bonded to fire brick and is just about as durable. Little is known about organisms at this level, and even less is known about how they convert the normally beneficient prions to flesh eaters.
It is strange that another TSE, Mink Spongiform Encephalopathy (MSE) has not been mentioned in all this bruhaha. I am really surprised that MSE hasn't been tossed into the anti-fur battle by the radical elements of PETA. Further, as a defensive move, all men need to learn about this specific TSE in order to talk the little woman out of that fur coat....."Margaret, honey, the reason I won't buy you a fur coat is because I LOVE you too much to risk exposing you to MSE".............
In a nutshell, CWD has gotten more press time than would the Pope if he were caught in bed with Madonna. Prions have been around since the beginning of life as we know it and so too have TSE's. CWD may be as old as the cervidae.......who knows?
The best suggestion I can make is to go on and hunt as you always did, follow Len's instructions to a "T".....(They are really good, by the way, and the procedure he recommends is as thorough as possible.....Hat's off to him....!)..... and don't eat venison you didn't process yourself. The way I see it, the folks who will be hurt most by CWD are the game processors. I figure it is the old saw about the bad apple in the barrel all over again. Follow Lem's advice to the letter, process your own game and enjoy your meal........hell, the disease has a long incubation time, you may be hit by a bus before the virinooals rear their ugly heads.
One suggestion where processing game is concerned, is to use a slender sharp knife to separate the head from the spinal column AFTER removing desired neck meat. By severing the connective tissue,muscles and tendons with a knife, the spinal cord may be cleanly severed at the Atlas vertebrae and then the neck covered with a plastic bag fastend with a couple of rubber bands, in order to contain meningeal fluids. It would be prudent to purchase a pair of the shoulder length rubber gauntlets like those used by commercial fish processors to be worn while processing game in the field and at home.
Hell, Steve, there are hundreds of endocytes, vector and sera borne organisms out there that will kill you sooner than will CWD. Remember the Mink!.......good hunting and good health to you all.
Return to Deer Taxidermy Category Menu
Cur,
Thanks! :^) I'm glad you gave me the proper receipe! With the correct marination of the chef I can readily see that any possible cares about CWD would be quickly eliminated. Seriously, since most problems with meat are solved by proper preparation and cooking I thought that it was a good question to field. I don't remember cooking being addressed in any of the discussion that I've read about CWD. Its definately worth the clarification that prions can be incinerated, but not rendered harmless by through cooking. Great clarification and info!