Plenty of deer die of CWD, but it's 100% correct that many die with, rather than of, because CWD takes about two years from the time of infection to kill there deer. That said, unlike covid, nothing survives CWD. It either dies of something else first, or dies of CWD. Same for all know prion diseases. Once prevalence gets high it's rare to see a mature deer because most of the deer get infected when young.It dose say online that CWD is 100% kill rate and EHD is 90%. Problem with those number in my book is it's like the Covid(BS) numbers. Dying of Covid vs dying with Covid. Everything dies. Now did it die from a disease, or virus it was carrying or did it get shot, ran over, killed by a predator, starve to death from a mouth abscess, or anything else from its environment and just choked up to a virus that may have been found in its system. It's only numbers, but who makes up/counts those numbers? I'm not saying CWD isn't a bad thing or that it doesn't kill. I'm saying lots of things kill and some things are able to survive or build up an immunity. I want to see those numbers or that study vs just none stop CWD bad, run for the hills and don't eat venison. I have personally seen hundreds if not thousands of deer dead from EHD and witness numerous times deer dying and dying very quickly from it. I have helped with research and collection from EHD deaths and the midge that causes it. It would be nice to find more reliable information on both CWD and EHD. All the deer that had CWD died with it not from it(2myknowledge) and all the deer that died with EHD died from it up here.
I'm totally in favor of hunting and eating venison. I've been getting all my deer and elk tested for seven years now. I haven't had a positive, but it'll probably happen. I just applied for a deer tag in a hot zone. I may have it tested twice if I kill one. I still want to hunt there though, and as long as I think that it most likely doesn't have CWD, I'll be eating it.