OKLAHOMA DEER FARMERS FLOURISHING UNDER MONITORED OR NON-MONITORED STATUS

By: Gail Veley - Sponsored by Whitetails of Oklahoma

Ooklahoma can boast about something few states can. There has never been a confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in either farmed or free-range whitetail deer. However, Oklahoma has been very fortunate in this regard. Through a program developed by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture in conjunction with Whitetails of Oklahoma (WOO), deer farmers within the state have the option to operate their farms under a CWD/TB/ Brucellosis Monitored status or a NonMonitored status.

Which one you choose could depend on what part of the deer industry you are catering to and the potential amount of sales you wish to generate, among other things. Oklahoma farmers with monitored herds can sell deer to any state that will or can accept them. Oklahoma farmers with non-monitored herds can only sell their deer within the Oklahoma state borders.

However, raising a non-monitored herd has never been to the detriment of Barry Reed, 47, owner of Big Head Whitetails in Pryor, Oklahoma. “I sell out of stockers every year,” said Barry, who leans towards raising non-typical deer with a good frame. “I can’t raise enough to keep up with the demand. This year I sold all of my available inventory including bred and open does.” To further guarantee his deer are marketable in light of his nonmonitored status, Reed infuses quality genetics from the likes of Maxbo, Express and Pay Day into his herd and also promotes his prize breeding buck “Titties.” While he finds being nonmonitored less stressful on his daily farm operation “there are advantages to being monitored,” he said. “There is a bigger breeder market and doe market if you can sell to other states like those up north.” Yet, if he was monitored, he admits he could find himself needing to be more closely concerned about overall production.

While agreeing that being monitored has it’s advantages, Don Elder of Oak Hollow Exotics feels he has absolutely no need to be, as he easily sells all of his genetically-proven inventory every year to the tune of at least 25 deer. “I’ve had several friends that were monitored, but it got too costly and time-consuming,” he said. “Now I only know two to three people who are still monitored.” While Elder, 67, used to raise and sell elk and fallow deer, he became nervous when CWD began to show it’s face among elk. According to internet research, in 1998, a case of CWD was found in a captive elk at a neighboring Oklahoma farm that had been imported from Montana. As a result, the entire elk herd was euthanized. Consequently, since 2008, Elder has only raised and sold whitetails, and finds immense gratification in doing so.

Yet, gratification in having and maintaining a monitored herd is what motivates Chris Ezell to do so at his farm, Dangerous Whitetails of Oklahoma. “To qualify as a CWD/TB/ Brucellosis Monitored herd, you must test for CWD, TB and brucellosis. To do that, you need to run all of your deer through your handling facility and pull blood from them to be sent off for testing. This is a costly expense,” Ezell explained. “You also must test every animal over 12 months of age that dies on your farm. This means you must take the head of the deceased animal to your vet and pay to have the test done. You must also keep up with all of the paperwork and use multiple tags on your deer. All of these requirements take time, cost money and put extra stress on your animals. And, if you damage one deer in the process it could cost you $5,000 to $10,000 or more to treat it. So, with that being said, if you do not do all of these things you can only sell your deer within the state of Oklahoma. I personally own deer in several states and have partners who wish to move animals to different states that have been born in Oklahoma. These deer usually possess high end, nationally marketed genetics. Therefore, the value offsets the time and expense and headaches of doing what it takes to be monitored,” he added. “If you feel your deer are worth the time and expense to be monitored, you owe it to yourself to explore that option.”