The Missouri Department of Conservation has made changes to methods of preventing the spread of chronic wasting disease, a deadly pathogen that has infected about 1%, or nearly 1.5 million, of Missouri’s white-tailed deer. But hunters are frustrated with the changes and some hunters’ decisions could affect meat processors and taxidermists.
Inside a Harrisburg, Missouri meat processing facility, country music plays in the background as Ryan Freman organizes vacuum sealed meat and his dad, Trey, slices bacon. Another machine injects flavoring into the meat before it’s packaged to be given back to the hunters and farmers who bring it in.
This facility also offers CWD testing, which has become increasingly controversial in the Missouri hunting community in recent years. Freman said testing for CWD is a way for his family to do their part in monitoring the disease…