West nile

[Dano2]

I'm raren to get the pup out on birds already.
called the guy at a hunten preserve I have gone to, and he said I could come out with the dog within a couple weeks already, as long as its early morning and not too hot., but Ofcourse the squitos, skeeters, blood suckers are pretty nastey too.

Something else poped in my mind though.
I remember talking to a ladey, I think she worked in a lab or something for the DNR, cant remember exactley, but she mentioned that if a pheasant was to get west nile that by hunting season, if it wasn't already dead, then it wont have it, or if it did, its out of its system.

Question is, should I be concerned about shooting birds in August-september, would it be safe to eat them, how can one besure?

I suppose I can wait, , but I'm really itchen to get her in front of the real thing.
I have had her out a few times over the summer, and she seems to have a pretty good nose, better than my older lab anyway, but that one is kind of a scatter brain anyway, HEH! guess she takes after me, HEH, HEH!

HEY, THANKS ALOT!

[This message has been edited by Dano2 (edited 07-31-2004).]

[Dano2]

anyone have a clue about this?, or who to contact that might know something?
thanks

[T-ProGuy]

There was an article about west nile, and it's presence in grouse a few weeks back in the Outdoor News. If I read the article correctly, it stated that grouse were shot last fall that had west nile. The conclusion was drawn that the birds can survive with it in their system, and if they are cooked/prepared properly, there is no reason to be concerned about eating them. I am by no means an expert on this...but to me it seems that this could also possibly hold true for pheasants and west nile virus.

In a slightly different branch of this topic, what about west nile and its effect on dogs? Obviously, west nile can seriously effect, and even kill both horses and humans that have contracted it, along with birds...so why not dogs? Does anyone know if this is another thing that dog owners should be concerned about along with heartworm and lymes disease?

[Dano2]

I guess it probbaly would be O.K., I forgot that most people cook them before they eat them , heh, heh! Also I would imagine after being frozen for awhile it would take care of it too, or would it preserve the virus? hmmm who knows.

I have thought about the horse dog thing before too, and have also thought about why it doesn't seem to kill alot of deer. Just think of how thick those things are were the deer are.

Anyway, I use bio-spot on my dogs, its good for fleas, ticks and squitos. It seems to work pretty well, when I'm out playing around with the dogs and the skeeters are bugging me, they dont seem to land much at all on the dogs.