Doug Duren lives on a 430-acre farm in Wisconsin that’s been in his family for 115 years, and he keeps more than 200 acres of it wild for deer hunting.
It’s a vast plot of land to hunt on — boasting around 75 white-tail deer per square mile — and Duren, 60, keeps in mind a conservationist mantra when he manages it: “It’s not ours, it’s just our turn.”
That phrase is of particular importance these days for hunters like Duren, as a sickness called chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to spread through the cervid population, which includes animals like deer, elk and moose.
Duren has dealt with it on his land. Three of the 30 deer killed on his property this past season tested positive for CWD, and he’s growing worried as the disease has now been found in 24 states across the country.
