Winchester Academy hosts Patrick Durkin
Patrick Durkin will present “Chronic Wasting Disease: It Won’t Be Ignored” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
Free and open to the public, the program is hosted by Winchester Academy of Waupaca.
Durkin is an award-winning outdoor writer and freelance newspaper columnist.
According to Durkin, Wisconsin saw its first case of CWD in 2002.
Its prevalence in southwest Wisconsin remained low until 2007, then increased in the core area west of Madison. CWD has since spread into adjoining counties and beyond.
Today it is found in wild deer in 26 counties and in captive herds in seven counties.
The DNR confirmed CWD in a record 1,063 hunter-registered deer in 2018.
Deer herds in several counties have disease rates exceeding 50%.
No other state or province in North America matches Wisconsin’s prevalence of CWD.
Durkin believes CWD poses a growing danger to Wisconsin’s deer herd and deer hunting heritage.
He earned a journalism degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1983. He worked for eight years at the Oshkosh Northwestern before beginning his career with hunting magazines.
Durkin edited Deer and Deer Hunting magazine from 1991-2001, Whitetail Hunting Strategies from 2002-2003 and National Whitetail Hunter’s Journal from 2003-2006.
Durkin’s weekly outdoor newspaper columns have appeared regularly in over 20 Wisconsin newspapers.
Winchester Academy programs are funded through sponsors and tax-deductible donations.
Durkin’s program is sponsored by T-Dubs Pub of Waupaca.
For more information about Winchester Academy, visit winchesteracademywaupaca.org, follow the group on Facebook or contact Executive Director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927 or [email protected].