Tink’s: Unraveling the Mystery Behind CWD

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SEPTEMBER 2019

INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 8

People

40 Power of Participation
■ Rafael Villar, Liberty Archery
■ Mike Fisher, CATCHIN’ DEERS
■ Gene Hobbs, Hobbs Archery
■ Grant Nicodemus, True Cut Tool Co.
■ Jake Major, Cobra Archery
■ Brad Hand, Stacked Outdoors

Tink’s:

42 Unraveling the
Mystery Behind CWD
By Daniel Allred

Market Trends

42 14 New & Notable
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strong sales potential.

52 Bow Report
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By ❝Ignorance is the cause of fear.❞
Daniel
Allred T hat might sound a bit like the famous FDR quote about
fear, but this expression was actually coined by a Roman

philosopher about 2,000 years ago. Despite its ancient

origins, this simple observation is still as true as it’s ever been.

Uncertainty naturally leads to distress.

Ignorance and uncertainty surely contributed to the fear that current-
ly surrounds chronic wasting disease, or CWD for short. This infectious
deer-based disease has rattled archery and hunting communities, and
that’s largely because there are so many questions about it that have
gone unanswered.

The tides are changing, though, and the mystery behind CWD is being
steadily unraveled. This is thanks to numerous experts, organizations,
companies and government agencies that have invested a countless
amount of time and energy to shed light on
CWD and combat its spread.

The archery industry is a key player in
the fight against CWD. After all, nothing
could really hit home harder for us than
a disease that affects deer populations. More specifically, the historic
scent-maker Tink’s has been one of the most vocal figures in the investi-
gation. Tink’s is also adamantly not in this fight alone, and the company
has joined forces with other urine-based scent manufacturers to provide
answers and peace of mind to the bowhunting public.

Tink’s and its partners understand the seriousness of CWD, but they
have also proven that by dispelling ignorance, you can dispel fear as well.

42 INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 INSIDEARCHERY.COM 43

Competitors Joining Forces One of the key motivating factors be- and it is the infectious agent that causes
hind this partnership is simple: The CWD. Its name is a combination of the
At this year’s ATA Trade Show, a few urine-based scent industry was heavily words “protein” and “infection.”
dozen of the industry’s top writers and impacted by the implications of CWD.
media personalities gathered in a large Some states banned the use of these Unlike other infectious agents like
conference room to learn about the latest products in an effort to slow the spread viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, a
information on CWD. of the disease, but it turns out that the prion is native to the body and brain. It
science doesn’t support this decision. is a protein in an animal that has “gone
Four men shared a table at the head rogue” by folding itself into a shape
of the conference room, ready to present Before we get to that, however, let us that causes damage to the brain and
their findings to eager listeners. Those first cover the basics. body it inhabits. Prions prompt other
four men were Phil Robinson of Tink’s, proteins in the body to form into the
Sam Burgeson of Wildlife Research Cen- What We Know About CWD same shape, causing the infection to
ter, Steve Lambeth of Code Blue and Dr. gradually worsen.
Davin Henderson—a well-known re- CWD was first recognized in 1967 at a
searcher and expert on CWD. research facility in Colorado. The name One of the most troubling aspects of
“chronic wasting disease” is derived from CWD is its ability to jump from deer to
Few things are more rare in the busi- the observation that infected deer were deer. Once a deer is sick, it has the poten-
ness world than competitors coming to- wasting away, losing weight steadily un- tial to infect other deer, continuing the
gether to work towards a common goal, til their death. chain reaction by turning more normal
but this is exactly what took place at this proteins into deadly prions.
conference. Tink’s, Wildlife Research CWD affects the brain and nervous
Center and Code Blue have been competi- system of deer, and it is designated as When a deer dies from CWD, its car-
tors for years, but the companies’ leaders a “prion disease,” which is a somewhat cass contains an abundance of prions—
put that aside for the greater good. unique phenomenon in the medical which are mainly located in the brain,
world. A prion is a malformed protein, spine and lymph node of the animal.

44 INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019

These prions can contaminate the environment were referencing scientific studies, which stated Tink’s has provided
and potentially get other deer sick. When a CWD- that CWD could be detected in urine. That made hunters with high
infected deer is still alive, prions have been found us question our own products. The last thing we quality and effec-
in its muscle tissue, blood, saliva, feces and urine. wanted to do was sell products that risked spread- tive lures since
ing CWD, so we contacted the lead authors of those 1972. Almost 50
Correcting Misconceptions studies that the states were referencing. We went years later, the
straight to the horse’s mouth to hear their opinion, company has
That last item, urine, is exactly what brings us back because they were the authority on the subject.” established a
to Tink’s and the other urine-based scent manu- solid reputation
facturers. Concerned observers read a simple sen- Dr. Davin Henderson was one of the leading sci- as one of the best
tence much like the one above, which pointed out entists behind some of those studies. Dr. Henderson
that prions can be detected in urine, and without holds a PhD in biochemistry, and he spent 8 years in the business.
much further inquiry, certain state governments of his career working at Colorado State University,
began outlawing deer-urine products. the leading research facility for CWD in the country.

Phil Robinson, president and CEO of Tink’s, de- Dr. Henderson became closely involved with the
scribed the initial chain of events like this: urine-based scent industry after receiving that call
from Phil Robinson.
“We’ve been heavily involved with CWD research
since the first state banned the use of natural urine “I had been working on chronic wasting dis-
several years ago,” Phil Robinson explained. “Seeing ease for a while, and I published a few papers on
your product get banned obviously gets you
pretty energized, and we immedi-
ately got very serious about this
problem. When we looked
into it, we saw that the states

SEPTEMBER 2019 INSIDEARCHERY.COM 45

it,” Dr. Henderson were being misrepresent- room to talk things through.”
said. “One of those ed, and we also weren’t Tink’s and its partners have taken a
papers was about being contacted to answer
detecting prions in questions or expand on humble and well thought-out approach
urine, and at the our findings. If you just look to correct misconceptions about their
time, I actually had no idea that there at the papers on the surface, and you products. They’ve also strengthened their
was a whole industry based around deer take a few phrases, then it might sound argument by working together.
urine. When Phil called me, he had a lot like deer urine could pose a risk to deer.
of questions about my research. He told But once you drill down and really look “Deer urine was unrightfully targeted
me about his company’s products, where at the numbers and you see the levels as a means of spreading CWD, and the
they come from, and how they’re used. it would actually take, then it becomes science just does not support that,” Phil
He asked if those products could pose a clear that these products aren’t spread- Robinson said. “It’s still been tough,
risk to wildlife, and he asked if it’s some- ing the disease. though, because it’s not easy to go to a
thing we should be concerned about for “The urine in these products also wildlife agency and try to get them to
the spread of CWD. I said no. The prion comes from deer farms that have nev- amend a regulation they proposed to
levels in deer urine are extremely low, er been CWD positive, so it really didn’t protect deer. Of course, we all want to do
and no deer has ever been infected with make sense that these products were everything we can to stop the spread of
CWD from inoculations of deer urine.” being targeted as a threat,” Dr. Hender- CWD, but the information that was being
son continued. “After hearing from Phil, used was either taken out of context or
In essence, Dr. Henderson’s research I wrote some letters explaining this to being heavily exaggerated.
was misinterpreted, and those misinter- states that were considering a ban. I also
pretations were being used to pass laws. traveled to a few states to sit down and “This is also why it was so important
Seeing this, Dr. Henderson made efforts talk with the people making these deci- for us to work with our competitors,
to present the facts. sions. All of those conversations have and that’s one of the greatest things
been very productive. It was just a mat- about this industry,” he continued. “They
“I didn’t think it was fair that my pa- ter of getting the right people in the right might be competitors of ours, but it’s al-
pers were being used to ban these prod- ways been easy to start a friendly con-
ucts,” Dr. Henderson said. “Our papers versation with them. We knew we had
to work together because we needed this

46 INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019

This diagram outlines the states Requirements of the ATA Deer Protection Program
and counties where CWD has been
detected. The data comes from the Participating manufacturers guarantee, through their participation in the ATA
Program, that the cervid urine used in their products comes from participating
National Wildlife Health Center in Deer Protection Program facilities that comply with the following measures:
Madison, Wisconsin, and it was  
updated in July 2019.
■ Participate in a Federally approved CWD program
Deer Protection ■ Have documented all cervid movement in/out of herd
Program Participants ■ Continually monitor their herd for CWD
■ Allow additional facility inspections
■ Black Widow Deer Lures Inc. ■ Physically inspect 100 percent of the herd every 3 years
■ Buck Baits, LLC ■ Commit to advancement of sound science related to CWD
■ Buck Bomb Inc. ■ Remain aware of CWD instances within 30 miles,
■ Code Blue and maintain minimum fence requirements
■ Conquest Scents
■ CreekSide Whitetails Tissue samples prepared for CWD
■ Green Dot Bioplastics testing at a laboratory. The revolution-
■ Harmon Scents ary RT-QuIC Test, which was developed
■ Hunter’s Edge with funding from Tink’s and Wildlife
■ Hunter’s Specialities Research Center, uses a different
■ Indianhead Whitetails method to directly detect CWD in urine.
■ Jackies Deer Lures, LLC
■ James Valley Scents
■ Jinx’em Scents
■ LockDown Outdoors
■ Ms. Doe Pee Buck Lures
■ Nationwide Scents
■ Nexus Outdoors
■ Nose Down Scents, LLC
■ Portland Outdoors
■ Pure-fection Scents
■ Pure Whitetail
■ RAW Frozen Scents
■ TGX3 Deer Scents
■ Tink’s
■ TT’s Buck Wild Deer Scent
■ Wild Carrot Scents
■ Wildgame Innovations
■ Wildlife Research Center Inc.
■ Wyndscent
■ Wyoming County Whitetails

Tink’s, Wildlife Research Center and Code Blue joined forces with Dr. Davin Henderson to discuss the latest
CWD research during a conference at this year’s ATA Trade Show. Seen here, from left, are Sam Burgeson
of Wildlife Research Center, Phil Robinson of Tink’s, Steve Lambeth of Code Blue and Dr. Davin Henderson.

47

message to come from the whole industry, not one particular brand.
We aren’t just trying to protect our brand; we are doing this for the
good of the whole industry.”

In terms of specifics, here are some of the particular findings from
those studies that involved CWD and urine. With full context, it’s clear
that CWD isn’t being spread by urine-based scents.

“One of the studies was conducted on genetically modified mice,”
Dr. Henderson said. “The mice were modified to be more suscep-
tible to CWD than a normal mouse, and they were also significantly
more susceptible than a deer. The study took 2 milliliters of in-
fected urine, and concentrated it down to the amount you could in-
ject directly into the mouse’s brain. Even under those conditions—
with genetically altered mice and concentrated injections into the
brain—only one out of the nine mice got sick. Another paper sug-
gested that the feces and urine from a whole infected herd could
contaminate the environment, but that’s only when there is a large
accumulation of infected feces and urine in a small area over the
course of multiple years.

“I’ve tried to help others understand that just because you can detect
prions in urine, it doesn’t mean it’s at a level that could be dangerous,”
he continued. “Meanwhile, we know that about 1 to 1.5 ounces of saliva
is an infectious dose for deer. It’s been shown that you can inoculate
deer with infected saliva to spread the disease, and the opposite is true
with urine. You would probably need about 10-times more prions in
infected urine for 1 ounce of liquid to be infectious, and that entire
ounce would have to be directly ingested by a single deer.”

So, what exactly is causing the spread of CWD?
Unfortunately there is no clear answer to that question.
There are, however, some insightful findings from the re-
search of Dr. Henderson and his colleagues.
“We know that CWD can spread from deer to deer,”

48 INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019

Dr. Henderson explained. “That’s been shown in a laboratory
situation, and there was also a case in Texas where two
CWD-infected deer were sharing a fence line. The only
thing those two deer had in common was the fence
line, so that suggests that deer can spread the disease
just through saliva and nose-to-nose contact. There is
also likely another component to the spread of the dis-
ease, and that’s when a population of deer with CWD gets
established. When their carcasses decompose in the wild,

it can create an environmental reservoir of prions that may be
spread by scavengers. An infected brain has thousands of lethal
doses of CWD—maybe even a hundred thousand lethal doses. That
seems to indicate that carcasses are a leading factor.”

A Foundation for the Future

The educational efforts of Tink’s, its partners and Dr. Henderson have
been well received, and there is also much more that the industry’s
urine-based scent makers have done to further ensure the safety of
their products.

The ATA Deer Protection Program is a prime example of this.
“We wanted to make sure that the facilities that supply us with
urine do everything possible to keep CWD out of their farms,” Phil Rob-
inson said. “There are actually thousands of captive deer farms in the
United States, and they all are regulated by state and federal depart-
ments. We decided to go above and beyond those standard rules and
regulations, and this is where the ATA came in. We needed a trusted
and respected third party to regulate the program, so we worked with

Tink’s has made some remarkable updates to its time-tested formulas over
the years. The company’s latest and greatest application methods makes it
easy for hunters to utilize Tink’s effective scents in a variety of ways.

SEPTEMBER 2019 INSIDEARCHERY.COM 49

Tink’s puts the utmost amount of care into the
development and production of its products. The
company’s efforts against CWD are ultimately a
refection of the company’s dedication to provid-
ing hunters with safe and effective products.

them, others in the industry and disease
experts to create additional safeguards
that prevent CWD contamination from
the outside.”

This program’s strict procedures and
spotless record have provided lots of ad-
ditional peace of mind.

“There are a dozen or less facilities
that are part of the ATA Deer Protection
Program, and these few facilities pro-
duce 95 to 99 percent of the urine sold in
the country,” Phil Robinson said. “These
are elite operations that we have dealt
with for many years, and CWD has never
been found at any of the facilities in this
program. We have the most stringent
requirements in the deer farming indus-
try, and the ATA oversees it to ensure that
all these protocols are followed.”

Thanks to all these efforts, many of the
states that banned urine-based scents
have reversed their decision.

“It’s been a really successful year,” Phil
Robinson said. “I want to applaud the
wildlife departments of Alabama, Ten-
nessee, Mississippi and Louisiana for let-
ting us come in and present these facts.
They were great to work with, and they
all heard us out and amended their bans.
Many of the states we have worked with
have either reversed their ban, or at least
allowed the sale of products in the ATA
Deer Protection Program.”

Another important development in the
fight against CWD is the use of some-
thing called the RT-QuIC Test, which
will provide even more reassurance that
these products are safe.

“The RT-QuIC Test is a fairly new test
for CWD,” Dr. Henderson said. “The con-
ventional tests for CWD rely on detecting
the presence of the prion directly in the

50 INSIDE ARCHERY SEPTEMBER 2019

brain and lymph system, and they actu- Conclusion
ally aren’t sensitive enough to detect the
low prion levels in urine. The RT-QuIC With all this talk of CWD, it’s easy to
Test is much more sensitive. It ampli- lose track of the other incredible things
fies the presence of prions in order to Tink’s has done in its long history. After
detect them in urine.” all, Tink’s was established in 1972—al-
most half a century ago—and the com-
Dr. Henderson has established an inde- pany has delivered many groundbreak-
pendent laboratory to provide this help- ing and effective products over its many
ful test to the industry’s scent makers. years of operation.

“These amplification tests have been Take the company’s signature Tink’s
used in research labs for probably more #69 Doe-in-Rut scent, for instance. This
than 15 years,” Dr. Henderson said. “The time-tested formula has helped en-
same technology is also being used to tire generations of bowhunters tag the
detect other protein-based diseases bucks of their dreams. Tink’s has also
like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but upgraded its products with the latest ap-
the test that I am doing now is the first plication methods, such as Bag-in-Can
test of its kind that’s available to detect technology, where the scent is housed
CWD. There are no commercial tests for in a bag and the can is then filled with
CWD in urine besides this one. I am also compressed air squeezing the bag. The
working on moving this testing technol- result is a spray of 100 percent pure lure,
ogy to other aspects of CWD—like live- rather than a diluted mixture of scent
animal testing. Eventually, I’m hoping and propellant.
to have a test that hunters can use, so
they can send in a sample themselves Tink’s has also developed effective
and get the test results back rapidly.” synthetic scents, ensuring that all hunt-
ers have access to the company’s re-
Altogether, Tink’s and its partners markable products—even in the few
have proven that they are willing to states that still don’t allow natural urine.
take every step possible to provide hunt-
ers with safe and effective products. Tink’s efforts in the fight against CWD
are ultimately the result and continua-
“The RT-QuIC Test was specifically tion of the company’s long and respect-
designed to test urine for contamina- ed legacy.
tion, and it will verify that there are no
detectable levels of CWD in our prod- “Urine-based scents have been around
ucts prior to bottling,” Phil Robinson a long time, and they are an important
said. “This test will provide final con- tradition and tool for hunters,” Phil Rob-
firmation that our products are safe to inson said. “Banning these products will
use and don’t have the risk of spread- not slow down CWD, and this is sup-
ing CWD. Tink’s and Wildlife Research ported by experts like Dr. Henderson,
Center have been doing this test on our who authored these studies in the first
products this year, so the products on place. As manufacturers in this indus-
the shelves right now have been tested. try, all of us care deeply about deer. We
We are also going to roll this out to the all hunt, and we all want to protect our
rest of the industry and have a full-scale hunting traditions. Down the road, we
launch in 2020. The products that have are going to continue to provide hunters
received this test will all be identified in with tools that make them successful in
a consistent manner, with an RT-QuIC the field. You can always expect Tink’s
Test logo right next to the ATA Deer Pro- to be an innovator, and you can also ex-
tection logo.” pect us to work with others to preserve
hunting. That’s a goal all of us share.”

SEPTEMBER 2019 INSIDEARCHERY.COM 51