Fewer elk. Sicker elk. That's what the experts expect if Wyoming keeps on feeding.

If Wyoming keeps throwing hay to help elk survive the winter, the state is creating a future where wapiti will be ravaged by chronic wasting disease and dramatically reduced in number.

Hunter opportunities, likewise, will fall off significantly.

At least that’s what the experts expect.

Eight experts, to be exact, including three employees of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Here are their projections for what’s coming to northwest Wyoming elk herds in two decades if state officials entrusted to manage the herds continue feeding while always-lethal CWD propagates:

Prevalence of CWD in the...