Wisconsin is now a couple months into archery and crossbow deer seasons and the gun deer season is coming up later this month.
The DNR is urging hunters in the Northwoods get their deer tested for Chronic Wasting Disease.
It’s been found on some deer farms in the Northwoods. More recently, five wild deer along the Oneida/Lincoln County Border tested positive.
DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor Chuck McCullough says CWD said that outbreak is small enough that there is a chance
“They get it. They are never going to recover from it, and they will ultimately die a lot quicker than they would if they were healthy. It affects reproduction. It affects survival and it’s just causing problems with deer numbers and it just gets to be bigger and bigger wherever it’s found,” said McCullough.
The DNR needs more samples of deer to figure out prevalent the disease is in the Northwoods.
It’s trying do intensive sampling where the other deer tested positive in the northeast corner of Lincoln County.
It also wants samples from around Three Lakes where a deer farm has had some positive cases.
The DNR also wants to get up to 300 samples each in Forest, Langlade and Iron. That’s part of an intensive heard management study.
While those are the focus areas for the DNR in the Northwoods, hunters anywhere in Wisconsin can get their deer tested for free.
McCullough said hunters just need to take the harvest deer head to sampling kiosk site.
“You can go to one of those, fill out a form in the kiosk, leave it with the head and we’ll take the samples and your results will be returned to you shortly.”
It usually takes two to three weeks for results to come back. McCullough said that it’s a bit longer right now because of the pandemic.
If you do get a positive test result, the DNR, per state and federal health guidance, does not recommend people eat deer that have tested positive.
The DNR says hunters should take the meat and bones to a landfill to dispose of properly.
