Hunting News

2 new CWD reports are first for county and area

2 new CWD reports are first for county and area

By Missouri Department of Conservation

Two hunter-harvested deer from St. Clair County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. The new cases are the first for the county and the area, according to the Department of Conservation.

Both deer were adult males, and both were harvested within a half-mile of each other on the same private property in southeast St. Clair County during the 2016 fall firearms deer season.

The hunters took the deer to a local taxidermist for mounting, and the taxidermist collected lymph-node samples and and submitted them for testing as part of the ongoing CWD surveillance efforts. Both hunters were notified immediately their deer tested positive for CWD, making the number of CWD-positive cases for the past season as nine.

A total of 42 free-ranging deer have tested positive for CWD since 2010 when the first case was discovered in Missouri. For CWD cases by year and county, click here.

The Department of Conservation is completing its efforts to harvest and sample a limited number of deer from several targeted areas where the disease has been previously found. Final test results are expected in April.

Those results will be used to determine the best methods to test free-ranging deer for the disease throughout much of the state during the 2017-2018 deer hunting season. Details will be included in the 2017 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, which will be available in summer.

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