Starting in July, the number of counties in Missouri’s management zone for chronic wasting disease (CWD) will be reduced from 48 to 29.
Changes to the CWD Management Zone also will impact restrictions on feeding deer, antler-point restrictions, antlerless permits for some counties and mandatory CWD sampling.
The 29 counties now included in the CWD Management Zone are Adair, Barry, Cedar, Chariton, Christian, Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Hickory, Howell, Jefferson, Knox, Linn, Macon, Mercer, Oregon, Ozark, Perry, Polk, Putnam, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Warren and Washington.
The Department of Conservation has found 116 cases of CWD in Missouri since 2012. In response, the Department created a CWD Management Zone around where confirmed cases of the disease have been found to help track and limit its spread.
The CWD Management Zone designated in 2012 included counties within 25 miles of where cases were found. The 25-mile radius was based on existing research from other states that shows deer may disperse up to 25 miles from the area where they were born, especially young bucks in search of territory or mates.
However, recent MDC research shows more than 90 percent of bucks in Missouri disperse less than 10 miles. Based on the recent research, MDC will remove the following counties from its CWD Management Zone: Benton, Bollinger, Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Cole, Cooper, Dade, Grundy, Livingston, Madison, McDonald, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Randolph, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby and St. Louis.
Cole and Moniteau counties were removed because no cases of CWD have been found in the area after extensive follow-up testing when a single case was confirmed in Cole County in 2015.
Christian, Howell and Oregon counties were added to the CWD Management Zone because of recent CWD detections in Oregon, Stone and Taney counties.
Hunters who harvest deer in any of the 29 counties of the CWD Management Zone during the opening weekend of the fall firearms deer season Nov. 16 and 17 will be required to take their harvested deer, or the head with at least six inches of neck attached, on the day of harvest to a CWD sampling station.
Hunters who harvest deer in counties no longer part of the zone are not required to participate in mandatory sampling.
he change in the CWD Management Zone will also impact restrictions on feeding deer, antler-point restrictions and antlerless permits for some counties. The feeding ban no longer applies to counties removed from the zone.
The antler-point restriction for deer hunting does not apply to counties in the CWD Management Zone.
Protecting young bucks from being harvested in areas where CWD has been found can increase the spread of the disease. The antler-point restriction has been reinstated for some counties removed from the zone.
The increased availability of firearms antlerless permits for some counties in the CWD Management Zone can help prevent undesired population increases in local deer numbers around where CWD has been found.
For more information on CWD, the feeding ban, antler-point restrictions, antlerless permits and mandatory CWD sampling click here.