Effective for the 2019-2020 deer season, it is illegal to possess or use, for hunting or scouting any wild animal in South Carolina, any substance or material collected from a cervid (deer) including urine, feces, blood, gland oil or other body fluid.
The new rules do not prohibit the use of synthetic products.
The majority of natural deer lures and attractants are made with fluids and secretions collected from captive cervids. Because Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a transmissible and always fatal neurological disease, has been documented in numerous captive cervid herds, the potential exists for these products to be contaminated with CWD prions. Once introduced, the disease agent can remain viable in the environment and deer may become infected.
There is no approved method to either test the products for CWD or destroy CWD-causing prions.
With the high level of uncertainty surrounding the use of such products, SCDNR is following the lead of a growing list of states, as well as, recommendations from wildlife disease professionals and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) in prohibiting the use of natural urine-based products to minimize the potential for CWD introduction into South Carolina.
The infectious proteins (prions) known to transmit CWD have been found in the urine, feces and saliva of infected deer, and research has shown that these body fluids can be an infective pathway to other deer. To make these commercial scents, urine from captive deer is collected over a grate system that does not prevent contamination from feces, saliva or other bodily fluids. Urine products are frequently batched/combined from multiple locations and distributed across the country via retail, internet and catalog sales.
Many of these captive cervid facilities are located in areas or states with CWD. Nationally, CWD continues to be found in captive cervid facilities with 40 facilities testing positive since 2012 in nine states.
CWD has been detected in 21 new captive facilities since January 2018 with 9 (42%) of these facilities being categorized as low risk for CWD based on a USDA monitoring program. Problems associated with these monitoring programs include no approved CWD test for live animals and the fact that the disease has a long incubation period, meaning that deer can shed the disease agent for months or years before appearing sick or dying. That being the case, urine products distributed into the environment by hunters at one point in time may have come from facilities that later test positive for CWD.
The SCDNR does not have the authority to ban the sale of these products, but can ban their usage in the field for hunting or scouting purposes
The use of urine or glands collected from legally harvested deer in South Carolina may be used by hunters in South Carolina.
Click here for more information on the ban.