Deer hunters who live or hunt in areas where chronic wasting disease has been found in deer are on the front lines in the fight against this disease. The National Deer Association believes that CWD is the most serious long-term threat to the future of wild deer and deer hunting. However, action by hunters now can delay or prevent damage while scientists look for new tools in the fight. That’s why NDA wants to show deer hunters in CWD zones how they can help.
CWD is a slow-spreading, always-fatal disease that takes one to two years to kill an infected deer, so it does not destroy deer populations in dramatic fashion. Rather, in diseased areas, it threatens to slowly erode deer productivity and reduce a population’s ability to sustain hunter harvest without declining. Where the infection rate is allowed to climb without intervention, maintaining a deer population could eventually mean reducing or ending hunter harvest.
What does intervention look like for hunters in CWD zones? The following information provides many recommended practices and answers frequently asked questions. The information is based around the four cornerstones of Quality Deer Management. It was compiled from multiple sources, including state wildlife agencies, the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, and disease researchers around the world.
HERD MANAGEMENT
One of the most important things we can do once CWD is detected in a wild deer population is reduce the spread of the disease and attempt to contain it. CWD is spread from deer to deer through direct contact; through contact with the urine, feces, saliva, semen or blood of infected deer; and through indirect transmission by contact with contaminated materials like soil, bait piles and mineral licks. Thus, reducing the spread of disease means reducing contact among individual deer.
If the local population is above carrying capacity of the habitat, then reducing deer density through doe harvest is an important first step for the future of the deer herd. For the long-term, the most important thing hunters can do in a CWD zone is keep hunting, keep shooting bucks and does, and help keep the deer population in balance with the habitat.
Is harvesting antlerless deer really that important to managing CWD?
Yes. Even though bucks contract CWD at higher rates than does, it is a mistake to focus the majority of disease management efforts on the bucks in a disease zone. Research in Minnesota showed yearling does dispersed at similar rates as yearling bucks, and research in Wisconsin showed does were 10 times more likely to be CWD positive when there was one CWD positive relative nearby.
Even though CWD prevalence rates are higher in bucks, there are always more than twice as many 2½-year-old and older does as bucks on the landscape. Finally, less than half of the hunters who go afield will shoot a deer in any given year, and only about 17 percent shoot more than one deer. So, we need to shoot bucks, but in disease zones hunters should be shooting more adult does than bucks.
Which bucks should we shoot in CWD zones?
When CWD is first discovered in a new area, initial goals include identifying prevalence and distribution of the disease and preventing it from spreading. In this early stage of an outbreak, protecting any adult deer can be counterproductive to long-term success. Once CWD is established in the deer herd, older bucks are two to four times more likely to have the disease than younger bucks. Therefore, on paper, the best way to combat CWD where it is established is to keep density low and the age structure young. That means not allowing bucks or does to mature.
However, in reality, hunters are needed to regulate deer populations, and many hunters stay engaged for the opportunity to pursue mature bucks. It is NDA’s opinion that as long as hunters continue hunting, shooting antlerless deer, and helping keep deer herds in check, then it is more beneficial to have a balanced age structure with some mature bucks in the population.
Therefore, NDA’s recommendation in areas where CWD is established in the population is for hunters to harvest antlerless deer to help reduce deer density and disease transmission, continue managing for a balanced buck age structure if you desire, and apply increased harvest pressure to all bucks, including a focus on those 2½ years of age or older.
Should I eat the venison from deer harvested in a CWD zone?
There is currently no evidence CWD has been transmitted to humans. Nevertheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages hunters in disease zones to have each deer tested, and then only consume the venison if CWD was not detected.
HABITAT MANAGEMENT
NDA supports bans on supplemental feeding and baiting in CWD zones because these practices have been shown to elevate the risk of deer-to-deer spread of CWD beyond other locations in a deer’s home range, including food plots and natural food sources such as feed trees. For hunters who can manage habitat where they hunt, a much more cost-effective way to produce protein for deer is with Forest Stand Improvement and prescribed fire. These techniques produce quality cover as well as forage, and they produce benefits for wild turkeys and other wildlife species.
Should we discourage the use of food plots?
No, there is no science discouraging food-plot use in CWD management zones. On the plus side, food plots can assist in herd management and harvesting antlerless deer. From a disease standpoint, you do not want to artificially congregate deer at small sites, as with bait, supplemental feed or minerals.
HUNTER MANAGEMENT
CWD is most easily transported via live deer and parts of infected deer. As hunters, we should oppose movement of live deer, and we should avoid moving high-risk parts of dead animals from a known disease area. These parts include the brain, spine, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes. One of the most important things a hunter who takes a deer home can do is make certain unused carcass parts end up at a landfill and not in the environment where other deer can encounter them.
Why should hunters stay engaged?
It is crucial for hunters to stay engaged to help manage deer herds. Hunters are the most important deer management tool, and no wildlife agency can manage deer without their help.
Should hunters use minerals in disease zones?
No. Deer are attracted to mineral supplements throughout most of their range, and congregating deer and having multiple individuals consume minerals from a site can enhance disease transmission. The NDA does not support mineral use in disease management areas.
HERD MONITORING
When CWD hits an area, monitoring herd health and age structure is more important than ever.
How can I monitor the herd in my area?
You can conduct population and/or observational surveys to estimate deer density. You can collect harvest data to monitor changes in age structure and herd productivity and health. These efforts can be greatly enhanced through participation in a QDM Cooperative.
What can hunters do to assist with monitoring CWD?
You can support your state wildlife agency’s efforts. Become informed on the regulations regarding deer harvest and reporting. Submit all deer you harvest for data collection and testing at the designated location for your area. Stay engaged on the issue, inform your neighbors about the importance of reporting sick deer and following deer check-in regulations (in both CWD-positive and negative areas), do your part to harvest antlerless deer, take advantage of CWD testing, and be a supporting partner of your wildlife agency.
What is the long-term outlook for CWD in my area?
In the early stages of an outbreak, it is possible to break the cycle of transmission by lowering deer density and hopefully killing any additional infected deer in the area. However, once the disease is established and additional cases continue to appear, the goal might be shifted to continue holding density low and maintaining a younger age structure to help slow the spread of the disease.
CWD moves slowly through a population, and it kills individual deer slowly. The impact is not dramatic or rapid, which is why some hunters believe CWD is not a serious problem. However, over the course of years, CWD will gradually grow in prevalence if it is not actively managed, and it will ultimately reduce populations and our hunting opportunities.
Once CWD arrives in your area, it’s best to focus on preventing its growth and expansion by continuing to hunt and harvest deer, take adequate numbers of does, submit harvested deer for testing, and report sightings of sick deer. Researchers are currently working to learn more about the disease, the best methods of control, and the potential for a CWD vaccine. Hopefully, the years to come will bring us new understanding and new tools to combat this serious challenge to whitetails and our deer hunting heritage.