As the firearms portion of deer season prepares to kick off in November, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to the mandatory CWD sampling.
CWD stands for Chronic Wasting Disease, and it is a deadly, infectious disease in deer and other cervids that will eventually kill all the animals it infects. The disease spreads through direct deer-to-deer contact and there is no cure. The disease spreads through improper disposal of deer carcasses and through the environment where a deer comes into contact with infectious material from another deer.
Between July 2021 to April 2022, more than 32,000 deer were sampled, 86 of which tested positive for CWD.