In the wake of the first confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease in Lincoln County, the DNR has ordered a deer baiting and feeding ban.
According to a press release issued by the DNR Monday afternoon, as required by law, this finding will establish baiting and feeding bans for Lincoln and Langlade counties effective Feb. 1, 2018. The ban for Lincoln County will be enacted for three years. Langlade County is within 10 miles of the Lincoln County positive wild deer, and due to being adjacent to a county with a CWD positive test result, a two-year ban will be enacted. Oneida County is already under baiting and feeding bans and those bans will be renewed with this newest detection.
The two-year-old buck harvested in northeast Lincoln County is the first confirmed positive deer in this county.
“This latest discovery is troublesome and is something we take very seriously,” said DNR Secretary Dan Meyer. “We will start a dialogue with the local community through the County Deer Advisory Council on what steps should be taken next. While there is no silver bullet remedy to eradicate CWD, we have learned from experience that having the local community involved is a key factor in managing this disease.”
The DNR will also take the following steps:
•Establish a 10-mile radius disease surveillance area around this positive location.
•Conduct surveillance activities to assess disease distribution and prevalence including: Encourage reporting of sick deer, sample vehicle-killed adult deer, sample adult deer harvested under agricultural damage permits, sample adult deer harvested under urban deer hunts in the area, and establish additional CWD sampling locations prior to the 2018 deer seasons.
•These actions are a very important next step in further understanding the potential geographic distribution of the disease and if other animals are infected within Wisconsin’s deer herd in the area.
As has been demonstrated in the past in other parts of the state, local citizen involvement in the decision-making process as well as management actions to address this CWD detection will have the greatest potential for success.
For more information regarding baiting and feeding regulations and CWD in Wisconsin, and how to have adult deer tested during the 2018/2019 hunting seasons, visit the department’s website, dnr.wi.gov, and search “bait and feeding” and “CWD sampling” respectively.