CWD Archives - Page 2 of 3

31 03, 2022

Alabama Chronic Wasting Disease Update: “We Didn’t Kill All The Deer”

Clay Hanback2022-03-31T13:36:04-04:00March 31st, 2022|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, Hunting News, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Alabama Chronic Wasting Disease Update: “We Didn’t Kill All The Deer”

As we reported earlier this year, on January 7, 2022, the first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Alabama was confirmed in a deer shot in Lauderdale County in the far northwestern part of the state. Wildlife officials immediately designated all of Lauderdale and neighboring Colbert County as the state’s first CWD Management Zone (CMZ). With only 30 days left in the 2021-22 hunting season, and with the need to acquire as many blood and tissue samples from deer as possible to determine the prevalence of the disease, officials removed all daily and seasonal bag limits in the CMZ. Most hunters in the area were happy to follow the science and shoot some deer, but a vocal minority [...]

1 10, 2021

CWD Spreads South in Virginia

Clay Hanback2021-09-27T10:41:54-04:00October 1st, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on CWD Spreads South in Virginia

The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) says a deer killed last season in southwestern Montgomery County tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. The discovery was made by a taxidermist that participates in the state’s CWD surveillance program, and was confirmed by the department after additional testing and collection of DNA samples from the deer. The deer marked the first case of CWD in southwest Virginia and triggered the creation of a new disease management area that includes Montgomery, Pulaski and Floyd counties. For the 2021 season, a mandatory sampling day has been scheduled for November 13. All hunters who bag a deer in the new disease management area that day will be required to take the animal to a [...]

29 09, 2021

New Jersey Bans Deer Urine, Hunters Must Use Synthetic Scent

Clay Hanback2021-09-27T09:44:15-04:00September 29th, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, Gear Reviews, whitetail deer|Comments Off on New Jersey Bans Deer Urine, Hunters Must Use Synthetic Scent

Beginning with the 2021 hunting season, it is no longer legal to possess, sell or use scents derived from the urine or glandular secretions of live deer in New Jersey. According to the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife the ban is intended to help safeguard the health of the state’s deer herd from the threat of Chronic Wasting Disease. The thinking is that using natural deer products in the woods could increase interaction between animals and possibly increase the spread of the disease. It should be noted that reputable scientists and lead authors of commonly referenced studies on urine and CWD agree that “the risk of urine-based scents spreading CWD is virtually zero”. See more about this at www.cwdfacts.org [...]

17 06, 2021

5 Things To Know About CWD This Deer Season

Clay Hanback2021-06-17T08:50:56-04:00June 17th, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on 5 Things To Know About CWD This Deer Season

As Chronic Wasting Disease spreads in some regions across the country, state CWD rules and regulations are constantly changing. Keep these things in mind this season: When to Test Your Deer More than 315 counties in 24 states, from Wyoming to Mississippi to upstate New York (new on the list this year) have reported CWD in free-ranging deer. Has the disease been detected near where you hunt? An excellent resource is the CWD map at cwd-info.org which lists all counties in all states where CWD has been confirmed. Check the map, and if you hunt in or near any region that has CWD you should have any deer you shoot tested. Each state’s hunting website has specific (if perhaps confusing) [...]

6 05, 2021

BREAKING: Minnesota Researchers Develop New Field Test For CWD

Clay Hanback2021-05-06T14:56:57-04:00May 6th, 2021|Big Deer TV, BigDeer, CWD, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on BREAKING: Minnesota Researchers Develop New Field Test For CWD

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered the first-ever way to field test deer for CWD, a potential game changer in the ongoing fight against the deer disease. The new test is cheaper than lab examinations currently in use to check for CWD, and more importantly, it uses field-deployable equipment to test tissue samples from deer and provide preliminary positive or negative results in 24 hours. Imagine this: Shoot a deer, drive to a test site and drop off a tissue sample. The same day or the next day you get a text saying if your deer tested positive (discard it) or negative (eat the meat) for CWD. I wrote about this exciting new development in-depth over at the Realtree website, [...]