JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The results of CWD testing from last fall's deer harvest are positive, according to Missouri Department of Conservation officials.
Through the cooperation and support from hunters, private land owners, taxidermists and others, MDC tested more than 25,500 deer during the past season and found nine cases of the deadly disease, as previously reported: one in Adair, three in Franklin, one in Jefferson, two in Macon and two in St. Clair counties.
The two cases in St. Clair County were the first CWD detections found in the western part of the state. The case found in Jefferson County was the first for that county.
"While we did detect CWD in a few new areas of the state, including Jefferson and St. Clair counties, the fact that we found a low number of positives is great news and indicates CWD remains relatively rare in Missouri," MDC Wildlife Disease Coordinator Jasmine Batten said.
In response to finding CWD in Jefferson and St Clair counties, and because of the detection of CWD in 2017 in hundreds of deer in northwest Arkansas near the Missouri border, MDC is expanding its CWD Management Zone from 29 to 41 counties for fall 2017. New CWD Management Zone counties include: Barry, Benton, Cedar, Dade, Hickory, Ozark , Polk, St. Clair, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Stone and Taney.
The existing 29 counties of the CWD Management Zone are: Adair, Boone, Callaway, Carroll, Chariton, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Knox, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Putnam, Randolph, St. Charles, St. Louis, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan, Warren and Washington.
Pending approval in May by the Missouri Conservation Commission, MDC will again have mandatory CWD sampling during the opening weekend of the 2017 fall firearms deer season, Nov. 11-12. Hunters who harvest deer in mandatory-sampling counties on that Saturday and Sunday will be required to present their harvests for CWD sampling at an MDC sampling station. However, not all counties in the CWD Management Zone will be included.
"The success of the fall 2016 mandatory sampling effort and the fact CWD was detected in few locations at low occurrence gives us the ability to focus on priority counties," Batten said.
A map of the mandatory CWD sampling counties, sampling station locations, and other details will be available online this fall at mdc.mo.gov/cwd and printed in MDC's "2017 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations & Information" booklet.
MDC will also offer voluntary CWD sampling opportunities throughout the 2017-18 deer hunting season at participating taxidermists and designated MDC offices. Voluntary sampling locations will be available online this fall at mdc.mo.gov/cwd or by calling MDC regional offices.
This year's findings bring the total number of free-ranging deer in Missouri confirmed to have CWD to 42. MDC has sampled more than 77,000 deer since it began testing for the disease in 2001. For more information on positive CWD cases by year and county, visit mdc.mo.gov/cwd and click on the blue box, "CWD Surveillance Summary."