CWD is found in Michigan’s U.P. for first time
A white-tailed deer shot this fall in Dickinson County, Mich., tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first documented case of the fatal deer disease in the state’s Upper Peninsula.
The finding was announced Thursday by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The agency said it is taking immediate action to address the situation in the Upper Peninsula.
In the short-term, state officials will increase CWD testing and perform active surveillance to better understand where the disease exists, said Russ Mason, chief of the MDNR’s Wildlife Division.
The agency’s goal is to determine if the CWD-positive deer is an individual outlier or whether there are more deer infected in the area.
The diseased animal, a 4-year-old doe, was killed on a farm in Waucedah Township, about 4 miles north of the Wisconsin-Michigan border, according to John Pepin, deputy public information officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The site is approximately 10 miles east of Niagara, Wisconsin, and 15 miles east of Iron Mountain, Michigan.
The closest documented case of CWD was found in June at a deer farm in Marinette County, Wisconsin.
Pepin said it wasn’t known how the wild deer in Dickinson County became infected.
The agency has set a goal of testing 600 deer in a 10-square-mile core area in and around Waucedah Township.
“We’re going to need the help of hunters, who have been very cooperative in all our efforts to date,” Pepin said.
The agency will establish additional drop boxes for deer heads in the area, as well as offer disease control permits to interested landowners who have more than 5 acres of land and are within 5 miles of the center of the surveillance area.
“The actions of hunters matter in battling CWD,” said Chad Stewart, MDNR deer management specialist.
Stewart urged hunters to: keep hunting; get their deer tested for CWD; responsibly transport, process and dispose of deer carcasses; visit the agency’s website to learn about proper carcass transportation into Michigan from out of state; and to pass these tips on to other hunters.
Winnebago sturgeon spearing license deadline: October 31 is the deadline to purchase 2019 Lake Winnebago sturgeon spearing licenses.
Licenses are $20 for residents and $65 for nonresidents and can be purchased by visiting GoWild.Wi.gov or any license sales location. The minimum spearing age is 12.
There are unlimited license sales on Lake Winnebago, while the Upriver Lakes fishery is managed by a lottery and limited to 500 permitted spearers.
Spearers who applied for an Upriver Lakes license in the lottery but were not drawn for a license receive a preference point and can still purchase a Lake Winnebago license before the Oct. 31 deadline. The 2019 season begins Feb. 9.