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Virginia Hunters Worry About CWD

Jennifer Smith

Posted on October 17 2018

The frequent news about Chronic Wasting Disease across the United States has led to a decline in registered deer hunters. Of course, at this time, there are no known cases of CWD affecting humans; however hunters are still wary about eating possibly infected meat.

As hunting season in Virginia will soon begin, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has advice for hunters to reduce the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease:

  • Don’t feed deer. Feeding deer congregates them together and speeds up the transmission of disease from sick to healthy deer. 
  • Check DGIF’s list of carcass-restriction zones if hunting out-of-state and determine if the deer, elk, or moose is allowed to be transported into Virginia legally as a whole carcass. 
  • Do not transport whole deer carcasses out of the CWD Containment Area (Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah, and Warren counties). 
  • Do not use lures or attractants that contain natural deer urine. The use of natural deer urine products is illegal. 
  • Do not leave leftover parts of deer carcasses on the landscape, especially the brain and spinal cord. Leftover parts of a deer should be buried or double-bagged and placed in a trash receptacle for home pick-up or discarded at a landfill or compactor site.

 

Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal, neurological disease of the cervid family affecting deer and elk breeds. It is found in over 22 U.S. states and parts of Canada including the most recent in Quebec.