For 20 years, Kentucky wildlife officials have waged an aggressive and successful campaign to protect the state’s whitetail deer and elk herds from chronic wasting disease.
Those efforts were accelerated after an infected 3½-year-old whitetail was discovered in September in Henry County, Tennessee, less than 8 miles from the Kentucky state line. Tennessee wildlife officials quickly confirmed the Henry County chronic wasting disease case, although CWD had been confirmed in Tennessee prior to the Henry County discovery. This was of particular concern to Kentucky game managers as whitetail deer move freely and are notorious for ignoring state boundaries.
A little background: Chronic wasting disease affects deer, elk and other cervids. It is always fatal.
In its chronic wasting response program, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources describes the dreaded disease this way:
“CWD is a degenerative neurological disease characterized by behavioral changes and progressive loss of body condition that invariably leads to the death of affected animals. It is believed to be transmitted from animal to animal via direct contact and contamination of feed or water sources with saliva, urine, and feces. Case studies suggest that the period of time between exposure and onset of clinical signs may be several years, allowing apparently healthy infected animals to move or be transported long distances, unknowingly spreading the disease to new areas. The disease can be spread across the landscape either directly through the natural movement of infected free-ranging cervids or the interstate movement of infected captive cervids. It can also be transmitted indirectly through the movement of infected carcasses and parts from hunter-harvested cervids, as well as contaminated soil and water sources.”
There is some good news: According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been no known cases of CWD infecting humans. However, the threat of CWD infecting Kentucky’s prize deer herd is alarming, and discovery of an infected deer in Henry County, Tennessee, triggered the fish and wildlife agency to activate its CWD Response Plan.
Five western Kentucky counties—Calloway, Marshall, Graves, Fulton and Hickman—have been designated a CWD Surveillance Zone. This will have a direct effect on deer hunters in those whitetail-rich counties.
Kentucky’s deer season has been open since Sept. 4, which marked the beginning of archery season. The modern firearm season opens Nov. 13. Most deer killed in Kentucky are tagged during the modern gun hunt.
All five counties in Kentucky’s CWD Surveillance Zone are managed for deer hunting as Zone 1, which means they have the most liberal bag limits. Zone 1 hunters can, per statewide regulations, take one antlered deer, but there is no limit in Zone 1 on antlerless deer.
However, the following special regulations in the CWD Surveillance Zone do apply: All deer taken during the 2021 modern gun and muzzleloader seasons in Calloway, Marshall, Graves, Fulton and Hickman counties must be checked at an in-person check station. The KDFWR has set up check stations at 17 locations within the five-county area, including five in Calloway, two in Fulton, six in Graves, one in Hickman and three in Marshall. Check stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily during the modern gun and late muzzleloader seasons and from 8 a.m. until noon the day following the close of modern gun season (Nov. 29) and late muzzleloader season (Dec. 20).
Game officials say CWD Surveillance Zone hunters also should telecheck their deer, preferably prior to arriving at a check station.
Baiting for deer is not permitted within the CWD Surveillance Zone. Normal agricultural practices, including food plots for wildlife, are permitted. Hunters also can use products not eaten by deer, which include scent attractors and urine-based products.
Carcass tags are required to move a deer within the CWD Surveillance Zone. Hunters transporting any cervid (deer, elk, moose, caribou) carcass, including de-boned meat, through the five-county zone must have a carcass tag, regardless of where the animal was taken. Hunters can make their own tag or download one at fw.ky.gov/cwd. The tag must include the name of the hunter or the person in possession of the animal; that person’s telephone number with area code; species and sex of the animal; the county and state in which it was killed; and how the carcass was obtained.
Only de-boned meat, antlers, antlers attached to a clean skull plate, a clean skull, clean teeth, hides and finished taxidermy products may be taken out of the CWD Surveillance Zone. Deer or elk taken anywhere else in the state may be brought into the Surveillance Zone, but a carcass tag is required.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources Commissioner Rich Storm acknowledged that Kentucky’s work to remain CWD free has become more challenging. “While the disease has not been detected in Kentucky, it’s all but surrounding us now,” Storm said following a special commission meeting in September after the Tennessee, discovery. “My actions are guided by the sound science reflected in our response plan and align with the agency’s mission. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is meeting this challenge head-on.”
For more information, visit fw.ky.gov/cwd or contact the state wildlife agency at 1.800.858.1549. To report a sick deer, call the agency or email info.center@ky.gov.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at editor@kentuckymonthly.com.