Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is fatal to deer infected with it, but is not known to be transmissible to other animals or humans. Detected earlier this year in far West Texas, hunters may harvest deer from that area, with this caveat:

14— As far as hunters are concerned, the only changes that we have proposed at this time is that for any deer that is harvested in a containment zone, we are requiring that those deer be presented at a check station.

Mitch Lockwood is Texas parks and Wildlife big game program director. The containment zone is where the disease was first identified in the state.

18 – We have two check stations established for the mule deer season this year: one being in van Horn and one being in Cornudas. And, so any deer that’s harvested within that containment zone, those deer would need to be presented at the check station, where we would collect a CWD sample.

Lockwood says voluntary check stations will be set up in the high risk and buffer zones, which are adjacent to the containment zone.

14 –Texas Parks and Wildlife department will pay for the test and we will post the testing results on the website so hunters can find out the test results from the deer they harvested just as soon as they’re made available from the lab.

It will take about two weeks for results to be posted. Go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website for more information about the CWD management strategy.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program…supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.