Test confirms second CWD-positive deer south of Crookston
Nov. 30—One deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease in the Red River Valley near Climax, Minnesota, and another remains "suspect," based on testing conducted during the firearms deer season, according to a report from the Department of Natural Resources.
The confirmed case means two deer in Deer Permit Area (DPA) 661 on the Minnesota side of the Red River south of Crookston have now tested positive for CWD since the fall of 2021, when
a single whitetail buck shot near Climax tested positive
for the brain disease fatal to deer, elk and moose.
According to Erik Hildebrand, wildlife health supervisor for the DNR, the confirmed positive is a
yearling doe that initially tested "suspect"
during mandatory testing on the opening weekend of Minnesota's firearms deer season.
Additional testing, conducted whenever a test result comes back as "suspect," confirmed the doe had CWD.
Hunters in DPA 661 and other 600-designation deer permit areas — known as CWD "management zones" — across the state where the disease has been confirmed were required to submit lymph node samples from deer they shot Nov. 4-5, the opening weekend of Minnesota's firearms deer season. The DNR created DPA 661 (formerly 261) as a special CWD management zone in 2022 after the buck near Climax tested positive the previous fall.
The yearling doe that recently tested positive was shot about nine miles north of where the adult buck that tested positive in the fall of 2021 was taken.
The new suspect deer, Hildebrand said, is an adult buck shot in the same general area as the CWD-positive doe. Results from secondary testing should be available in about a week and a half, he said.
The hunter who shot the buck wasn't required to have it tested, since it wasn't shot during the opening weekend, but instead had it sampled voluntarily through the DNR's partner sampling program, Hildebrand said.
The suspect result confirms the importance of hunters having their deer tested, he said. The hope is that CWD testing will become a routine among deer hunters, Hildebrand said, even if it's not mandatory.
"CWD will change traditions or typical ways of hunting, and one of the things is (to) consider getting your deer tested," he said. "There's opportunities DNR is offering that any hunter across the state can get their deer tested now — mail-in kits and the partner sampling program and whatnot."
To date, the DNR has sampled 182 deer in DPA 661, with 171 samples coming back negative and nine samples pending, in addition to the new positive and suspect cases,
according to the DNR website.
"We don't have a lot of samples," Hildebrand said. "So, information-wise, we need more information to have a better understanding.
The DNR, he says, has been in contact with counterparts from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, which is conducting focused CWD surveillance in Unit 2B, a huge hunting unit that borders the Red River from Grand Forks to south of Fargo and extends more than 30 miles west.
Despite those conversations, there are no immediate plans to step up testing on the North Dakota side of the Red as a result of the latest news from the Climax area, said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.
"All license holders have received requests via email, postcard and general advertising to contribute samples," he said. "Most of our test results are still pending."
To date, the DNR has collected 7,366 samples from 600-series CWD management zones, 3,424 samples from CWD surveillance zones and 1,291 "opportunistic" samples collected from road kills, voluntary submissions or from deer found dead or reported sick.
This fall to date, there have been 21 positive and 13 suspect deer from the CWD management zones and one positive sample from DPA 342 near Wabasha, Minnesota. The DNR added DPA 342 to the CWD surveillance zone after the disease was found in wild deer in bordering Buffalo County, Wisconsin, in 2022.
"This discovery in southeastern Minnesota, while unwelcome news, highlights the importance and necessity of our disease surveillance efforts," Hildebrand said.
The only opportunistic sample to test positive so far this year came from a deer found dead in DPA 605 in the Twin Cities metro area, where CWD had already been confirmed.
With Minnesota muzzleloader season continuing through Sunday, Dec. 10, and archery season through Sunday, Dec. 31, Hildebrand said he hopes the DNR can collect more samples from DPA 661.
"We truly appreciate hunters' help in combatting CWD by getting their deer tested for CWD when required and complying with carcass movement restrictions," he said. "Results of these efforts help limit disease spread and protect the health of Minnesota's white-tailed deer."
There have been 245 confirmed cases of CWD in wild Minnesota deer since 2010, according to the DNR website.
Complete sampling results are available on the
DNR website
