I found it at the DNR site. It is the TB area in the northwest...
Here is the article copied and pasted from the DNR:
DNR expands deer season in bovine TB zone, plans sharpshooting (December 4, 2007)
Hunters may use any valid deer license to harvest deer from Dec. 29 to Jan. 13, 2008, in Permit Area 101 of northwestern Minnesota to help reduce herd density and assist wildlife management officials in their efforts to stop the potential spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB).
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials announced the late season hunt after three of the 1,100 hunter-harvested deer sampled in Permit Area 101, which is considered the bovine tuberculosis (TB) zone in far northwestern Minnesota, tested presumptive positive for the disease.
Michelle Carstensen, DNR wildlife health program coordinator, said the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the results. Complete test results will be available in several weeks.
“Although finding additional infected deer is obviously a concern, the good news is that the prevalence of the disease remains low and is confined to a small geographic region,” Carstensen said. “The DNR will take every precaution to prevent bovine TB from spreading through the deer herd.”
Details of the special late-season hunt to be conducted in deer Permit Area 101 only are:
season dates will be Saturday, Dec. 29, to Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008
deer of either sex may be taken
hunters can use any 2007 license or permit from any zone
a hunter must have a license and use the legal weapon for that license; for example, a
hunter cannot use a rifle if he or she does not have a valid 2007 firearms license
new or replacement licenses can be obtained at any Electronic Licensing System agent,
and hunters can buy additional disease management permits for $2.50
deer also can be tagged with any remaining unused tags from the 2007 season; for
example, deer can be tagged with an unfilled firearm license, disease management
permits, bonus permits or all-season tags
all harvested deer must be registered at Olson Skime store in Skime; Riverfront Station
in Wannaska; Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area headquarters during regular business hours; or Red Lake Wildlife Management Area headquarters during regular business hours.
DNR employees will staff the Skime and Wannaska registration stations during each weekend (Saturday - Monday) of the special season to examine harvested deer for clinical signs of bovine TB. If a deer is taken during the week that exhibits signs of bovine TB, such as lesions on the lungs, hunters should contact the Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area at (218) 222-3747 or the Red Lake Wildlife Management Area at (218) 783-6861.
After the late season hunt concludes on Jan. 13, the DNR will conduct an aerial survey of the area to determine deer distribution and abundance. Once that information is collected, Carstensen said, the DNR will contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Service for sharpshooters to reduce populations in localized areas of the core bovine TB area.
This fall’s testing of deer harvested in Permit Area 101 was part of the DNR’s ongoing TB surveillance program, which began in 2005 when the disease was first discovered in cattle. Since then, Carstensen said, bovine TB has been detected in eight cattle herds and 13 wild deer in Roseau and Beltrami counties.
All the infected deer, including the three suspected cases discovered this fall, have been found within a five-mile radius of Skime. Officials from the DNR, Minnesota Board of Animal Health and USDA have been aggressively working to manage the disease in deer and livestock so Minnesota can regain its bovine TB-free accreditation.
“This may be a narrow window of opportunity to stop this disease in its tracks,” Carstensen said. “As long as bovine TB continues to be found in deer, DNR will continue to work with local hunters, landowners, and other wildlife and agriculture organizations and agencies to eliminate bovine TB in Minnesota.”
In addition to its ongoing disease surveillance efforts, DNR officials created Permit Area 101 this year to help manage deer densities in the area where cases of bovine TB have been documented. Special disease management permits were available to any hunter with a valid deer-hunting license at a reduced cost. So far this year, hunters have harvested 539 deer using these special permits.
Temporary deer population reductions may create short-term hardships for deer hunters in this particular area of northwestern Minnesota, said Lou Cornicelli, the DNR’s big game program coordinator. But reducing the long-term risk of bovine TB becoming established and spreading in the deer population is extremely important.
“In the short term that means deer densities in the bovine TB area will need to be kept low,” Cornicelli said. “However, Minnesota’s deer populations are resilient, and while we recognize that dramatic reductions in populations won’t be popular with everyone, history tells us deer rebound very quickly.”
Following two severe winters in the mid-1990s, Minnesota’s wild deer population was very low, he said. But fewer than 10 years later, deer populations had expanded to record levels.
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Topic: Deer season opening into JAN (Read 1735 times)
