Herd-thinning could begin this week after case of CWD

[Go Big Red!]

By DENNIS ANDERSON, Star Tribune

Last update: January 29, 2011 - 11:50 PM



Killing hundreds of deer in southeast Minnesota near the town of Pine Island will be a challenge, the Department of Natural Resources is learning.

The herd-thinning -- which could begin as early as Wednesday -- is being planned after the confirmation last week that a deer killed Nov. 28 by an archer was infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD).

The disease is highly contagious and is always fatal to deer, elk and moose -- though no moose have ever carried CWD in Minnesota, according to the DNR.

The disease is not believed to be a threat to humans.

CWD was first discovered in captive elk in Minnesota near Aitkin in 2002. But the infected hunter-killed deer is the first wild animal in Minnesota known to have carried the disease, and a special zone has been established stretching 10 miles in all directions from where it was felled about three miles from Pine Island.

A DNR aerial deer-population survey planned last week in the area was only half-completed due to weather. "We did that survey with fixed-wing aircraft and counted 1,000 deer," said DNR big-game coordinator Lou Cornicelli.

A more detailed helicopter survey will follow, beginning sometime this week, again dependent on weather. "I would guess there are about 3,000 deer total in the area," Cornicelli said.

Almost all of the land is private, and wildlife officials hope to persuade landowners either to begin shooting deer themselves, or allow volunteers or DNR sharpshooters onto their property.

The DNR plans to kill enough deer to draw reasonable inferences about how many -- if any -- deer might be infected. A similar situation some years ago in New York produced only a lone deer with CWD, with no others turning up sick. But in southern Wisconsin, because CWD there probably was discovered after many animals were affected, the disease remains in the herd.

Cornicelli said his agency has only until mid-March to kill a sample of deer in the CWD-established zone. By then, with spring arriving, the deer "will begin moving across the landscape," Cornicelli said.

Among issues to be resolved is what will happen to carcasses of killed deer. Test results take time, and deer that come back negative for CWD will provide usable food, Cornicelli said. What becomes of the carcasses between the time deer are killed and tests are returned is among issues the DNR will discuss in a strategy meeting Monday morning.

"Do we [the DNR] hold carcasses until the tests come back," Cornicelli said, "or do the people who shoot them keep them?

Interested landowners or their representatives will be given the first opportunity to kill deer, Cornicelli said. An area landowner meeting is planned in about two weeks.

A deer-killing permit system for landowners or their representatives is yet to be worked out.

"The logistics are fairly complicated," Cornicelli said.

[jkcmj]

Well, if they allow hunters to keep the deer, I'm in, I know a few people over there and my freezer is getting low!

[22lex]

jkcmj...let me know if you need any help knocking down does!

From what I have heard it will mostly be landowners, and their immediate friends/hunters. Pretty tough to get permission out that way I have been told.

[22lex]

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