Game and Fish tests for diseased animals

Wyoming Game and Fish Department
 
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department needs the help of hunters this fall to collect samples from mule deer for chronic wasting disease testing.
In October, Game and Fish is especially focusing their efforts around Newcastle, notably on mule deer harvested in Region B (Deer Hunt Areas 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 21). The Department is asking hunters that harvest mule deer in these areas to submit samples to Game and Fish for testing. According to Newcastle wildlife biologist Joe Sandrini, the department hopes to make this easier on hunters. To make sample submission easier on hunters he will run a CWD sampling check stations on Oct. 1 and 2 in the AIM equipment parking lot at the junction of Highways 450 and 16, and on Oct. 3 and 4 at the Flying V, Cambria Processing.  These check stations will be open from approximately 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
Since 1997, Game and Fish has been monitoring the distribution and prevalence of CWD to better understand how this disease affects the health of Wyoming’s deer and elk populations. Early on, their efforts focused on detection of CWD in new areas around the state and monitoring. CWD has now been identified in most deer hunt areas in Wyoming. As a result, Game and Fish is now concentrating on more intense monitoring and developing CWD management actions.
Detecting changes in CWD prevalence over time is important to help understand impacts the disease may have and to evaluate management actions for deer and elk. This is challenging, because, according to Sandrini, estimating CWD occurrence requires collecting many samples from each herd.
The veteran biologist noted, “Since the Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory has limited testing capacity, focused sampling, like that occurring in Region B this year, will rotate to different herds each year.”  
He added, “For this focused testing to be successful, and monitoring goals to be reached, help from hunters is critical.”
In addition to encouraging hunters to help with CWD sampling, Sandrini wanted to remind hunters that antelope do not contract CWD. However, he noted that antelope hunting this year may be difficult.
“Our antelope herd has dropped quite a bit, with our summer counts being some of the lowest I have seen in 25 years,” Sandrini said.  
He attributes the decrease to a harsh winter the year before last, increased spring mortality and low fawn production the past two years, along with the lag time between the season setting process and herd data collection.
Sandrini added, “Unfortunately, we probably issued more licenses than we should have this year, but the level of population drop we seem to have wasn’t confirmed until this summer after archery season had started.” As such, Sandrini said that antelope seasons in Weston County will likely be reduced over the next few years.