With one confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease found in northern Wisconsin last year, the Department of Natural Resources will be taking many samples this deer season to find out if this fatal disease has spread.

The one confirmed CWD deer was located near Shell Lake in Washburn County. DNR CWD Biologist Mark Rasmussen says their goal is to get more than 1000 samples from the area, “If they’re shot within a 10-mile radius of where we found the positive just west of Shell Lake, if they can bring their deer in, get tested. We’ve only got about 150 right now so the more samples we can get the better.”

Baiting and feeding deer has been banned in Barron, Burnett, Polk and Washburn Counties. Other than that, hunters can follow regulations that they normally would this hunting season. But disposal will also be different.

Rasmussen says the best way to do that is dump it in a landfill, “When you cut up your deer, you can just take all the stuff that you have leftover, all the bones and stuff, and throw that in the garbage bag and take it out with your regular garbage. Cause then there’s the chance of a wild deer coming into contact with that carcass again is extremely unlikely.”  

Rasmussen says the second best option is to bury the deer 3-4 feet deep so scavengers won’t dig it up.