Despite the efforts of the deer hunters in the Eau Claire area to make chronic wasting disease testing mandatory for deer harvested in this fall’s hunt, testing will remain voluntary for one more year.
The Chippewa Valley Chronic Wasting Disease Advisory Team suggested mandatory testing for this deer hunt in five townships in the counties of Eau Claire, Buffalo, Pepin and Dunn but was overruled by Wisconsin Natural Resources Board.
“Originally, the CWD advisory team did make a recommendation for mandatory testing and that was approved by the department (Natural Resources) but after we received some additional input from the Natural Resources Board the mandatory requirement was taken away,” said Mark Rassmussen, a DNR wildlife biologist in Buffalo and Trempealeau Counties. “It is a voluntary sampling effort in that area, but we still are looking for hunters to submit as many CWD samples of adult deer harvested in that five Township area.”
Rassmussen said the DNR is hoping to collect CWD samples from at least 300 adult deer during the 2019 gun deer hunting season in the five townships near where a deer first tested positive for CWD two years ago. Since then, four other deer have tested positive in that area.
“We don’t even know for sure if were working with the epicenter. We needed better results. We voted unanimously for this mandatory testing and it all got thrown by the wayside. Our committee is very disgusted with the Natural Resources Board,” said Mark Noll of Alma, the chair of Buffalo County’s Deer Advisory Council.
“It’s apparent that there are people working against our efforts. We are trying to do what’s best for the resource. You can’t go wrong there. There are so many moneyed interests that are working against us on the side. They’re in the shadows but they’ve got themselves in positions where they’re pulling a lot of power, not necessarily for the long-term good of our sport.” Noll said.
