It’s critical that hunters have deer near this area checked.

A 1.5-year-old buck taken Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Clinton County’s Eagle Township is likely the ninth free-ranging deer in Michigan to test positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

A hunter took the animal within an area where deer check is mandatory and brought the deer to a Department of Natural Resources check station. Preliminary tests conducted by the DNR came back positive for CWD. The animal currently is being tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, to finalize confirmation of the disease. Confirmation will take a couple weeks.

The DNR reminds hunters that bringing harvested deer to a DNR check station is critical to helping the state understand the extent of CWD in Michigan.

“This latest suspect deer reinforces how critical hunters are in battling this disease,” said Chad Fedewa, DNR wildlife biologist. “We are counting on hunters to bring their deer in for testing so we have a better understanding about disease distribution. If this hunter had not followed the law, we would have no idea that the disease has traveled farther west.”

The DNR has tested nearly 9,000 deer since the first free-ranging CWD-positive deer was found in May 2015; thus far, eight cases of CWD have been confirmed. This new suspect, if the disease is confirmed, would bring the total to nine. Read more

Hunters play a large role in managing Iowa’s world class deer herd by working with landowners and neighbors to reduce doe numbers, providing tissue samples to monitor for chronic wasting disease and by reporting successful hunts to the harvest reporting system.

The reported harvest is an important piece of information used when wildlife experts discuss possible changes to seasons, antlerless quotas, or other potential regulation changes.

But each year, more and more hunters are skipping this step. Presently, one out of five successful hunters is not reporting their harvest. Read more

The discovery of an eighth free-ranging Michigan white-tailed deer with chronic wasting disease this summer was a disappointment to Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials.

However, DNR deer and elk specialist Chad Stewart said there was a little bit of good news associated with that discovery.

“DNA testing showed that the latest infected deer was related to four of the other previously identified infected deer,” Stewart said. “So far, all eight have been related to each other somehow, most very closely.

“The overall numbers are still very low, so we’re optimistic we can have some success in keeping this disease confined to a relatively small geographic area.” Read more

On November 1, 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that information related to records for the import and export of all wildlife specimens to and from the United States may be disclosed to Humane Society International (HSI), based on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by HSI. The Notice informs submitters of such information of their ability to object to disclosure. The information potentially includes the identity of any U.S. and foreign importers and exporters of hunting trophies for the years 2002 through 2010, 2013 and 2014, and the declared value of the trophy. In response to four FOIA requests made in 2014 and 2015, FWS previously released some information but refused to disclose other information. FWS relied on three exemptions to the agency’s duty to disclose information in response to FOIA requests.

Earlier this year, HSI sued to obtain the withheld information. SCI intervened in the lawsuit to help defend the FWS’s decision to withhold the information. Subsequently, the FWS informed the court that it is obligated to notify the submitters of the requested information of the fact that their information is the subject of a FOIA request and that the FWS may decide to release the information.

The notice informs those who are the subject of HSI’s request that the FWS will presume that anyone who does not object within the time-period allotted for responses has no objection to the disclosure of his or her information. Submitters will have 21 days from the date of the publication of the notice in the Federal Register (i.e., today) to send their written responses to the FWS’s Office of Law Enforcement Freedom of Information office. Read more