MONONA , Wis. – Department of Natural Resources wildlife researchers are planning to conduct aerial deer counts in the chronic wasting disease (CWD) Eradication and Management Zones as soon as the weather cooperates. “We need five or six inches of snow on the ground to cover logs and stumps so Read more
Results from 5 wild whitetails could prompt new strategy by state. For the first time, chronic wasting disease has been found in wild deer killed outside the 411-square-mile eradication zone southwest of Madison, suggesting that the state may have to broaden its strategy against the disease. The Department of Natural Read more
Landowner shooting permits extended through March 31 MADISON – Landowners in Wisconsin’s Chronic Wasting Disease Eradication Zone west of Madison will be allowed to hunt deer over bait under emergency rules that the state Natural Resources Board approved in a special session conference call Tuesday, Jan. 7. The board also Read more
Wildlife managers at the state Department of Natural Resources are recommending that landowners be allowed to use bait to attract and kill more deer in the eradication zone near Mount Horeb. The use of bait, usually corn, for hunting deer was outlawed last year to help fight the spread of Read more
Hassett named by governor-elect to be new DNR Secretary MADISON — The discovery of chronic wasting disease in three white-tailed deer from the Mt. Horeb area of Iowa and Dane counties on Feb. 28, was the state’s biggest natural resources story of 2002, and perhaps the most far-reaching biological, social Read more
Madison, Wis. – Officials with the Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection were notified on Dec. 12 by the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, IA that an escaped male white-tailed deer owned by James Hirschboeck has tested positive for chronic wasting disease Read more
MADISON — A Walworth County deer herd infected with chronic wasting disease was destroyed Wednesday, Dec. 11, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection officials said. A 118-whitetail herd owned by James Hirschboeck, Eagle, was put down by gunshot beginning shortly after 8 a.m. A single animal from the herd Read more
USDA Wildlife Services does the actual killing because they have sharpshooters trained in this type of shooting. They use .308-caliber rifles, shoot at close range (within 50 yards). Shoot animals in the neck and they die instantly. They use silencers (“sound suppressors” is their term) to avoid stirring up the Read more
MADISON – A second Zone T deer hunt for 2003 is set to open in Zone T deer management units south of Highway 8 at the start of shooting hours on Dec. 12 and run through the end of legal hunting hours on Dec. 15. The Zone T hunts are Read more
State officials have released a Wausau-area deer farm from quarantine after bucks tested negative for chronic wasting disease. Breezy Hill Whitetailsof rural Wausau was released from quarantine this week after the tests came back negative on two yearling bucks from the farm, according to Donna Gilson, spokeswoman for the state Read more