County to be focus area for CWD

Crook County is one of the focus areas for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) testing this year and hunters are asked for their help to collect lymph node samples.

"Game and Fish is requesting samples from herds we've not addressed in a while, where we are trying to get a significant sample size so we can accurately determine what the CWD prevalence is in these herds," says Jessica Jennings-Gaines, Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory supervisor. 

Deer hunt areas 1 through 6, all located in this county, are on the list of areas from which Game and Fish is asking hunters to submit samples.

None of these hunt areas are among those for which testing is mandatory.

Focus areas for elk are mostly on the western side of the state this year and none are located in Crook County or northeast Wyoming.

CWD is known to be prevalent in this area and may be more so than previously thought. Sundance this year implemented a year-round deer cull at the suggestion of Game Warden Nate Holst after last year's cull showed a 14% prevalence rate – higher than estimates of 7% for the Black Hills region.

Game and Fish has been monitoring the distribution and prevalence of CWD since 1997 to understand how it affects the health of the deer and elk populations in Wyoming and the potential impacts of the disease, as well as to evaluate management actions.

Valid estimates of prevalence requires large sample sizes in focused areas, which occurs on a rotating basis around the state because the laboratory has limited testing capacity.

You can get your harvested animal tested by visiting a game check station, where personnel are normally available to take a sample; by visiting your regional Game and Fish office (you may need to leave the head if personnel are not immediately available); or by collecting it yourself.

If you wish to collect your own sample, visit wgfd.wyo.gov/CWD for instructions and information.

Results are usually available online within three weeks and can be rushed for a fee if you contact the lab in Laramie. Game and Fish recommends quartering and freezing your animal until you receive the results to save on meat processing costs if your animal is positive for CWD.

CWD, sometimes called "zombie deer disease" affects deer, elk and moose and is caused by abnormally folded proteins called "prions". These cause damage to normal prion proteins in tissues throughout the animal's body, but most often in the brain and spinal cord.

CWD is always fatal.

CWD is known to affect deer, elk, reindeer, sitka deer and moose.

Deer and elk are unlikely to display symptoms at first, because the incubation period can be anything from 18 to 24 months. However, the advanced stages of CWD can cause droopy ears, a lack of energy, a lack of gloss to the coat and lethargy, as well as emaciation in extreme cases.

CWD has been on the rise in other parts of Wyoming for a number of years. In areas such as Yellowstone National Park, significant growth was detected soon after the disease first appeared.

As of last June, CDC statistics marked Wyoming as one of the hardest-hit states in the nation in terms of detection of CWD. As of June, 2022, it had been detected in all but one county – Uinta, in the southwest corner.

Scientists believe the proteins probably spread through bodily fluids, either directly or through contamination of soil, food or water. It can spread quickly and the prions remain in the environment for a long time, so other animals can still contract it even after an infected animal has died.

If you harvest an elk or deer outside hunt areas 1 to 6 this year, you can still submit a sample for testing.

As a thanks for your efforts, hunters who submit lymph nodes from mandatory and focus areas are entered into a raffle.

Game and Fish would also like hunters to be aware that carcass transport and disposal rules to prevent the spread of CWD require that deer, elk and moose hunters transport within Wyoming only cut and wrapped meat, edible portions with no portion of the spinal column or head attached, cleaned hide without the head attached, skull, skull plate or antlers cleaned of all meat and brain tissue, teeth and finished taxidermy mounts.

Whole carcasses may not be transported out of Wyoming.

The head and all portions of the spinal column should remain at the kill site or disposed of in an approved landfill or incinerator.

Report dead sage-grouse

Wyoming Game and Fish is also asking everyone – especially landowners – to report dead sage-grouse so that the birds can be tested for West Nile virus.

There are no signs of an outbreak at this time, but the department asks the public for reports each year to help manage the bird's population.

West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes and sage grouse are believed to have low resistance. The disease is usually fatal to sage-grouse.

The rainfall throughout this spring and summer has increased standing water and consequently mosquito populations in Wyoming.

"We haven't had an outbreak of West Nile in sage-grouse since 2003 in northeast Wyoming. But monitoring for the disease is still important," said Nyssa Whitford, sage-grouse/sagebrush biologist.

"We are particularly interested in sage-grouse found in remote areas that have no obvious injuries that might have resulted in their death. These may occur near water holes or hay fields on private lands."

If you are willing to collect the carcass, the recommendation is to pick it up with an inverted plastic sack while wearing gloves. Place it in another plastic bag and take it to a Game and Fish regional office (freeze the bird if this cannot be done quickly).