IOWA'S LATE MUZZLELOADER DEER SEASON OPEN THROUGH JAN. 10, 2016

The final stretch for hunters to pursue Iowa’s world class deer began Monday with the start of the late muzzleloader season and the re-opening of the popular archery season. Both seasons close Jan. 10.

Hunters with a late muzzleloader license may use a bow, muzzleloader, handgun and Iowa residents may also use a crossbow. Hunters may not use a shotgun or centerfire rifles during late muzzleloader season and party hunting is not allowed.

Hunters have reported harvesting nearly 92,000 deer so far this year, which is similar to the harvest last year. Hunters who harvest a deer are reminded to report the harvest to the DNR bymidnight on the day after it is tagged or before taking it to a locker or taxidermist, or before transporting it out-of-state, whichever comes first.

For hunters with internet access, reporting online is the easiest and fastest way to report. Hunters may also report their harvest by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the toll-free phone number printed on the harvest tag or through a license vendor during regular business hours.

Nonresident Holiday Season

Nonresidents may participate in the antlerless-deer only holiday season Dec. 24-Jan. 2, in counties where the nonresident antlerless deer quota has not been filled.

Hunters who do not have a nonresident deer license may purchase an optional antlerless-only license for the holiday season. Licenses may be purchased over the counter through any license agent beginning Dec. 15. Holiday deer licenses will not be sold online or through the telephone ordering system.

Nonresident hunters purchased 110 holiday antlerless licenses last year.

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Michigan: Last elk hunt of 2015 is complete

Although it may not feel like a Michigan December, the final 2015 elk hunt drew to a close last weekend.

“We had crazy weather conditions for this year’s late elk hunt,” said Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Shelby Hiestand.  “In a typical year, we would have had a ton of snow on the ground, where hunters could track and pattern elk and really have a better chance at spotting them against the white snow.”

Although conditions may not have been typical for the December elk hunt, the harvest was still quite successful.  Ninety-two percent of hunters harvested an elk this December season, totaling 46 elk.  Each hunter was selected out of a random, weighted lottery of more than 31,000 Michigan hunters who applied to hunt elk this year. 

The latest season, held Dec.  5-13, was open in all elk hunt units in the northern counties of the northern Lower Peninsula. Each elk hunter attended a mandatory elk orientation in Johannesburg to learn about hunting elk, regulations, biology and the history of elk in Michigan.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, and our goal is for every hunter to have a safe, enjoyable experience,” said Hiestand. “Most hunters have never hunted elk before, and may not be familiar with areas in northern Michigan.  Elk orientation is a great time to get to talk to hunters and answer any of their questions.”

One hundred elk licenses were available in 2015 – 50 in the early season and 50 in the late season.  

Elk hunting in Michigan is an effective management tool that biologists have used to maintain elk herd numbers, composition and even distribution since 1984, when elk hunts began to occur annually for Michigan residents. The elk application period runs annually from May 1 to June 1.

To learn more about elk in Michigan, including their comeback story, visit www.michigan.gov/elk.  

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Missouri Department of Conservation proposes new regulations for CWD management zones

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been found in Adair, Cole, Linn, Macon and, most recently, Franklin counties. MDC's proposed CWD management zones, highlighted in orange, include all counties within a 25-mile radius of where a CWD-positive deer has been found. 

Proposed regulations would require testing of deer harvested during the opening weekend of the November portion of the fall firearms deer season and implement a ban on feeding deer in CWD management zones.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – At its meeting on Dec. 11, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved recommendations for regulation changes to help limit the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The disease has been found in free-ranging deer from Adair, Cole, Macon, and, most recently, Franklin counties.

The proposed regulations would require mandatory sampling and testing for CWD of harvested deer taken in MDC's CWD management zones during the opening weekend of the November portion of the 2016 fall firearms deer season, Nov. 12 and 13.

The proposed regulations would also prohibit the feeding of deer and use of deer attractants such as grain, salt, and mineral products in MDC's CWD management zones. Feeding deer unnaturally concentrates deer in a small area, which can help spread the disease. Exceptions to the regulation include feeding of wildlife within 100 feet of any residence or occupied building, feed placed in a manner that excludes access by deer, feed and minerals used solely for normal agricultural, forest management, or wildlife food-plot-production practices.

MDC's proposed CWD management zones include all counties within a 25-mile radius of where a CWD-positive deer has been found. Those 27 counties in northeast, central, and east-central Missouri can be found on the MDC website at www.mdc.mo.gov/CWDManagementZones.

A regulation banning supplemental feeding of deer has been in place since 2012 in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph, and Sullivan counties in Northeast Missouri, where the first cases of CWD in the state were found.

Missouri's rulemaking process includes a 30-day public comment period. Full verbiage of the proposed regulation changes will be posted on the MDC website after Jan. 1, 2016. Comments related to the proposed regulation changes can be submitted to the Conservation Department from Jan. 16 through Feb. 14, 2016 at http://mdc.mo.gov/node/24141%20.

MDC continues to ask hunters who harvest deer in the CWD management zones to avoid moving deer carcasses out of the zones, to properly dispose of deer carcasses, to report deer that appear sick or diseased to MDC staff, and to have all deer harvested in the CWD management zones sampled and tested for CWD.

Chronic Wasting Disease infects only deer and other members of the deer family by causing degeneration of brain tissue, which slowly leads to death. The disease has no vaccine or cure and is 100-percent fatal. For more information on CWD, visit the MDC website atwww.mdc.mo.gov/CWD.

Chronic wasting disease confirmed in Crawford County, Wisconsin buck harvested on private land

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Tuesday confirmed test results showing chronic wasting disease in a 3 1/2 year old buck harvested on private land in Crawford County.

Tami Ryan, DNR wildlife health section chief, said the result represents the first positive test for CWD detected in the county. The buck appeared healthy at the time of the kill, which is not unusual with CWD detections as it takes up to 16 to 18 months before infected animals display symptoms.

"Crawford County is already classified as a CWD-affected county, so the finding will not result in any regulatory changes," Ryan said. "We have interviewed the hunter to confirm the location, which is in the town of Clayton, west of Richland Center. The deer was harvested 13 miles from the nearest previous positive test result."

Crawford County and the surrounding counties of Vernon, Richland and Grant are already classified as CWD affected counties and have baiting and feeding bans in place.

DNR appreciates the assistance from hunters in providing samples from their harvest to advance monitoring efforts, Ryan said. CWD monitoring remains a priority for DNR and the department continues to work with cooperating taxidermists and meat processors within targeted surveillance areas. The department also has piloted new self-serve kiosks around the state to make it more convenient for hunters to submit deer heads for testing.

"Hunters have played a key role in expanding our knowledge of CWD in Wisconsin," Ryan said. "Their willingness to deliver samples is absolutely essential to disease monitoring efforts that inform our understanding of CWD distribution and prevalence."

Test results are generally returned within three to four weeks. To learn more about CWD in Wisconsin, search the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov for keyword "CWD." For information about restrictions on moving carcasses from areas affected by chronic wasting disease, search "carcass movement." The website also contains more information about "sampling and registration" and locations where samples can be delivered, by searching "hunting registration stations."

Wisconsin's deer hunt continues through Jan. 31 for archery and crossbow harvest in some metro subunits.

Suspect deer confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease in Clinton County, Michigan

Deer was harvested in Dewitt Township; Eaton County hunters urged to voluntarily check deer and stop baiting and feeding of deer

As of Thursday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reports a total of 3,695 deer in Michigan this year have been tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD). Four deer have been confirmed positive for the disease, with the fourth positive just recently found.

During the firearm deer season, a hunter from Dewitt Township (Clinton County) in the Core CWD Area brought a 1 1/2-year-old buck into the DNR’s Rose Lake deer check station. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the deer as CWD positive.

Because the deer was harvested within 10 miles of the Eaton County border, the DNR strongly encourages all hunters within Eaton County to voluntarily stop baiting and feeding, continue hunting and, most importantly, bring harvested deer into a DNR check station.

“Deer hunters in DMU 333 have been a great help by bringing in their deer to be tested. We couldn’t be more thankful or impressed with their dedication to the resource,” said Chad Stewart, DNR deer specialist. “We continue to need their help and are also asking Eaton County hunters to join our efforts. In addition, we have begun conversations with DeWitt Township, and they, too, are becoming great partners in this fight against CWD.”

There will be no mandatory regulation changes from now through the end of the deer season, as the DNR conducts CWD surveillance and decides what additional steps might be needed for the 2016 season.

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. It is caused by the transmission of infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions) contained in saliva and other body fluids of infected animals. Susceptible animals can acquire CWD by direct exposure to these fluids, or from environments contaminated with these fluids or the carcass of a diseased animal. 

Some chronically CWD-infected animals will display abnormal behaviors, progressive weight loss and physical debilitation; however, deer can be infected without showing internal or external symptoms for many years. There is no cure; once a deer is infected with CWD, it will die. 

To date, there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease presents any risk to non-cervids, including humans, either through contact with an infected animal or from handling venison. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend that infected animals not be consumed as food by either humans or domestic animals. 

The DNR provides weekly CWD updates at mi.gov/cwd. Announcements of additional CWD-positive deer also will be posted online.

Early impressions from 2015 firearm season show deer harvest up in Lower Peninsula, down in Upper Peninsula

Each year, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources generates preliminary estimates of the firearm deer harvest shortly after the season closes. The 2015 firearm deer season wrapped up Nov. 30, with indications of mixed results throughout the state.

The harvest appears to have decreased in the Upper Peninsula and increased in the Lower Peninsula.

“We anticipated a poor harvest in the U.P. due to the drastically low deer population throughout much of the U.P. over the past couple of years,” said Ashley Autenrieth, DNR deer program biologist. “However, we’ve seen uncharacteristically high temperatures and low snowfall levels so far this fall, and if this continues, we hope the herd will begin rebounding.”

Although reports differ widely across and within regions, DNR biologists estimate the harvest, compared to 2014, was up perhaps as much as 17 percent in the Lower Peninsula, and declined approximately 19 percent in the U.P.

“Fortunately, the Lower Peninsula hasn’t had a drastic drop in deer numbers over the last few years,” said Chad Stewart, DNR deer management specialist.

“That, coupled with good wild apple and acorn production over the last two years, has made for good conditions for the deer herds in these areas,” Stewart said.

Warmer than average temperatures made for a more challenging hunt in the beginning of the season since deer don’t tend to be as active in warmer temperatures. Biologists noted, however, that many hunters stayed out longer to enjoy the weather, which may have helped the harvest.

Biologists saw excellent body condition and antler development on many of the bucks that were registered at check stations.

Although the U.P. saw lower harvest numbers, the bucks that were registered tended to be either 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 years old. This reflects the low numbers of younger age classes from winter effects and the continuing impact of predators.  

Regardless of preliminary impressions, Stewart stressed the importance of Michigan’s hunter harvest survey, which he called “a vital tool for Michigan’s deer program, and an important way in which data provided by hunters contributes to our information base.”

A rigorous assessment of harvest and participation over all deer seasons will occur using the annual hunter mail survey. The survey is mailed in early January to randomly selected hunters.

Hunters who do not receive a survey in the mail but wish to provide their hunting and harvest information may visit www.michigan.gov/deer and select the “Complete A Harvest Survey Online” link. Hunters should provide information only once they have completed all of their 2015 hunting activities, including seasons that are open as late as Jan. 1, 2016.

For more information about hunting opportunities or deer management in Michigan, visitwww.michigan.gov/hunting or www.michigan.gov/deer.

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South Dakota Preference Points For Big Game

Last year, the GFP Commission changed the preference point system.  You do not automatically acquire a preference point when you apply for, and do not draw, your first choice in a limited draw (big game, paddlefish, etc.) season.  To obtain a preference point, you need to purchase one.

 

You can purchase a preference point at the time you apply for any big game season and up until Dec. 15.  You may only purchase one preference point for each big game season per year.

 

If you haven't purchased points for any limited draw seasons you did not have a FIRST CHOICE license in, and would like to do so, click here and go to "Preference Point Review and Purchase".