By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is accepting comments on a proposed rule that would require hunters to dispose of unused deer carcass parts using one of three methods.

“The proposal was meant to help mitigate the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) through improper disposal or movement of carcass parts,” Alan Cain, TPWD big game program leader, said. “Prions, the infectious agent for CWD, is found in the brain and spinal column, nervous tissue and things like that. If we can minimize the risk of potentially spreading that disease through carcass parts from places where CWD exists to other places where it’s not known to exist, that’s the goal.”

CWD is a fatal, neurological disease that impacts members of the deer family, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, red deer and sika deer.

It is a slow, progressive disease. Infected animals may not show outward signs of illness for years.

According to the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), infected animals shed prions through their saliva, urine or feces, blood or soft antler material. Deer carcasses can also spread the disease.

“Rather than restrict carcass movements, like saying you have to quarter the deer or something like that, what we’re proposing is carcass disposal rules,” Cain said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “What that would require is, if you’re a hunter in the state, and you take deer off a site of harvest, (you) can take a whole carcass out. You can take that to a processor.”

Hunters who do not take the whole deer carcass to a processor would be required to dispose of all deer parts not retained for cooking, storage or taxidermy purposes in a method outlined in the rule.

“You can throw it in a dumpster that goes to a trash service that goes to a permitted landfill. Most all trash services I know of that have dumpsters go into some sort of permitted landfill,” Cain said. “That’s one option.”

The landfill would have to be permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to receive such wastes.

“If you don’t have that option, you could bury those unused carcass parts in your backyard or back pasture,” Cain said. “You could bury them as long as they’re three feet deep and covered by soil so you’re not letting scavengers grab those carcass parts and draft them across the landscape.”

Burying the unused deer carcass parts won’t be an option in all parts of Texas due to rocks and other issues. Cain said that’s why the rule includes three options for hunters.

The third option is returning the unused parts to the property where the deer was harvested.

“It doesn’t really change things a lot for a hunter other than where you can dispose of it,” Cain said. “If you’re not the type of person who processes your own deer, you can still take it to a locker plant, and then they would be responsible for disposing of those parts in a landfill, trash service or bury it.”

The rule would provide some flexibility for those who hunt in CWD containment or surveillance zones.

“If you’re in a CWD zone and you harvest a deer, under the proposal, you’ll be able to take a whole carcass out. Currently, you can’t do that,” Cain said. “Before you leave the zone through, you’d have to stop by the check station and let us test the deer, which is required by rule. Then, we could provide instructions.”

Hunters would still be able to quarter deer on the property where they’re hunting and take it home to finish processing it.

“Under the proposal, you’d still need to throw those bones away in the dumpster or bury it, but you could still quarter it at the ranch and do that before you take off,” Cain said.

Those who do not plan to remove the deer they’ve harvested from the site of harvest will see no change if the rule is implemented.

“It’s just when you’re moving a carcass off the ranch (or hunting location) to another location, that’s where these proposed rules would come into effect,” Cain said.

The rule, if implemented, would impact deer hunters statewide, not just those in CWD containment or surveillance zones.

“If you have a CWD positive animal somewhere, and you haul it from wherever you harvest that deer to somewhere else that’s not known to have CWD, you run the risk of potentially introducing infectious carcass parts if you just haphazardly throw those out in the back pasture,” Cain said. “Now, you’ve potentially exposed other deer in your area, around your house or wherever you live, to those infectious carcass parts, which is a potential way for that disease to spread. By managing carcass disposal, we mitigate that risk or at least attempt to mitigate the risk as much as possible.”

Cain said the department wants to keep Texas’ deer populations healthy.

“Part of the issue with chronic wasting disease is there is no cure. It’s not like a virus or bacteria. It’s just this little misfolded prion protein that causes other prion proteins to misfold in the brain and essentially creates holes in the brain, which leads to all kinds of neurological issues and problems with the health of the deer. Ultimately, it’s fatal,” Cain said. “If we can minimize the impacts or try to stop the spread of disease in part through carcass disposal rules, then that’s a win.”

TPWD is accepting comments on the proposed rule through Nov. 1. Submit comments here.

“I would encourage hunters and landowners to provide public comment. That will be helpful to inform us and the commission on where folks sit on this issue and will help the commission make some decisions on how they move forward,” Cain said.

TPWD is also accepting comments on several proposed rules that would affect the Texas deer breeding industry. The proposed rule text is available here.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission is expected to consider the rule proposals at their meeting Nov. 1-2.

If approved by the commission, the statewide deer carcass disposal rule would be implemented in the 2024 deer hunting season.