By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Due to new detections of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is proposing the creation of at least two, and potentially three, CWD surveillance zones.

If approved by the Parks and Wildlife Commission after a public comment period, the zones would be created in Medina and Kimble County and potentially in Cherokee County.

The proposed zone in Kimble County, if approved, would be near the Kimble/Edwards County line near Telegraph.

“On Aug. 21 of this year, a suspect-positive female white-tailed deer was detected in a captive breeding facility as a result of antemortem testing,” Alan Cain, TPWD big game program director, told the commission. “In response to the confirmation of this positive deer on Sept. 7, the department established a surveillance zone around the positive facility through emergency rule.”

If adopted, the proposed rule creating the zone would replace the emergency rule.

The zone would impact 83 properties, encompassing about 90,000 acres.

“Hunters in the proposed zone are able to utilize a drop box at the entrance of South Llano River State Park to drop off heads for CWD sampling or they could take the head to a manned check station in Segovia,” Cain said.

The proposed zone in Medina County would be southwest of Dunlay—south of Highway 90 and East of 173.

“On Oct. 11, a suspect-positive male white-tailed deer was detected in a captive breeding facility as a result of antemortem testing, and that deer was confirmed positive on Oct. 19,” Cain said. “The two-mile surveillance zone encompasses about 21,000 acres and includes about 110 landowners that are partially or wholly contained within that zone.”

Hunters in that CWD zone would be able to take their deer, or other CWD-susceptible species, to the manned check station or drop box in Hondo.

There’s potential for a new CWD zone in Cherokee County if a suspected case of the fatal, neurological deer disease is confirmed there.

“We had a suspect-positive on Monday (Oct. 30) in a 52-month-old male white-tailed deer. We would propose to establish a two-mile surveillance zone just south-east of Jacksonville,” Cain said. “It encompasses about 13,000 acres and 436 properties. We’re still waiting on the confirmation from that Cherokee County deer, but assuming that comes in prior to this being published, then we would include that.”

The zone proposals will be published in the Texas Register and will open for public comment before adoption.

Hunters in CWD zones are required to bring any CWD-susceptible species, like white-tailed deer or mule deer, to a check station to have their harvest tested within 48 hours of harvest.

“They can only leave the zone with a quartered carcass, or they could leave with a whole head as long as they’ve stopped by the check station and received a head waiver that allows them to take it to a taxidermist,” Cain said.

There are currently CWD zones in the following areas of Texas:

There’s also a new CWD zone in Bexar County near Hollywood Park that was implemented as a result of CWD in a free-ranging deer. That zone doesn’t impact hunters, but it is in place to restrict movement of deer carcasses by trappers or rehabilitators.

To help hunters determine if they’re in a CWD zone, TPWD has updated the My Texas Hunt Harvest app with an interactive map tool.

The zones are an effort by the department to monitor and curb the spread of the fatal disease.

“It is certainly safe to hunt in the zone. In fact, we need hunters,” Cain said. “Hunters are one of the best ways to help manage CWD. We need hunters to harvest deer. Obviously, if you let numbers get out of hand, and CWD is present, it just means there’s more hosts on the landscape potentially for that disease to spread throughout the population quicker.”

If a lower deer density can be maintained in an area, the hope is CWD will infect fewer free-ranging deer.

“To be clear, we do have those areas where chronic wasting disease was only detected in a captive deer breeding facility in those counties,” Cain said. “The disease isn’t outside of those facilities at this time, but we have zones in place in those areas to allow us to collect some samples around where that positive detection was to determine whether the disease is outside of that facility or not.”

Hunters who bring their deer to a CWD check station to be tested for the disease will receive a confirmation number they can use to later look up the status of the test online.

“People ask whether it’s safe to deer hunt or safe to consume deer. There are no records of anybody ever being sick from eating a CWD-positive animal, but just as a general precaution, whether it’s CWD or any disease that a deer can have, we don’t recommend hunters eat sick animals,” Cain said. “That’s just a good food safety practice.”

CWD is a fatal, neurological disease that impacts captive and free-ranging members of the deer family, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, red deer, sika deer and some exotics.

CWD is a progressive disease, so infected deer may not show outward symptoms of the illness for years. As the disease progresses, symptoms may include: drastic weight loss, stumbling, lack of coordination, listlessness, drooling, excessive thirst or urination, drooping ears or lack of fear of people.

Additional information for hunters and landowners on CWD in Texas is available here.