Hunters local to the area where a mule deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease earlier this fall will have the chance to hunt white-tailed deer and mule deer in the region for the next few weeks.
On Nov. 26, the province announced that limited, localized hunting permits would be issued for the region, which had previously had a hunting ban. The community hunting period will be open until Dec. 12.
The province announced Manitoba’s first CWD case Nov. 1, a few weeks after a visibly ill male mule deer around Lake of the Prairies was euthanized and later tested positive for the deadly disease.
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The hunting ban immediately followed, running from Provincial Road 482 south of Asessippi Provincial Park to Roblin, and east to west from Highway 83 to the Saskatchewan border. At the time, the province had said they did not want hunters taking carcasses out of the region until the CWD case had been more fully investigated.
The province also said they would increase testing efforts in mule deer, both in the area and elsewhere in the province.
The local hunting window is the next phase in those CWD control efforts, the province has said. A special permit will be required, sourced through the Roblin conservation district office.
“Hunters, harvesters and local landowners continue to have an important role to play in the containment of this deadly disease,” the province said in a Nov. 26 release.
It will be the first time that the hunting of mule deer, a protected species, is allowed in the province.
Farm groups like the Manitoba Elk Growers Association have long advocated for mule deer control efforts, due to the species’ susceptibility to CWD. According to Saskatchewan’s provincial CWD hunter surveillance program, 338 of the total 466 positive cases in that province in 2020-21 were mule deer.
Hunters are also reminded that Manitoba requires CWD testing for any cervid taken in the mandatory submission zone—a zone that runs through most municipalities on the Saskatchewan border south of Flin Flon and around Riding Mountain National Park. A list of sample drop-off locations can be found here (insert hyperlink to: https://gov.mb.ca/fish-wildlife/pubs/fish_wildlife/biological_samples.pdf).
CWD is a progressive, inevitably fatal neurological disease of the cervid family, also effecting elk, moose, caribou and other deer species. It is not considered a threat to human health, although the province recommends against eating meat from a CWD-positive animal.
