The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission identified 28 new cases of Chronic Wasting Disease from voluntary sampling stations run during opening weekend of modern gun season, Nov. 12-13.
The commission conducted voluntary sampling sites in 25 locations within the 10-county disease management zone, and the following counties had deer test positive: Carroll, eight deer; Marion, two deer; Newton, 14 deer; Pope, two deer; Searcy, one deer; and Yell, one deer.
Marion and Yell counties were new counties to have a disease-positive case, and Searcy County was added to the Chronic Wasting Disease positive list a week ago upon confirmation of the state’s lone positive elk sample for 2016.
“The Marion County cases were right across the border from Boone County, which already had CWD-positive cases, but the Yell County one is a little disheartening,” said Cory Gray, Game and Fish deer program coordinator. “It’s our southernmost case yet and was found on the south side of the Arkansas River.”
Hunters voluntarily submitted 535 samples during the two-day period, about 10 percent of the checked harvest in the management zone that weekend. Biologists did not receive as many samples as they hoped. So far, license sales and overall harvest tend to reinforce that thought.
“Many states with CWD have seen a drop in hunting license sales and deer harvest immediately following the detection of the disease, but we currently aren’t seeing a decrease,” he said. “Our hunting license sales are on the same trend as before CWD was detected, and the harvest has actually increased in many of the CWD-positive counties compared to the previous five years.”
Gray said the increased harvest may be a result of liberalized seasons in the management zone to help control the spread of the disease.
He added the results also helped fill in some gaps left from roadkill surveys throughout the year, particularly in Pope, Johnson and Newton counties, which are mostly national forest with very few roads from which to collect roadkills.
An additional 411 samples taken from roadkills and deer that were reported sick throughout the state have been sent for testing, bringing the total number of statewide samples taken since March to more than 3,000.
Biologists will continue to sample deer and elk that are reported sick on a statewide basis, and roadkill samples also will be collected, but Gray said the effort will be diminished from the current roundthe-clock response. Game and Fish officials ask the public to report any sick deer they see at 800-482-9262.