The Missouri Department of Conservation reports that a young buck harvested in Stone County in early November has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
This is the first detection of the disease in Stone County and the first detection in the far southwest region of the state.
The yearling white-tailed buck was killed on private land the opening weekend of the November firearms deer season near Reeds Spring, some 15 miles from the Arkansas border. Department staff have notified the hunter and landowner of the disease confirmation.
The positive test result is from one of more than 20,000 tissue samples collected by the department from hunter-harvested deer during its mandatory sampling efforts in 31 counties the opening weekend of the fall firearms season, Nov. 10 and 11.
The department reports that testing of the samples continues with more than 60 percent of sample test results already reported to hunters.
Sports on 12/11/2018