COLUMBIA — The Missouri Department of Conservation is conducting mandatory deer sampling in select counties around the state this weekend ahead of the firearms portion of deer season.
Sampling is an effort to keep track and control the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease among Missouri’s deer population.
CWD is a 100% fatal, contagious disease within white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family. It is caused by a misfolded protein that can be spread through direct contact between deer and other instances where they encounter the protein.
“That effort helps us to test those deer for CWD to understand where the disease is in our state, understand the distribution of the disease and also helps inform where our management efforts are spent to manage the disease, to slow the spread and keep the percentage of our deer herd that have the disease as low as possible,” said Jason Isabelle, cervid program supervisor for the department.
The department will host 66 mandatory sampling stations in 35 counties across the state.
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In mid-Missouri, sampling is mandatory in Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Chariton, Cole, Howard, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Maries, Randolph and Saline counties.
“If (individuals are) hunting in one of the 35 mandatory sampling counties and they harvest a deer either tomorrow, on Saturday, or on Sunday, they have to take their deer to a mandatory sampling station,” said Isabelle.
The sampling stations are open from 7:30 a.m to 8 p.m. People can come at any time, and the staff will collect samples for CWD testing.