CWD in Mississippi: Where MS is in deer disease fight and new management zones for 2024-25

The number of cases of chronic wasting disease is growing in Mississippi and so are the CWD management zones.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks has set the CWD management zone boundaries for 2024-25 and is asking for hunters' help in managing the disease, which is always fatal for deer.

"We have a total at 317 positives in 16 different counties," said Russ Walsh, MDWFP Wildlife chief of staff. "We had 110 positives for the 2023-24 sampling season which runs from July 1 to June 30, so we're almost at the end of the season. That was out of 9,002 samples."

The neurological disease was first detected in Mississippi in 2018 and detection of new cases is rapidly increasing. The 110 cases found in the 2023-24 sampling year represents more than a third of the total number of cases found since 2018.

Walsh said a part of the reason for the increase is more bucks are being tested and they tend to have a higher rate of infection than does. The other reason is prevalence of the disease appears to be increasing.

Statewide, the prevalence went from 0.2% in 2018-19 to 1.2% in 2023-24. In Benton County, the hardest hit by the disease, the prevalence rose from 5.7% in 2018-19 to 20% in 2023-24. In other words, one in every five deer tested in Benton County is positive.

Keys to slowing the spread of CWD

The MDWFP has a number of regulations aimed at slowing the spread of the disease, but Walsh said there are two things hunters can do that are at the top of the list — continue hunting and harvesting deer to reduce population density and stop supplemental feeding, which unnaturally concentrates deer.

"Those two things are keys to helping us mitigate the spread and increase in prevalence," Walsh said.

With the number of cases on the rise and more counties producing positive detections, the CWD management zones have changed. Here are the current zones as well as basic regulations within them.

MS deer hunting:Here's what's new for the 2024-25 season

North CWD Management Zone

The North CWD Management Zone includes all portions of the following counties:

• Alcorn County
• Benton County
• Desoto County
• Lafayette County
• Marshall County
• Panola County
• Prentiss County
• Tate County
• Tippah County
• Tishomingo County
• Union County

Portions of Coahoma, Quitman, and Tunica counties are also included and are defined as:

• Areas south of MS 4
• Areas east of Old Highway 61 to the intersection of US 49
• Areas east of US 49 to the intersection of US 278
• Areas north of US 278
• Areas west of MS 3

Issaquena CWD Management Zone

• Claiborne County
• Sharkey County, east of the Mississippi River and south of MS 14
• Warren County

Harrison CWD Management Zone

Portions of Hancock and Harrison counties are included and defined as:

• All portions of Harrison County west of US 49
• All portions of Hancock County east of MS 53, MS 603 and MS 43
• All portions of Hancock County east of Nicholson Avenue

What is banned in a CWD management zone?

• Salt licks
• Mineral licks
• Supplemental feeding
• Transportation of deer carcasses outside the zone

What parts of a deer can be taken out of a CWD zone?

• Cut/wrapped meat
• Deboned meat
• Hides with no head attached
• Bone-in leg quarters
• Finished taxidermy
• Antlers with no tissue attached
• Cleaned skulls or skull plates with no brain tissue

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