Chronic wasting disease meeting planned in Pierce County after initial disease detection

Following the first detection of chronic wasting disease in Pierce County, the Department of Natural Resources will host a public meeting Aug. 14 in Spring Valley to provide information on CWD in Wisconsin, local testing efforts and disease surveillance options being considered.

The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Pierce County Deer Advisory Council, a group of local residents representing agriculture, hunting, transportation and other interests.

In late April the DNR reported an adult doe was found sick in the town of Spring Lake. The animal, estimated at 4 or 5 years old, was humanely dispatched. Testing of its tissues were positive for CWD.

By state law, the finding caused a two-year ban on deer feeding and baiting in Pierce and St. Croix counties and renewed a ban in Dunn County.

The bans in the adjoining counties kicked in because the animal was found within 10 miles of the Dunn and St. Croix county borders.

The bans took effect May 15.

With the 2024 bow deer seasons set to open Sept. 14 the DNR will remind hunters and landowners of the bans at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases, including Mad Cow Disease and scrapie.

The disease has not been shown to affect humans or livestock. However, health experts, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin Department of Health Services, recommend people don't eat meat from a CWD-positive animal.

The DNR began monitoring the state's wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positive test results were reported in wild and captive deer in Wisconsin in 2002.

Since the original detections, CWD has continued to spread and increase in prevalence in Wisconsin's wild white-tailed deer, according to DNR data.

Testing coordinated by the agency found the disease in 1,586 deer in the state during the 2023-24 sampling year, most in a one-year period since surveillance for CWD began in 1999.

The prevalence rates in the endemic area of southern Wisconsin are substantially higher than they were 20 years ago. For example in Sauk County the disease is now found in about 33% to 37% of does and 45% to 48% of bucks, said Erin Larson, DNR deer herd health specialist.

The geographical spread of the disease was highlighted by detections in wild deer over the last year in Jackson, Pierce, Polk, Trempealeau and Waushara counties, the first such findings in those counties despite years of sampling.

The state's 2010-25 CWD Response plan set a goal of "minimizing the area of Wisconsin where CWD occurs and the number of infected deer in the state."

Although it included the option of using sharp-shooters or other intensive, localized efforts to reduce deer numbers in response to a new CWD detection, the DNR has not enacted such a measure under the plan.

The DNR's policy has focused on monitoring and education.

The disease is most concentrated in southern Wisconsin near the areas it was first detected. But given the trajectory of the disease, wildlife health experts expect it to be found in all 72 counties eventually.

Adult deer have a higher prevalence than yearlings, and males have a higher prevalence than females, according to the DNR.

The disease is rarely detected in fawns. Only 23 CWD-positive fawns were found in about 15,000 tested, according to a DNR statement.

The Pierce County CWD public meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 14 at Spring Valley Middle/High School - Commons Area, S1450 CTY ROAD CC, Spring Valley.

Upriver sturgeon application deadline

Sturgeon spearers have an Aug. 1 deadline to apply for an Upriver Lakes spearing tag for the 2025 season.

Due to higher annual success rates on the Upriver Lakes, the DNR issues only 500 tags on lakes Poygan, Winneconne or Butte des Morts. The tags are issued through a drawing where priority is given to applications with the most preference points. Spearers also can choose to purchase a preference point instead of applying for a tag.

Applicants selected to purchase an Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing license will be notified by Oct. 1. License holders not selected will be awarded a preference point toward future drawings and can purchase a Lake Winnebago spearing license.  There is no limit to the number of spearing licenses available on Lake WInnebago.  The deadline is Oct. 31 to purchase a Lake Winnebago spearing license.

Spearers can apply for an Upriver Lakes tag, purchase a preference point online or buy a Lake Winnebago sturgeon spearing license through the Go Wild system or at any license sales location .

The 2025 Winnebago System sturgeon spearing season opens Feb. 8. The season is authorized for a maximum of 16 days but closes earlier if any of the biologically based harvest caps are reached. Separate harvest caps are set for Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Chronic wasting disease meeting planned in Pierce County after initial disease detection