With most chronic wasting disease testing completed, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department reports 18 deer tested positive during the 2020 hunting season.
Fourteen were from hunting unit 3F2, two were from unit 3A1 and one was from unit 4B. A white-tailed deer harvested in unit 3A2 also tested positive and was the first detection in the unit.
CWD is a fatal disease of deer, moose, and elk that can cause long-term population declines as infection rates climb.
The estimated infection rates in unit 3F2 were 5.1% in mule deer and 2.2% in whitetail deer. It was less than 2% in other positive units. Approximately 7% of hunters turned in heads for testing in units where the Department was focusing surveillance efforts.
Game and Fish will use its 2020 surveillance data to guide its CWD management strategy moving forward. More information about CWD can be found at gf.nd.gov/cwd.
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