The deer season in Iowa includes some continued testing of the animals taken to see if Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has spread in the herd. D-N-R spokesman, Tyler Harms says they are ramping up the sampling efforts in different parts of the state. The positive tests for C-W-D in wild deer have all come in counties along the border in eastern Iowa.  “We collect samples in every county and the number of samples varies depending on where you are in the state,” Harms says. “Those samples are collected by our wildlife field management staff. We are certainly encouraging hunters to help us with collecting those samples if you are contacted by some of our staff.”

Another disease the keep an eye for in the deer herd is Epizootic hemorrhagic disease. Commonly known as E-H-D, and surprisingly we did not receive many reports of that disease this year despite the dry conditions we experienced in late summer. So, Typically we see spikes of E-H-D after drought years or in drought conditions,” Harms says.

Harms expects hunters to take around 100-thosuand deer when all the seasons are complete.

(Radio Iowa)