Positive case of chronic wasting disease discovered in Baxter County deer

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has confirmed a deer harvested in Baxter County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

The deer, a three-and-a-half-year-old buck, was harvested in November during the 2024-25 hunting season and taken to one of the commission’s partnering taxidermists, where a sample tested positive. Two additional cases were identified in Cleburne County.

Baxter County has been part of the AGFC’s CWD Management Zone since 2019, following detections near the county line in Marion and Searcy counties.

AGFC Wildlife Health Biologist AJ Riggs says the discovery was expected. “The probability of finding CWD in these counties eventually was high, given their proximity to other known positive cases. These new cases confirm that our protocols for early detection are effective.”

According to the management and response plan, no deer hunting regulations concerning CWD will be changed during the remainder of the deer season, which ends Feb. 28.

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