Recent sightings and new research leads to CWD regulation proposals at AGFC meeting

As the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) continues monitoring and researching chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, commissioners are considering new proposals that could change how hunters approach the next deer season.

During a recent meeting, the AGFC heard the first reading of three proposed regulation changes regarding CWD management.

The first proposal would add Conway County to the CWD Management Zone as a Tier 2 county following the detection of CWD in the area during the previous deer season.

The second regulation, if approved, would add Norfork Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Baxter County to the list of WMAs following CWD management regulations. This change would remove all antler-point restrictions on buck harvest and classify button bucks as antlerless deer for harvest purposes. Ed Gordon Point Remove, Cove Creek Natural Area, and Lake Overcup WMA in Conway County would also be added to the list.

The final proposed change would allow hunters to use products containing natural deer urine. AGFC Chief of Research Cory Gray said the initial ban on these products, enacted after CWD was first detected in Arkansas in 2016, was a precaution based on the best available science at the time. Since then, further studies have shown deer urine poses a low risk for introducing CWD into the environment.

“It’s not a ‘zero risk’ item, but the risk is low, especially compared to other bodily fluids and parts of cervids,” Gray said. “Given what we believe to be relatively low popularity of these products with Arkansas hunters, this regulation was placing our wardens in a situation they could not enforce—determining whether the source of the urine being used was synthetic or natural. This change will simplify things and allow hunters who use such products to continue doing so.”

The Commission is scheduled to vote on these proposals during its March meeting.

Commissioners also heard from Marcelo Jorge and Heather Gaya, researchers from the University of Georgia, who have been studying the effects of CWD on deer populations in north Arkansas. According to preliminary data from their four-and-a-half-year field study, the area has experienced an annual population decline of roughly 14%, with significantly higher mortality rates among CWD-positive adult deer compared to those that tested negative.

One positive finding, Jorge noted, is that initial fawn survival did not appear to be negatively affected by the presence of CWD in adult does. Fawns born to CWD-positive does survived through their first 180 days at similar rates as those from CWD-negative does. However, with fewer adult does in the population, overall reproduction has continued to decline.

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