Special to the Star Herald
Hard to believe it’s deer season already with moose season just ending and temperatures above normal. One good point to mention is the fact that Daylight Savings Time ended, enabling weary eyed hunters extra hours of sleep and perhaps an extra hour after work to enjoy hunting for the elusive white-tailed deer. The first day of deer season was wet and windy for northern Maine, keeping the deer registration numbers lower than normal. For those hunters always trying to outsmart white-tailed deer, the normal rut primarily falls around the third week in November. That makes the last week of deer season the prime time to hunt this year. The downfall of this year’s early season may be limited snow fall, thus decreasing the hunters chance of finding deer sign. Scouting and doing your homework will be critical.
Maine wildlife biologists will be busy collecting deer samples over the next four weeks to test for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) as well as collecting deer biological data to evaluate the condition of deer. CWD is a fatal disease of the nervous system of deer, elk and moose. The disease belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Currently, CWD is known to infect free-ranging deer and elk in portions of Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and both Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. In
addition, CWD has been found in captive/farmed elk or white-tailed deer herds in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. Free-ranging moose have been detected with CWD in Colorado.
In 2002, DIFW biologists tested 831 hunter-killed deer from all areas of the state. All deer tested negative for CWD. Similar negative results were obtained from 810 deer in 2003, 756 deer in 2004, 819 deer in 2005 and 909 deer in 2006. At this time, we consider Maine to be CWD-free, based on available evidence. However, we are stepping up surveillance for wild deer and captive/farmed cervids to better evaluate CWD status in Maine, as is being done throughout the U.S. If you would like to learn more about CWD please go to DIFW website.
