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Wildlife officials urge more hunter sampling and backing for harvest reporting as CWD spreads
Summary
Agency scientists said chronic wasting disease (CWD) remains a growing concern in parts of Mississippi and urged greater hunter participation in sampling and consideration of mandatory harvest reporting to improve population management.
Russ Walsh, representing the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, briefed the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee on the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease monitoring and urged stronger hunter engagement and better harvest data to manage the disease.
Walsh said CWD has been detected in 18 Mississippi counties since February 2018 and that the core outbreak area in north Mississippi (Benton and Marshall counties) appears to expand roughly 3.5 miles per year. The agency reported 447 CWD‑positive tests detected since 2018 and said its primary mitigation strategy is to reduce deer density through hunter participation and targeted tags.
Why it matters: committee members expressed concern that the state lacks mandatory harvest reporting, which limits the department’s ability to produce precise statewide population estimates and track changes. The House passed a harvest reporting measure in a prior year (House Bill 2816 was cited) and the agency urged renewed attention from the Senate.
Sampling, costs and current programs
- The agency reported sampling roughly 10,700 deer last year. Walsh said the per‑sample cost is about $22, and the current CWD program funding is about $400,000 annually, which supports testing, sampling equipment and a taxidermist sampling program that pays taxidermists to submit samples.
- Agency staff described targeted 3‑mile tags in infected zones to encourage additional harvest and said those tag data help study the effects of reduced density in localized areas. Walsh said those localized efforts produce useful scientific data about disease mitigation.
Data gaps and harvest reporting
Walsh told the committee that Mississippi is the last state in the region without mandatory harvest reporting for deer and that absence leaves managers dependent on hunter surveys, the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) and other partial data sources. Committee members and Walsh discussed House Bill 2816 (the previously passed harvest‑reporting bill in the House) and the need to balance verification (for example, physical tagging) with program cost and hunter acceptance.
Other technical points
- The department said CWD prevalence is higher in bucks during the rut because of increased contact, but transmission occurs through saliva, urine and environmental contamination where infected deer repeatedly use the same feeding or bedding sites. Agency staff emphasized that concentrating deer — for example at feeders — increases transmission risk.
- Walsh said environmental testing (soil and scrape testing) and genotype research are active research fronts, but no cure exists; prion diseases are difficult to treat and current management focuses on surveillance and density reduction.
Committee reaction and next steps
Several senators expressed urgency about sampling and reporting; one lawmaker said the House had already passed harvest reporting legislation and urged the Senate to act. Walsh said the agency will continue sampling, seek to expand hunter participation and provide additional data to the legislature. No committee vote was taken during the hearing.
Ending note
The committee discussion closed with members agreeing on the need for better data: both increased sampling and a reliable harvest‑reporting mechanism were presented as priorities to inform management decisions and to attempt to limit CWD expansion.
