During this 2022-23 hunting season, five counties in west Kentucky remain under special regulations for deer disease monitoring.
For a second-straight year, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will be eyeing the potential of Chronic Wasting Disease in a surveillance zone for Calloway, Marshall, Graves, Fulton and Hickman counties — after a deer in nearby northwest Tennessee tested positive for the ailment.
Chronic wasting disease is fatal for deer and elk, and while it has yet to be found in a Kentucky population, special regulations from the agency can detect and contain potential spreads for CWD.
This monitoring includes:
* Mandatory CWD Check Stations for select dates during modern gun season.
* No feeding or baiting of deer at any time in the CWD Surveillance Zone.
* And no transportation of harvested deer carcasses, their intact heads or other
high-risk parts out of the CWD Surveillance Zone.
Season dates and bag limits have not changed in the five counties.
Hunter participation is vital to disease monitoring efforts. The current validated test for CWD did not detect the disease in the more than 4,300 samples collected from deer in the surveillance zone from March 1, 2021 through March 2, 2022.
All deer harvested in Calloway, Fulton, Graves, Hickman and Marshall counties by any method during November 12-14, 19-21 and 26-27 must be brought to a CWD Check Station for sampling.
Archery and crossbow hunters, muzzleloader hunters and landowners hunting on their own property also must bring their deer to a check station during these dates. All deer should be telechecked before coming to the check station.