Watch for illnesses as deer season opens

Deer season opened for Wrangell Island on Friday.

“We’ve been selling a lot of licenses,” said Emma McMurren, a shopkeeper at Angerman’s. Hunters have been lining up not just for the deer season, but for bear and wolves as well. “They’re pretty excited,” she added.

However, starting this year Alaska hunters will have to forego using urine-based attractants, due to concerns that they are a means of bringing chronic wasting disease (CWD) to the state’s deer and elk population.

CWD is a transmissible set of conditions affecting the brains and nervous systems of deer, elk and other cervids. Animals affected with the disease experience weight loss to the point of death. Currently the illness affects deer populations in 15 states and two Canadian provinces.

ADF&G cites studies that indicate urine can transmit CWD. The agency further adds that attractants are poorly regulated and that urine used in such products is generally not treated to kill bacteria and may be sourced from states with affected populations.

“We’re still concerned about other diseases of deer,” said Dr. Kimberly Beckman, ADF&G’s veterinarian. These other diseases include exotic lice, brain worm and rabies.

Beckman said hunters who find deer acting oddly or missing patches of fur, and those that are otherwise sickly, should report them to the nearest fish and game office. Samples—skin in the case of lice or the deer’s head for other ailments— would also be helpful for ADF&G officials investigating the diseases.

Beckman explained that killing a deer that is diseased or acting strangely would fall under “defense of life and property” and would not count toward a hunter’s tags. “But we need the head,” she added.

“We’d prefer fish and game would shoot them,” she said, adding this is not always possible. According to Beckman, the most important thing is taking infected deer out of the population and reporting them.

“Those diseases could be so devastating to our population,” Beckman emphasized. To combat the risks, ADF&G has recently set up a special line for disease reporting, 907-328-8354.

Additional tips, maps,

season schedules and other resources for hunters can be found online at http://www.adfg.

alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=

hunting.general.

Hunting licenses and tickets can be picked up in town at Ottesen’s True Value, Sentry Hardware and Marine, Buness Bros. and Angerman’s. Hunters can report their harvest numbers to the Alaska Department of Game & Fish (ADF&G) on an as-you-go basis, either in

person, online or by U.S. Mail.

This year’s bag limit for deer taken on the island is two bucks and the season runs through the end of November.