On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced that under Alabama’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone Regulation (220-2-.167), all deer harvested in Lauderdale and Colbert Counties during specific weekends of the 2023-2024 white-tailed deer season must have samples submitted for CWD testing.
The mandatory sampling weekends in the High-Risk Zone of the CMZ are November 18-19 and December 2-3, 2023. The mandatory sampling weekends in the Buffer Zone of the CMZ are November 18-19, 2023, and January 6-7, 2024. The mandatory CWD sampling weekends apply to all of Lauderdale and Colbert counties in northwest Alabama.
To find the sampling locations within the CMZ, visit ADCNR’s webpage.
The dates of the mandatory weekends for the High-Risk Zone and Buffer Zone were selected because they correspond with peaks in Alabama’s deer harvest. Nov. 18-19 is the opening weekend of Alabama’s deer season in Northwest Alabama. The selection of Jan 6-7 is timed with the rut in northwest Alabama. The rut is when the most does (female deer) are most likely to be in estrus; thus, the deer are focused on mating and are less cautious about possible threats – like hunters.
Outside those weekends, hunters are encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at the self-service freezers in the appropriate CMZ zone.
All deer harvested by hunters on public land in the CMZ must be sampled throughout the season. Those public lands include the Freedom Hills WMA, Lauderdale WMA, Seven-Mile Island WMA, Cherokee Physically Disabled Hunting Area, and Riverton Community Hunting Area.
To prevent the spread of CWD, there are also restrictions in place under the CWD regulation that prohibit the transport of deer carcasses and deer parts in the CMZ. Deer harvested within the High-Risk Zone must remain and be disposed of within the High-Risk Zone. Deer harvested within the Buffer Zone must remain and be disposed of within the CMZ. Deboned meat, cleaned skull plates, and raw hides with no visible brain or spinal cord tissue may be taken outside of these zones. Transporting deer carcasses out of the management zone can potentially spread CWD to currently unaffected areas.
To hunt deer in any part of Alabama requires being in possession of a valid hunting license. There are also reporting requirements under Game Check in place statewide.
CWD is a contagious neurological disease of white-tailed deer and other deer species such as elk, axis deer, mule deer, etc. CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy disease similar to scrapie in sheep and mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy – BSE) in cattle. The disease is caused by a mutated protein called a prion. Chronic Wasting Disease is 100% fatal in white-tailed deer. The prions accumulate in the brain, leading to the onset of symptoms that grow progressively worse over time. Based on the experience with BSE in Great Britain, there is a potential risk to humans who consume the prion-contaminated meats. For this reason, it is not recommended that anyone consume the brain or spinal cord tissue of any deer. The carcass of a known CWD-positive deer should also not be consumed as a precaution. To date, there has not been any known instance of a human becoming sick from CWD.
The first CWD-positive deer in Alabama’s deer herd was detected in Lauderdale County in January 2022.
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