Amid pandemic and budget shortages, DNR cuts back on chronic wasting disease testing

LANSING – Even as they sit in a tree stand or stroll through a woodlot, Michigan deer hunters will feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic this fall.

The state is slashing the number of deer check stations and drop boxes and doesn't plan to test as many harvested deer for chronic wasting disease as it has in recent years.

The pandemic is one reason. Budget and staffing shortages are another.

"It is an unprecedented time in our state's history, with serious challenges that affect everyone," Dan Kennedy, acting wildlife division chief for the Department of Natural Resources, said in a news release. "We ask for your patience and grace as we adapt to meet these challenges."

Michigan's deer archery season starts Thursday.

The testing changes will mean longer wait times at the check stations that remain open and force some hunters to send samples to a lab if they want to have their deer tested for the fatal neurological disease.

Heads of deer taken in southern Jackson, southern Isabella and western Gratiot counties, plus a surveillance area in the Upper Peninsula, will be accepted for CWD testing from Oct. 3 to Jan. 4.

But samples from other areas of south-central Michigan, including Clinton, Eaton, Ingham and Ionia counties, will be accepted for testing for just three days, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18, during the first week of firearm deer season.

Hunters in those areas and the rest of the state can have their deer tested at any time for a fee. Including shipping, the cost will run from about $40 to around $80, depending on whether the entire deer head is shipped, DNR deer specialist Chad Stewart said.

Instructional videos about how to remove lymph node tissue and send it to a lab are available on the DNR's website, he said. Details for using the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for Chronic Wasting Disease Testing already are posted.

Information about how to submit samples to a Michigan State University laboratory will be posted soon, probably within the next two weeks, Stewart said.

The DNR will still test carcasses of any deer showing CWD symptoms, he said. It also will continue to test deer for bovine tuberculosis.

Michigan has tested nearly 81,000 deer since CWD was first discovered in a free-ranging whitetail in Meridian Township in 2015. About 190 deer have tested positive for the disease, including a total of 15 in Clinton, Eaton, Ingham and Ionia counties.

The state is cutting back on CWD surveillance because it has enough data from all but a few areas and because of budget shortfalls driven by a steady decline in the sale of hunting licenses, wildlife officials said.

"The pace at which we were going was unsustainable, so we recognized that we couldn't continue that same level of surveillance we previously had done, and we needed to make some changes," Stewart said. "We'll still test a lot of deer for CWD; it's just not at the same levels as we've done in the past few years."

License sales have fallen from around 850,000 to about 550,000 over the past 20 years, and the DNR expects that number to fall by another 100,000 or so over the next decade, he said.

Sales of fishing and hunting licenses are up this year, presumably because of the pandemic, but no one knows if that will continue, he said.

The DNR also is concerned about crowded check stations amid the pandemic.

"It's a social event," Stewart said. "You have a lot of hunters coming by and looking at the deer and talking to other hunters. There's still a concern that bringing all these people together will create concerns, not only for the staff's safety, but hunters' safety, as well."

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The DNR's Lansing Customer Service Center and Rose Lake Field Office will be the only two check stations open this fall in the Lansing metropolitan area, and they will only be open from Nov. 15-18.

A check station at Bellingar Packing in Ashley will be open on most Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from Oct. 1 to Jan. 4, according to the DNR's website. It also has a 24-hour drop box.

Hunters are being asked to bring only the head of their deer to a check station, wear a face covering and stay in the car while dropping it off.

"We want to get people in and out of there as quickly as possible," Stewart said.

A list of check stations and information about testing is available at Michigan.gov/CWD.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.