No CWD Discovered in Louisiana Deer and Now There’s More Good News

After a startling discovery of a whitetail deer, just 7.5 miles north of the Louisiana border in southern Arkansas, that tested positive for the dreaded, lethal CWD or Chronic Wasting Disease, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries immediately went into somewhat of a crisis prevention mode.

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The Department immediately implemented a supplemental feeding ban for all deer hunters in neighboring Morehouse and Union parishes in Louisiana.  LDWF also ramped up their CWD testing efforts in those two parishes, to determine if the dreadful disease had come across the Louisiana state line in the veins of an unknowing whitetail.

In a notice from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries issued Friday, they report they found no evidence of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer samples taken in Morehouse and Union parishes.

Obviously this is incredible news for Louisiana deer hunters.  But the news gets even better.

In a report from the Louisiana Radio Network, we learn that because of these findings, LDWF Biologist Director Scott Durham says the baiting ban or "ban on supplemental feeding" that was issued for Morehouse and Union parishes has now been lifted.

“We were able to rescind that ban and tell our hunters to go back and use that method to hunt. We’re able to do that after over 300 samples were tested, where CWD was not detected,” said Durham.

Durham also added that it was the willingness of Louisiana's deer hunters to have their deer tested for CWD that allowed the Department to reach it's testing goal so quickly and to confidently lift the baiting ban.  Durham said, “We want to thank the hunters for their cooperation in that sampling effort out there it was only really because of them we were able to be so successful, so quickly. And encourage them to continue to help us in that.”

CWD has now been discovered all around Louisiana in Texas, Mississippi and in Arkansas, so Louisiana's hunters are still encouraged to continue submitting deer samples to LDWF. Durham said CWD is an ongoing issue they consistently monitor.  “It’s a pretty serious issue that we constantly have to be looking for.”