Licenses for CWD hunt sell out

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Licenses for a second special hunt in Montana, this one north of Chester, went on sale Tuesday, but not for long

Nearly 400 licenses for the special chronic wasting disease deer hunt sold out in less than four hours.

The 60 either-sex licenses offered for the hunt sold out in less than five minutes, and 335 deer B licenses sold out in 3 hours and 40 minutes. The hunt begins Jan. 6 and will end Feb. 15 or when hunters have killed 135 mule deer.

The Sage Creek Special CWD Hunt area is about 226 square miles in size and just east of the Sweet Grass Hills. It abuts to the Canadian border. The hunt area is primarily comprised of private land.

All successful hunters must have their animal sampled at a check station at the Sage Creek Hutterite Colony or at Fish, Wildlife and Parks offices in Havre or Great Falls.

A similar hunt is ongoing in Carbon County.

The hunt north of Chester was approved Thursday by the Montana Fish and Wildlfe Commission in an attempt to determine how widespread the disease is in deer in the area.

A mule deer buck shot north of Chester Nov. 12 tested positive for the disease, while six shot south of Billings in Carbon County tested positive.

This year marks the first year the disease has been confirmed in Montana wildlife. It was detected in elk in a game farm near Phillipsburg in 1999, leading to the slaughter of the animals from that farm.

Montana, which created a CWD management plan in 2005, is trying to determine how widespread the disease is and to slow its further spread. In one effort, it requested Wyoming stop feeding elk due to concern the practice could speed up the spread of the disease.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks also established incident command teams to address the discovery in Carbon County and in north-central Montana.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., introduced a bill last week that would authorize $60 million to help state and tribal wildlife management agencies stop the spread of chronic wasting disease, which has been detected in 21 states.

A release from Tester’s office about the bill said Wyoming has seen serious impacts from the disease, with a a 21 percent annual decline in the mule deer population and a 10 percent decline in the white-tail deer population due to CWD.

Hunters are warned to be cautious during regular hunting seasons in areas where the disease is suspected. CWD is a progressive, fatal neurological disease that effects deer, elk and moose. It is not known to infect humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend not consuming animals that test positive for CWD. The CDC also recommends getting deer, elk or moose from CWD positive areas tested prior to consumption.

If animals contract the disease, they might not show symptoms for more than a year. Symptoms can include drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms. CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. CWD is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.