DNR Outlines Special Hunting Regulations for Townships in Kent County; Changes to Wildlife Rehabilitation Also Ordered

Contact: Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014
Agency: Natural Resources

The Department of Natural Resources today outlined special deer hunting regulations for the nine townships in the Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance zone in Kent County that will be in place for the fall deer hunting season. Changes also will be made to regulations regarding possession of live cervids, including for wildlife rehabilitation.

These changes are part of the state’s emergency response plan for CWD. On Monday, Aug. 25, the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa confirmed CWD in a deer from a privately owned facility in Kent County.

Under the special hunting regulations, only boned meat, capes and antlers of hunter-harvested deer may be removed from the CWD surveillance zone, which includes Tyrone, Solon, Nelson, Sparta, Algoma, Courtland, Alpine, Plainfield and Cannon townships.

Hunters harvesting wild, free-ranging deer in the surveillance zone shall not remove the carcass or parts of the carcass from the CWD surveillance zone, except for boned meat, antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue, and hides. Finished taxidermist mounts also may be removed from the CWD surveillance zone.

The entire carcasses of all hunter-harvested deer from the CWD surveillance zone shall be presented at a DNR check deer check station within 72 hours of harvest. Additional check stations will be established in the surveillance zone to make it more convenient for hunters in the zone. Those locations will be announced prior to the early antlerless hunt on private land scheduled to take place Sept. 18-22 southern Michigan.

At the check stations, DNR staff will remove the deer head and a portion of the neck. During regular deer hunting seasons this fall,hunters may retain the antlers after they have turned over the head at the check station. Hunters outside the surveillance zone in Kent County will be able to retain the carcass as well. Hunters inside the surveillance zone cannot remove the carcass from the zone.

Additionally, the DNR will issue a new wildlife order that will make changes that impact wildlife rehabilitation in Michigan. Under the emergency orders, the possession and transport of any live cervids, including for wildlife rehabilitation, will be prohibited. Cervids include white-tailed deer, elk and moose. All privately owned cervid facilities in the state are already quarantined, meaning no cervids alive or dead may be removed from the facilities.

These regulation changes will be in effect starting Friday, Aug. 29, when DNR Director Rebecca Humphries signs the emergency wildlife orders that outline these special regulations.

The wildlife orders and more information about CWD and the surveillance zone in Kent County are available on the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural resources
for current and future generations.