In an effort to limit the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) board passed an emergency rule that does not allow hunters in Wisconsin to take a deer carcass outside of CWD-affected counties unless they take it to a butcher or taxidermist within 72 hours.
CWD-affected counties include Marathon, Portage, Lincoln, Oneida, Shawano, Waupaca, and Adams counties in the north-central part of the state.
Hunters can also remove the meat from the bones or quarter the carcass within 72 hours before leaving the county of harvest.
“Essentially if you harvest a deer within a CWD affected county, the spine and the head of that deer have to be removed and stay within that county of harvest before you can take the remaining portions of that deer out of the county of harvest,” Scott Karel, DNR rules and regulations specialist, told WSAW-TV.
Governor Scott Walker must approve the rules before they take effect.
(Photo source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)