With the recent discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease in two captive deer breeding facilities in south central Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is asking for help.
The TPWD will be stepping up efforts to sample hunter-harvested deer during the 2015-16 season.
Hunters are encouraged to assist with this statewide monitoring effort by voluntarily submitting samples this fall.
TPWD biologists will collect and submit samples to the Texas A&M Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at no cost to the hunter.
Tissue samples from the heads of harvested deer must be collected within 24 hours of harvest, or up to 48 hours if chilled.
TPWD biologists have been monitoring the state’s free-ranging deer population for CWD since 2003. So far, biologists have collected nearly 30,000 samples from hunter-harvested deer across Texas’ eight ecological regions.
In most cases, the confidence standard is 95 percent if at least one out of every 100 deer was infected. Read more in the weekend Bowie News.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (Logo provided by the TPWD, used with permission)