Just as Michigan’s firearms deer season opens Monday, hunters are learning that the finding of a sick deer near the border of the Upper Peninsula may lead to changes in rules.
The Detroit Free Press reports someone found a whitetail buck sick with chronic wasting disease on a Wisconsin shooting preserve about 40 miles from the Michigan border.
That may trigger a ban on baiting and feeding deer in the UP.
The Detroit Free Press says ban is not expected to be put in place this season in the UP, because hunters have already been baiting deer for the firearms deer season.
Baiting is already banned in the Lower Peninsula as authorities work to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis. Deer are believed to catch the diseases by nose to nose contact, or by eating off a bait pile after an infected deer.
CWD disease kills deer by attacking their brains. It is fatal.
The Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance Website says, “There is currently no evidence that CWD is transmissible to humans. However public health officials recommend that exposure to the CWD agent be avoided as they continue to research the disease.”
