December CWD hunts offer deer hunters additional harvest opportunities on Minnesota- North Dakota border

Deer hunters seeking additional opportunities can harvest deer in late season chronic wasting disease management hunts along the Minnesota-North Dakota border.

Hunting dates are Friday, Dec. 17, through Sunday, Dec. 19, and Friday, Dec. 31, through Sunday, Jan. 2. Deer permit areas along the border open to the CWD management hunts are 261 and 262. Hunters may participate in the hunts on both dates.

CWD sampling is mandatory for all deer harvested during both hunts. This sampling is needed to determine if CWD exists in the deer herd within DPAs 261 and 262.

Harvested deer must be taken to a sampling station by the end of the Monday after each three-day hunt. Sampling locations will be available in Ada, Alverado, Climax, Crookston, East Grand Forks, Hendrum and Moorhead. Staff will be available to assist hunters at these locations 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Fridays-Sundays and 9 a.m.-noon Mondays following the hunt. For hunters who miss the staffed station hours, self-service stations will remain in place through the Mondays after each hunt. A complete list of station locations and hours is available on the DNR website.

A hunter may use any unfilled archery, firearms, muzzleloader or landowner deer hunting license. The hunting method used must match the hunter’s deer license. Unfilled bonus permits and early antlerless permits also may be used for antlerless deer.

Resident and non-resident hunters who have filled their license have a unique opportunity to purchase unlimited, either-sex disease management permits for $2.50 to participate.

In Minnesota, mandatory carcass movement restrictions are not in effect during these hunts in permit areas 261 and 262, but hunters are nevertheless strongly encouraged not to move whole carcasses from either permit area and instead bone out or quarter their deer so that they do not transport any part of the spinal column or head outside of the DPA. If hunters are butchering deer themselves, the butchering remains, especially the spinal column and head, should be disposed of in household garbage that will go to a landfill.

Hunters are encouraged not to use attractants and should be aware that an attractant ban in this area goes into effect Thursday, Dec. 30. Complete details on carcass movement restrictions, disposal of deer carcasses and feeding and attractant bans in Minnesota are available on the DNR website.

High-risk carcass parts from deer harvested in Minnesota cannot be transported into North Dakota. Details for North Dakota’s carcass movement restrictions are available on the North Dakota Game & Fish website.

There are limited public lands in the area and most of the land is private. Hunters must first obtain landowner permission to hunt.

Complete information about the hunts, which the DNR conducts to help assess potential disease spread and reduce the number of deer to help mitigate the risk of CWD transmission, is available on the DNR website.