MADISON, Wis. – It is important to remember that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wants hunters and the public to help stop the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) and other diseases between deer by not baiting or feeding deer in places where there are no bans in place.
CWD is a disease that affects the brain systems of deer, elk, moose, and caribou and always kills them. It is caused by a prion protein that is not folded correctly. The disease can be passed on by touching the saliva, urine, feces, or blood of a sick animal.
It can also be spread indirectly by being in an area that is dirty. It can be hard to keep an affected area under control because CWD prions are very strong and can stay in the soil for a long time.
Baiting is putting anything on purpose, like food, scented items, salts, minerals, or grains, to get wild animals to come to you so you can kill them. For non-hunting reasons, like leisure or extra food, feeding wild animals means putting things out on purpose to feed them or attract them. Birds and small mammals are the only animals that can be fed accidentally.
Deer are more likely to gather in one place than they would normally if they are lured or fed. This makes it easier for diseases like CWD to spread fast between infected deer and healthy deer, either directly or through contact in the environment.
Infected deer can also leave behind CWD prions that can infect healthy deer that come to the spot in the future. These prions can be found in saliva, blood, feces, and urine. When these prions stay in a place where more deer are likely to gather, like a feed pile, CWD can spread very quickly.
The DNR is required by state law to ban baiting and feeding in any county with a confirmed CWD-positive wild or captive deer or within 10 miles of the site of the positive deer. This is done to reduce these risks and slow the spread of CWD.
Any county where a wild or farm-raised deer tests positive for CWD is not allowed to bait or feed deer for three years. If the tick-positive deer is found within 10 miles of the county line, the county next to it will be banned for two years. There will be a new ban on baiting and feeding for two to three years if more cases of CWD are found during the ban’s time. Because of this, if new farm-raised and wild CWD positives are found, the date when the ban on baiting and feeding would end in a certain county may change.
People can still feed birds and small mammals in areas that don’t allow baiting or feeding, as long as the feeders are at least 50 yards away from a home and are high enough or designed in a way that deer can’t get to them.