The Missouri Department of Conservation is considering changes to the way it fights chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal neurological condition that spreads among deer.
Right now, Missouri can mandate testing of some deer carcasses, but only within a special CWD-management zone. In the years since that zone was created in 2012, CWD cases have cropped up across the state, causing the zone to balloon from six counties to 82 in 2025.
A new proposal would close that zone in a move conservation officials say would help them improve the quality of their data.
Deb Hudman is the Conservation Health Section Chief at the Missouri Department of Conservation. Hudman says she isn’t sure where the department would test if the proposal is passed, but the new rules would give officials the flexibility to test anywhere in the state.
“Part of our thought is that maybe we put it on a rotation,” Hudman said. “So we sample all the counties over a certain number of years, and then just start that cycle over again, so that way we get a full surveillance.”
The zone has also become unpopular with some hunters. State officials say they hope the new rules will be more clear and easier for hunters to follow.
Krysten Schuler is a researcher who advises the state of New York, the only state to successfully eliminate CWD state-wide. Schuler says that, despite the growing size of Missouri’s CWD management zone, the state is actually doing quite well.
“I think they would benefit from other people backing them up, saying ‘no you are doing the right thing, keep going,’” Schuler said. “Because it’s hard when you’re out there leading and you’ve got landowners or hunters who aren’t happy with what you’re doing.”
The proposed changes to the rules will be open for public comment from January 15 to February 14.
