During the 2019 hunting season, hunters may spot deer that are equipped with radio collars. Collared deer are part of a mortality study in the Department of Natural Resources, and are legal to hunt with a standard Wisconsin hunting license and tags.
The DNR Office of Applied Science is conducting a five-year mortality study called the Southwest Wisconsin Chronic Wasting Disease, Deer and Predator Project.
Researchers are investigating factors like CWD, predation and hunter harvest, and specifically to what degree these affect survivorship in deer. So far, the project crew has put GPS-enabled collars on 548 deer in Grant, Iowa and Dane counties.
Deer that are collared as part of the Southwest CWD, Deer and Predator study are legal to harvest. Standard licensing and harvest regulations apply to collared deer just as they do to uncollared deer.
Anyone who harvests a collared deer is asked to call the number on the collar so a crew member can retrieve it. The number to call is (608)935-1940.
The DNR recommends testing for CWD for both collared and uncollared deer.
"One of our study objectives is to determine what proportion of our deer herd is harvested each year, and how exactly that differs according to how old the deer is, between bucks and does and between deer that are CWD-infected and those that are not," said Daniel Storm, deer research scientist. "That objective depends on hunters essentially treating collared deer like any other deer when deciding whether or not to harvest."
To better understand CWD in Wisconsin, the DNR needs to test as many deer as possible for the disease. Getting deer tested is an important step. For more information on CWD testing for a harvested deer, click here.