Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is not in South Carolina, and the SCNR wants to keep it that way. Hunters play a key role in ensuring CWD doesn't come to the state.
With big game seasons opening in many parts of the country, hunters should remember not to import into South Carolina certain carcass parts from white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose and elk harvested in areas where confirmed cases of CWD have occurred.
States where CWD has been diagnosed include Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
CWD has also been found in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec.
To ensure that South Carolina’s extremely valuable white-tailed deer resource remains protected, SCDNR continues to maintain regulations restricting the importation of certain carcass parts from deer and elk harvested in the U.S. states and Canadian provinces where CWD has been documented.
Deer hunting generates more than $200 million annually for South Carolina's economy, and white-tailed deer are the most-sought game species in the state, in addition to being the official state game animal. It is critical that sportsmen and women who pursue big-game in other parts of the country understand and comply with these restrictions to protect the South Carolina deer population and not potentially bring infective materials back home from a successful hunting trip.
However, it is also important to note that these regulations do not prevent hunters from bringing home harvested game meat, since most game taken outside of South Carolina is processed in the state where it was harvested.
To comply with state regulations, hunters traveling to states with confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease may only bring the following carcass parts into South Carolina: Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached; meat that has been boned out; hides with no heads attached; clean skulls (no meat or tissue attached) or clean skull plates with antlers attached; antlers (detached from the skull plate); clean upper canine teeth of elk, also called buglers, whistlers or ivories; and finished taxidermy heads.
Hunters may NOT import whole carcasses or parts of deer or elk that contain nervous system tissue such as the brain or spinal column.
Hunters traveling out-of-state should also check with the wildlife agency in their destination state, as well as, states they may travel through to determine their CWD status and follow any restrictions states may have on the movement of carcasses.
Fortunately, South Carolina's white-tailed deer population currently has limited risk from CWD, due in part to the aggressive steps that the SCDNR and the S.C. General Assembly took years ago to limit and strictly regulate the importation of live deer, elk and other cervids. There is evidence that movements of live cervids for commercial purposes may have impacted the current CWD situation in other states, as many cases have been linked to captive animals.
This is an important point, because states vary with respect to allowing cervids to be transported for commercial purposes. The SCDNR has been criticized in the past for not being more liberal in supporting or allowing deer farming or high fenced shooter buck operations that depend on moving animals into the state. However, since CWD has become a concern, a growing list of states have discontinued allowing deer to be imported for any purpose.
For more information on CWD click here.
To report violations related to illegal importation of carcasses or live deer or any other natural resource criminal activity, call Operation Game Thief at (800)922-5431 or report violations online.