The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission recently confirmed that a deer in Conway County and another deer in Stone County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. Both deer were harvested during the recent alternative firearms season.

The Conway County deer was harvested on Ed Gordon Point Remove Wildlife Management Area during the permit hunt there. Due to the close proximity of multiple CWD positive samples in adjoining Pope and Van Buren counties, Conway County was high on the AGFC's watchlist for CWD.

The Stone County deer was taken on private land adjacent to Sylamore WMA. Stone County is already included in the existing CWD Management Zone due to the close proximity of positive samples from Searcy, Van Buren and Independence counties.

According to AGFC Deputy Director Brad Carner, no regulation changes to the current deer season are planned. "In advance of modern gun deer season we want to encourage hunters to get their deer tested at any of our free testing locations around the state," Carner said.

AGFC Director Austin Booth says the agency will evaluate the need for any expansion of the CWD Management Zone and regulations concerning deer hunting during the hunting regulations-setting process once the season is over. “Local hunters can help us a great deal by taking advantage of the free testing facilities and getting their deer tested for CWD,” Booth said. “More hunter-harvested samples means more chances to find any new concentrations of the disease and give our staff a better picture of the landscape so they can make better-informed decisions moving forward.”

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk, caribou and moose. It was first detected in Arkansas Feb. 23, 2016. Since the first detection, AGFC has tested more than 61,000 deer and elk from across the state. To date, 1,769 deer and 56 elk have tested positive for the disease in Arkansas.

Research indicates that CWD is caused by a misfolded protein called a prion that is transmitted through feces, urine and saliva. CWD prions accumulate throughout the body and affect an animal’s nervous system. The diseased prions cause normal cellular proteins to misfold into abnormal shapes that accumulate until neural cells cease to function. CWD can have an incubation period of at least 16 months, which means infected animals may not show immediate signs of disease. Infected animals in the later stages of the disease begin to lose weight and exhibit many abnormal behaviors.

Visit www.agfc.com/CWD or more information. To report sick or dead animals, please call 833-356-0824.