Idaho Fish and Game first detected Chronic Wasting Disease next to Slate Creek north of Riggins in 2021. CWD is a big concern for Idaho Fish and Game, but hunters can do their part to help.
"It is a misfit protein that causes problems in the central nervous system of deer, elk, moose, and caribou," said Idaho Fish and Game biologist Stacey Dauwalter. "The animals can't enact an immune response to this protein because their body recognizes it as being part of itself.”
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There is no cure for CWD, and once it makes its way onto the landscape, it can't be removed, so Idaho Fish and Game attempts to manage the disease in an effort to stop the spread.
"The more CWD there is in an area, the more deer or elk that can get it, and as they migrate and move they also contaminate the environment," said Dauwalter.
Hunters actually helped Idaho Fish and Game identify the first case in Idaho by providing samples. Idaho Fish and Game relies on hunters to submit data to biologists so they can identify CWD and stop the spread.
"We are concerned about CWD; we are concerned about how it’s moving," said Tracy Hebdon of Idaho Fish and Game. "However, it is the hunters help that’s allowing us to slow the disease as well as manage for a really low amount of it on the landscape."
Hunters and private land owners have seven units across Idaho where it's mandatory to submit deer for testing. Those include units 1, 14, 18, 23, 24, 32A, and 63A. Most of those are around the original detection site, ranging from Grangeville south to Banks. There is also a testing site in the panhandle and one in eastern Idaho, as Idaho Fish and Game worries about CWD coming in from other states.
"We know that the disease has spread farther out of Slate Creek," said Dauwalter. "We don’t know how much of that has been mediated by some of our management actions, we may not know that for 20 years."
Idaho Fish and Game will set up check stations, head barrels and have multiple drop off sites to make providing samples easier for hunters. The big game rifle season starts on October 10th and right now it is archery season.
Idaho Fish and Game also wants hunters to know it is unlawful to move deer carcasses out of the CWD Management Zone, those include all the zones where mandatory testing is required surrounding Riggins.
