CWD info and field day scheduled for Baker Oct. 18

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will host a free Chronic Wasting Disease Information and Field Day in Baker on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

The field day will be held at the Fallon County Fairgrounds from 5:30-7:30 p.m. FWP staff will be on hand to provide updates on CWD in the state and across the region. People can take part in hands-on demonstrations for collecting lymph nodes, as well as hands-on demos on the gutless and quartering-out methods for processing animals. Pre-registration is required by Monday, Oct. 16 so FWP knows how many heads to supply. Those attending will be entered into drawings for various door prizes.

People who have harvested a deer or elk during the archery season are welcome to bring the head with a few inches of neck meat attached to this event and to collect the lymph nodes and submit them for CWD testing. Frozen heads are difficult to sample and should be thawed beforehand. Others are welcome to attend and practice on collected heads or just observe. Youths are encouraged to attend prior to the Oct. 19 and 20 Youth Deer Hunt.

First on the agenda will be an update on CWD and FWP’s management plan, followed by a question-and-answer session, then the hands-on clinics for sampling and processing.

Southeast Montana’s Region 7 is again a priority area for CWD sample collection this year. FWP will share sampling station locations and hours, how to properly dispose of carcasses to reduce exposure, and how to collect and submit your own samples for testing.

FWP is hosting a CWD event in Baker because two symptomatic deer have been put down near Baker and afterward tested positive for CWD.

“We are looking to get community and hunter help in gathering more samples to have a better idea of the disease’s presence and prevalence rates,” said FWP regional wildlife manager Brett Dorak.

To register for the clinic, call wildlife biologist Melissa Foster at 406-853-2650 and give the number who will be attending and if you require a practice animal. Foster also will be available through the general season by appointment to help sample animals for hunters.

There are several advantages to processing an animal using the gutless and quartering/deboning methods, but in terms of CWD it allows hunters to leave the spinal cord and other critical pieces in the field to help reduce spread of the disease and to comply with restrictions on transporting whole carcasses outside of CWD-positive states.

For more information on CWD, visit FWP’s website at https://fwp.mt.gov/cwd.