Pennsylvania Game News - January 2022 - 48

in either a wild or captive deer or elk in
Pennsylvania, a Disease Management
Area (DMA) is established. DMAs are
created to reduce risk of human-assisted
spread of CWD.
This new CWD detection is within 2
miles of Pennsylvania's Elk Management
Area, which required a different approach
to including nearby affected areas to
DMAs. Within the Elk Management Area,
DMA 6 was created to encapsulate the affected
area. Outside the Elk Management
Area, DMA 3 was expanded due to the
new CWD-positive.
This will prevent high-risk parts from
the entirety of DMA 3 being moved into
the Elk Management Area, and restrict
human activities known to increase disease
risk.
With these changes, DMAs 3 and 6 still
do not extend into any Elk Hunt Zone, but
a plan is in place should that occur, said
Andrea Korman, Game Commission
CWD wildlife biologist.
" If a CWD-positive animal is found
within any Elk Hunt Zone, all Elk Hunt
Zones will become a DMA due to the behavior
and longer distance movements of
elk, " Korman said. " If this were to occur,
the impact on deer and elk populations,
hunters, and the public will be significant.
Although this has not occurred yet, this
newly found positive deer shows how
close it is. "
Within all DMAs, it is unlawful to:
* Remove or export any deer or elk
high-risk parts (e.g., head, spinal column,
and spleen) from a DMA. This also
prevents movement of high-risk parts
between adjacent DMAs
* Use or possess deer or elk urine-based
attractants
* Directly or indirectly feed wild, freeranging
deer. It is already illegal to feed
elk regardless of DMA location
48
* Rehabilitate wild, free-ranging deer
or elk
To increase surveillance around the
detection, a new DMAP Unit (No. 4760)
containing more than 1,300 permits also
was created, allowing properly permitted
hunters there to take up to two additional
antlerless deer. Some of these permits
might still be available. Hunters can check
online or at a license-issuing agent, and
buy available permits from either.
In conjunction with the additional
hunting opportunities, hunters are asked
to provide samples for CWD testing.
Submitting harvested deer heads for
CWD testing helps determine the extent
of CWD infection.
The Game Commission offers free
CWD testing within the DMAs. Hunters
should deposit the heads of deer they
harvest, with properly filled out and
legible harvest tags attached, in one of
the head-collection containers the Game
Commission provides within DMAs.
Locations of head-collection containers,
and a wealth of other information about
CWD can be found online at www.pgc.
pa.gov/CWD.
Antlers should be removed from bucks
before the double-bagged head is placed
in a collection container. Hunters can
check for their test results online or by
calling the CWD hotline (1-833-INFOCWD).
For
deer hunters in DMAs - especially
those who live outside the DMA - it's important
to plan their hunts and know ahead
of time what they will do with any deer
harvested. Since high-risk cervid parts
can't be removed from any DMA, even if
they share a boundary like DMAs 3 and 6,
successful hunters cannot transport whole
deer outside the DMA.
The up-to-date boundary descriptions
for all DMAs are available online.
http://www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD http://www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD
Pennsylvania Game News - January 2022

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