West Virginia Turkey Hunt and Chronic Wasting Disease

There are a couple of items to report this morning coming out of West Virginia DNR. The first is the results of the 2005 turkey hunt. The unofficial fall wild turkey harvest in 2005 was 1,110, according to Paul R. Johansen, Assistant Chief of Game Management with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The kill was 18 percent lower than the 1,357 reported in 2004 and was the lowest fall kill since 1967. There were 21 counties open to a 1-4 week fall season in 2005.

The second is there was no CWD found in samples out of Hampshire County. Of course this is always good news.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) has good news to report concerning the results of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) testing in Hampshire County , according to Director Frank Jezioro . Samples collected by DNR personnel from 1,015 hunter-harvested deer in Hampshire County this past fall were tested for CWD at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. CWD was not detected in any of these most recent samples.

“This is clearly good news,” said Jezioro. “While we cannot say CWD has disappeared from the Hampshire County area, our sampling effort gives us confidence that the number of deer infected with CWD is at very low levels.”

Tom Remington