Montana Wildlife Officials Eye Second Mule Deer Hunt
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana wildlife officials are proposing a special deer hunt in a second area of the state as they scramble to control a newly-found disease that's fatal to deer, elk and moose.
Chronic wasting disease is a neurological animal disease that appeared in Montana this fall.
In neighboring Wyoming, it's causing a 21 percent annual decline in mule deer populations that researchers say could cause the animals to become locally extinct.
One special hunt is already under way in Carbon County, Mont. Officials set a quota to harvest 200 white-tailed deer and 200 mule deer. They plan to test the animals to gauge the disease's prevalence.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is proposing selling an additional 335 deer hunting licenses to harvest 135 mule deer north of Chester on the Canadian border.