DNR Confirms CWD In Wild Deer Harvested In Buffalo County

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirms a wild deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Buffalo County in the town of Lincoln. The deer was a hunter harvested 2-year-old doe and is the first confirmed wild deer CWD-positive detection in Buffalo County.

As required by state law, the DNR enacts a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in counties where CWD has been detected. Deer baiting and feeding have been banned in Buffalo County since 2018 due to CWD detections in adjacent counties. Following state law, the DNR will renew a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in Buffalo County.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where sick deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine.

More information regarding baiting and feeding regulations is available on the DNR webpage.

The DNR and the Buffalo County Deer Advisory Council will be hosting a public meeting on Jan. 11, 2023 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at

CFC School Auditorium
S2770 Hwy 35
Fountain City, WI

DNR staff will provide information about CWD in Wisconsin, local CWD testing efforts and disease surveillance options being considered.

The DNR asks deer hunters in Buffalo County to assist with efforts to identify where CWD occurs. Those harvesting deer within 10 miles of the newly detected CWD-positive case are especially encouraged to have their harvested adult deer tested for CWD. Collecting CWD samples is essential for assessing where and to what extent CWD occurs in deer across the state.

Hunters still have opportunities to harvest deer in Buffalo County. The Antlerless-Only Holiday Hunt is open through Jan. 1, 2023, and archery season is open through Jan. 8, 2023.

In addition to submitting samples for CWD testing, hunters are also encouraged to properly dispose of deer carcass waste by locating a designated dumpster, transfer station or landfill location near you on the DNR website. Proper carcass disposal helps slow the spread of CWD by removing potentially infected deer carcasses from the landscape.

CWD is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases. The Wisconsin DNR began monitoring the state's wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.