• 2011 Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Goals
• 2011 Bovine Tuberculosis Surveillance Goals
• Deer Baiting and Recreational Feeding
• Dioxin Advisory Information
• Tagging Option for Antlerless Deer Hunters
• Online Hunter Harvest Surveys
• Commercial Hunting Guides on State Land

2011 Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Goals

Testing of deer for chronic wasting disease (CWD) is no longer mandatory. The DNR will continue active surveillance in Kent and surrounding counties with the goal of testing 300 deer from Kent County and 600 deer from the the surrounding counites. The DNR is urging hunters to submit their deer's head for CWD testing if the deer is harvested in the following nine counties: Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo and Ottawa. Hunters are asked to submit deer or elk carcasses statewide that display symptoms of CWD. CWD in deer and elk is characterized by emaciation, drooling, incoordination, loss of fear, behavioral abnormailities and death.

2011 Bovine Tuberculosis Surveillance Goals

The DNR is urging hunters to submit their deer's head for bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing if the deer is harvested in the following twelve counties: Alcona, Alpena, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle and Roscommon. Hunters are asked to submit deer carcasses with chest lesions suspicious for TB (pea-sized tan or yellow lumps on the inside of the ribcage or on the lungs) from anywhere in the state. A list of deer check stations is available on the DNR website at www.michigan.gov/deer or by contacting a DNR Operations Service Center.

Deer Baiting and Recreational Feeding

Baiting and recreational feeding in limited quantities is allowed statewide except for DMU 487 in northeastern Lower Michigan. Baiting is allowed from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. Hunters may place no more than two gallons of any type of bait scattered across a minimum 10-foot-by-10-foot area per hunting location.

Property owners may place two gallons of recreational feed on their property within 100 yards of their residence year-round. The feed must be scattered or dispersed at least 100 yards from any area accessible to cattle, goats, sheep, new world camelids, bison, swine, horses or captive cervidae.

The DNR requests that individuals not place bait or feed repeatedly at the same point on the ground. Only place bait out when actively hunting. This may minimize the chance of direct and indirect exposure of deer to any diseases that may be present.

Baiting and recreational feeding is prohibited year-round in the six-county bovine TB zone (DMU 487) in northeastern Lower Michigan including Alcona, Alpena, Iosco, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle counties. Baiting is also prohibited statewide during the early antlerless firearm, youth early antlerless firearm, and youth and 100 percent disabled veteran firearm deer hunting days in September.

Dioxin Advisory Information

Health assessors from the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) and Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) determined that samples of wild game taken in 2003, 2004 and 2007 from the fl oodplains of the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw River downstream of Midland contain high levels of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds. Wild game that have been tested include deer, turkey, cottontail rabbit, squirrel, wood duck and Canada goose. As a result, the MDCH advises that hunters and their families follow these recommendations related to deer:

• Do not eat the liver from deer harvested in or near the Tittabawassee River floodplain downstream of Midland. Eating liver taken from deer harvested in the floodplain of the Saginaw River is not likely to result in adverse health effects.



• Limit consumption of muscle meat from deer harvested in or near the floodplain of the Tittabawassee River downstream of Midland and in or near the floodplain of the Saginaw River. Women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat only one meal of deer muscle meat harvested in the floodplains per week. Trimming any visible fat will lower the level of dioxins in the cooked meat



• Other wild game that have not been tested in this area may also contain dioxins at levels that are a concern. To reduce general dioxin exposure from other wild game, trim any visible fat from the meat before cooking, do not consume organ meats such as the liver or brains, and do not eat the skin.

For additional information regarding dioxin, dioxin-like compounds and wild-game advisories for the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw River floodplains, including a map of the area covered by these advisories, go to the MDCH website at www.michigan.gov/dioxin.

As a reminder, Fish Consumption Advisories remain in effect for sport-caught fish from the Tittabawassee River south of Midland, the Saginaw River and the Saginaw Bay based on levels of dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyls. The Fish Consumption Advisory information is available at www.michigan.gov/fishandgameadvisory. If you eat several different kinds of wild game as well as fish from the areas covered by the Wild Game and Fish Consumption Advisories, MDCH recommends that you eat these foods less often than suggested here to reduce your exposure to dioxin..

Tagging Option for Antlerless Deer Hunters

An antlerless deer hunter, with an unused license valid for an antlered deer and an unused antlerless license for the DMU in which he or she is hunting, may tag a male antlerless deer with the antlered deer license kill tag. Both licenses must be in the hunter's possession at the time of harvest. All deer must be immediately tagged.

A male antlerless deer means a male deer without antlers or with antlers where the longest antler extends less than three inches above the skull.

Online Hunter Harvest Surveys

Accurate and complete information on hunting activity is vital for sound wildlife management. Hunters are encouraged to report their hunting activity online after the season has ended at www.michigan.gov/hunting. These surveys are the same as those traditionally mailed to randomly selected hunters. The online reporting option now allows all hunters to participate.