OVERTIME OUTDOORS: Deer hunters, taxidermists can win prize, help state fight CWD

Published 5:45 am Sunday, September 26, 2021

We’ve touched several times before on the threat of chronic wasting disease to deer herds across Louisiana. It is a clear and present danger to the deer this state’s hunters target.

CWD so far has stayed out of Louisiana while our neighbors to the east, west and north – Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas – have reported positive tests of the fatal neurologic disease of deer. It is spread by contact with infected saliva, blood, urine, feces, food, water and, even, soil, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries points out in a prepared statement Wednesday.

LDWF officials and biologists are doing everything in their power to keep this state CWD-free. Regulations have been in place since 2017, starting with a cervid-carcass import ban approved in 2016 that prohibits hunters who go out of state to target white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, etc., from bring many parts of those animals into Louisiana.

One of the latest efforts was in July 2019 when the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission passed an emergency declaration modifying an existing ban on deer urine products that went into effect Sept 1, 2019. The law legalized those urine-scented lures that are certified free of the malformed protein that causes CWD.

The LDWF is appealing to deer hunters and taxidermists with $1,000 and $500 gift cards, respectively, as a prize if they submit a sample from a mature buck harvested during the 2021-22 deer season in the Sportsman’s Paradise. All submitted samples will be tested for CWD, assisting state biologists with surveillance monitoring for the disease, which is 100 percent fatal in deer.

Hunters who submit a sample are eligible for a $1,000 gift card. Taxidermists who do the same will be entered to win a $500 gift card. Both drawings are scheduled for March 18, 2022.

An LDWF spokesman asked participants who want to submit a sample to contact their local LDWF Field Office. For more information and complete contest rules go to www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cwd-contest.

The prizes are being offered by the South Louisiana Branch of the National Deer Association.

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Bucks for ducks time is rapidly approaching for local members of Ducks Unlimited.

Two big fundraised are scheduled to be held in October and November.

The New Iberia DU Banquet will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort, 911 NW Bypass. A corporate table for eight, which includes one Bronze Sponsor, seven adult memberships and a corporate table gift, is $2,500. A sponsor table for eight includes one Bronze Sponsor and seven regular members.

A Bronze Sponsor ticket, which is $350, includes a Bronze Sponsor and an additional member to attend the banquet. A single ticket at $50 includes a one-year membership while a youth ticket (under 18) for Green Wings is $35.

The Jeanerette DU Chapter’s next fundraising event is the Jeanerette DU Banquet set for 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at the West St. Mary Civic Center, 1472 Louisiana 318. For more information call Larry Gaspard at 380-4641.

The Teche Area’s DU fundraisers got underway with the Jeanerette DU Chapter’s Sponsor Banquet held on Sept. 14 at the Marsh House on Avery Island.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.