BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGF) recently announced the results of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) test and beginning of the Spring Mule Deer Survey.

CWD is a fatal disease of deer, moose and elk that remains on the landscape and can cause long-term population impacts as infection rates climb. With the 2023 Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance season completed, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department reported 11 deer tested positive for the condition. 

“The good news is that all these cases came from units where CWD has already been detected,” said wildlife veterinarian Dr. Charlie Bahnson in a press release. “None came from the southeastern part of the state where we were focusing our surveillance efforts. However, CWD was detected right across our border in eastern Manitoba near Winkler, and again near Climax, Minn., where it was first found in 2021.”

Positive cases detected in 2023 came from units 3A1, 3A2, 3E1, 3E2 and 3F2. Wildlife division chief Casey Anderson said that despite lower harvest success, the department met its surveillance goal in units 2B, 2G and 2G1. The objective is to achieve a sampling goal of 10% of the allocated deer gun licenses for a given year.

The state Game and Fish Department’s annual spring aerial mule deer survey is set to begin April 2 in western North Dakota. Weather permitting, the survey takes about two weeks to complete. The purpose of the survey is to determine a population index to assess mule deer abundance in the badlands. 

During the survey period, people may notice low-flying small airplanes over some parts of the badlands. Game and Fish biologists have completed aerial surveys of the same 24 badlands study areas since the 1950s.