CHINOOK, Mont. (NMB) – Test results from three deer harvested in Blaine County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. A press release says that as a result, Blaine County north of Highway 2 has been designated a CWD-positive area. A previously existing CWD-positive area includes all of Liberty County.
To prevent the spread of CWD to other portions of Montana, the brain and spinal column of deer, elk or moose harvested within a CWD-positive area cannot leave the counties of Phillips, Blaine, Hill, Liberty or Toole with the head, brain or spinal column.
Hunters are reminded to not leave the expanded transport restriction zone with the whole animal carcass, but should consider processing the animal within the area, or only removing quarters and deboned meat with no spinal column or head attached.
The head, brain, and spinal column should then be deposited in a class 2 landfill, or in the field if allowed by the landowner.
If hunters wish to keep the antlers, they must be removed from the skull, or the head must be properly boiled and devoid of any brain tissue.
