CWD hunt offers additional harvest opportunities Dec. 15-17
Hunters can harvest deer in a late-season chronic wasting disease management hunt Friday, Dec. 15, through Sunday, Dec. 17. Deer permit areas open to this CWD management hunt are 342, 605, 643, 645, 646, 647, 648 and 649. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources added DPA 342 to the hunt after a deer harvested there this fall tested positive for CWD.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources establishes CWD management hunts to assess potential disease spread and to help mitigate the risk of CWD transmission by reducing the number of deer. CWD management hunts take place in areas where CWD positive deer are consistently detected, or in areas where CWD positive deer have been recently detected and more information is needed.
CWD sampling is mandatory for deer harvested in this hunt, and carcass movement restrictions apply in all late-hunt DPAs except 342. Hunters in DPA 342 are not required, but are encouraged, to keep whole carcasses within the DPA until the carcasses are quartered or the meat is de-boned.
Hunters should check the complete information about permits, CWD sampling, land access and other important details on the Minnesota DNR website.
Minnesota DNR webinars focus on owls and mudpuppies
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources invites people interested in wildlife and outdoor skills to check out the winter program schedule for the Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series.
In a webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 13, Sparky Stensaas, founder and executive director of Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, will discuss northern Minnesota’s owls, and how to find and photograph these captivating birds. People travel from across the continent and globe to see the owls at Sax-Zim Bog, where there have been 10 owl species recorded in winter.
In a webinar on Wednesday, Dec. 20, biologists Jeff LeClere and Krista Larson will discuss the ecology of mudpuppies, the unique aquatic salamanders that become more active in wintertime and are sometimes unintentionally caught by ice anglers.
The Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series webinars are free and offered year-round, though registration is required. Visit the Outdoor Skills and Stewardship webpage of the Minnesota DNR website for the registration portal, more information about upcoming webinars and recordings of past webinars.