Montana wildlife officials say a mule deer buck harvested during archery season northeast of Joliet tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks says a Yellowstone County hunter harvested the deer on private land in mid-October. FWP sent samples to Colorado State University and alerted the hunter when results were returned Monday.
The deer was harvested within a current CWD Management Zone. Those zones outline carcass transportation restrictions, part of an effort to slow the disease’s spread. The zone south of Billings was expanded last month after a white-tailed buck near Huntley tested positive for CWD.
CWD was first found in Montana in 2017 and has since been detected in north-central and north-eastern Montana, along with recent detections around Libby.
Last year FWP reported 26 CWD cases among wild deer statewide, with five in the Management Zone south of Billings.
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