More deer hunting regulations have been approved by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission to help slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease.

CWD is a fatal neurological (brain and nervous system) disease found in cervids – deer, elk and moose. The disease attacks the brains of infected animals and produces small lesions that result in death. There is no cure; once an animal is infected, it will die. 

The disease first was discovered in Michigan in a free-ranging deer in May 2015.

To date, more than 31,000 deer in Michigan have been tested for chronic wasting disease, and CWD has been confirmed in 60 free-ranging deer in six Michigan counties: Clinton, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm.

The new regulations includes: An immediate ban on baiting and feeding in the 16-county area identified as the CWD Management Zone. This area includes Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Ottawa and Shiawassee counties.

Other approved regulations include:

• Effective immediately in the CWD Management Zone and four-county bovine tuberculosis area (in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Oscoda counties), hunters with disabilities who meet specific requirements can now use 2 gallons of single-bite bait, such as shelled corn, during the Liberty and Independence hunts.
• Allowance of all legal firearms to be used in muzzleloader season in the CWD Management Zone.
• A purchase limit of 10 private-land antlerless licenses per hunter in the CWD Management Zone.
• Restrictions on deer carcass movement in the five-county CWD Core Area (Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm and Newaygo counties) and the CWD Management Zone.
• Antlerless options on deer licenses/combo licenses during firearms seasons in the five-county CWD Core Area.
• Expansion of early and late antlerless seasons in select counties.
• Changes to regulations regarding wildlife rehabilitators.