MDC to Meet With Landowners in Hillsboro to Develop New CWD Management Pilot

Jefferson City, Mo. (KFMO) - The Missouri Department of Conservation is responding to public feedback with a new pilot effort designed to manage deer populations and slow the spread of chronic wasting disease, or CWD, in eight CWD Core Areas across Missouri.

MDC will meet with landowners during the early fall to discuss deer management and CWD, answer questions and learn more about landowners' goals for managing deer on their properties.

One of the meetings will be held October 1 in Hillsboro at Hillsboro Intermediate School, located at 10486 Business 21.

CWD is a contagious and fatal brain disease affecting white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family, known as cervids. MDC defines CWD Core Areas as locations within approximately one to two miles of a confirmed CWD case.

According to MDC, increasing deer harvest near locations where CWD has been detected can help slow the spread of the disease, promote a healthier deer herd and maintain quality hunting opportunities in the future.

During the landowner meetings, MDC staff will explain the role hunters can play through increased harvest during deer season.

"The new approach focuses on building partnerships with landowners and putting hunters at the forefront of deer and CWD management by encouraging additional harvest during deer season," said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. "We'll use what is learned through this year's pilot to develop a template that can be replicated in other CWD Core Areas in the future."

MDC is encouraging landowners and hunters throughout all CWD Core Areas to help protect Missouri's deer herd by harvesting additional deer and having harvested deer tested for CWD.

Landowners with at least 20 contiguous acres located within a CWD Core Area can also receive five no-cost CWD Management Permits for use on qualifying property. The permits are intended to provide hunters with additional opportunities to harvest deer in areas where CWD has been detected.

The new approach follows MDC's decision to pause targeted CWD removal efforts in 2025. The department currently has no plans to resume that approach.

MDC held public meetings across Missouri this spring to gather input on the future of deer management. Isabelle said the new pilot is a direct response to that feedback.

"During our conversations, it was clear that landowners and hunters want to maintain a healthy herd and they want to work together to manage deer and CWD through the regular hunting season," Isabelle said. "This fall's pilot is in direct response to public feedback we received this spring, and we look forward to partnering on this important effort."