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BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) will conduct informational public hearings May 27 in Winnsboro and May 28 in St. Joseph on a notice of intent (NOI) that bans supplemental feeding and cervid carcass export from the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) control area, which includes Franklin, Madison and Tensas parishes

The action is part of LDWF’s CWD Management Plan.

The May 27 hearing will be held at the LSU Ag Center Macon Ridge Research Station in Winnsboro at 6 p.m. The May 28 hearing is set for the LSU Ag Center Northeast Louisiana Research Center in St. Joseph at 10 a.m.

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) approved the NOI during its April meeting. 

LDWF instituted its CWD Management Plan in those three parishes in response to a CWD positive detection on Jan. 28 of an adult buck harvested in Tensas Parish. CWD is a disease that is always fatal to deer. It was the first deer recorded with CWD in the state, making Louisiana the 28th state to discover the disease, now occurring in 29 states.

The NOI, in part, reads:

• Baiting, placement of bait, or hunting over bait is prohibited within a LDWF designated CWD Control Area.

• The export of any cervid carcass or part of a cervid carcass originating within an LDWF designated CWD Control Area is prohibited, except for: meat that is cut and wrapped; meat that has been boned out; quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached, antlers, clean skull plates with antlers, cleaned skulls without tissue attached, capes, tanned hides, finished taxidermy mounts and cleaned cervid teeth.

• Approved parts transported out of the CWD Control Area must be legally possessed. Approved parts must contain a possession tag with the hunter’s name, address, LDWF license number, parish of harvest, date of harvest, and sex of deer. 

• Prior to the 2022-23 deer hunting season, LDWF is directed to determine whether there is sufficient capacity to perform taxidermy services for cervids taken within the Control Area and report those findings to the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. If it is determined that there is insufficient capacity to provide adequate taxidermy services for cervids harvested within the Control Area, LDWF shall establish a permitting system to be in effect no later than the opening of the 2022-23 deer hunting season to allow for uncleaned cervid heads to be transported out of the Control Area solely for taxidermy purposes.

To see the full NOI, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/resources/category/commission-action-items.

The public may comment on the NOI until July 6, 2022. Comments may be submitted to LDWF Deer Program Manager Johnathan Bordelon by email at jbordelon@wlf.la.gov or by mail sent to LDWF, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA., 70898.

For more information, contact LDWF Deer Program Manager Johnathan Bordelon at jbordelon@wlf.la.gov or LDWF State Veterinarian Dr. Jim LaCour at jlacour@wlf.la.gov.