CONTACT: Dan Bergeron: (603) 271-2461 Jay Martin: (603) 271-3211 June 10, 2021

Concord, NH – New Hampshire’s white-tailed deer population once again showed no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), based on monitoring data gathered during the 2019 and 2020 hunting seasons.

The NH Fish and Game Department is asking hunters to do their part in the effort to keep the state CWD-free by not using natural urine-based deer lures and following state restrictions on importing carcasses from CWD-positive jurisdictions.

Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disorder that is always fatal to white-tailed deer, moose, mule deer, elk, and other cervids (members of the deer family). It is not currently believed that CWD is transmissible to humans, however hunters are still advised not to consume animals that may potentially have CWD.

Wildlife Program Supervisor Dan Bergeron recently received results from a federally certified veterinary diagnostic laboratory which indicated that CWD was not detected in any of the deer tissue samples taken during the 2019 and 2020 New Hampshire fall hunting seasons. Between 2019 and 2020, 735 tissue samples from hunter-killed deer were tested by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department with significant support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services in Concord. New Hampshire’s monitoring program is part of a nationwide effort to stop the spread of CWD. Since the monitoring program began in 2002, some 7,402 deer have been tested in New Hampshire.

“While it is good news that New Hampshire remains CWD-free, we are asking hunters to help our herd by not using natural urine-based deer lures when hunting, because these products can potentially spread CWD,” said Bergeron. Fish and Game recommends that hunters instead choose from among the many effective synthetic lures available on the market today.

Help our herd. See a map of CWD-positive jurisdictions, and find new web resources about how you can help keep New Hampshire CWD-free, at www.wildnh.com/wildlife/cwd.