Texas Approves Amended CWD Regulations

If you are involved in any facet of deer hunting in The Lone Star State, you already know that the most contentious issue among hunters, conservationists, state game managers, high-fence hunting ranch operators and deer breeders (is that everyone?) is how two state agencies are handling aftermath of the discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in private deer herds last year.

The latest chapter in the ongoing drama within the Texas deer-hunting community took place last week, when Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission announced its delayed approval of a much-anticipated set of regulations for “artificial movement of deer by permit” as part of the state’s CWD management plan.

A TPWD press release reported that the adopted provisions were the result of extensive collaboration between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the deer breeding community and landowners, to address concerns over the future of permitted unnatural deer movement qualifications following the discovery of CWD in 2015, while providing continued protection against the fatal neurological disease for Texas’ estimated 4 million free-ranging and captive deer.

Among the provisions adopted by the commission include a suite of options to attain artificial deer movement qualified status through a multilevel system of ante-mortem (“live”) and post-mortem deer testing for CWD. Key changes to the rules include:

• Establishing a minimum level of post-mortem testing in deer breeding facilities at 80 percent.
• Providing an opportunity for all captive deer breeders to test-up to Transfer Category 1 (TC1) status through 50 percent ante-mortem testing of their entire herd (a proposed May 15, 2017, testing deadline was eliminated from the rules) and breeders may choose their preferred ante-mortem testing means (rectal, lymph nodes, tonsillar etc.).
• Clarification that the 5-year, 80 percent eligible mortality testing requirement to realize TC1 status may be obtained through testing a 5-year average of annual mortalities and deer breeders may use a 3:1 ratio to substitute live tests for post-mortem tests to meet required testing thresholds.
• Property owners may request to expand release sites, provided release site requirements apply to the expanded acreage.
• Elimination of testing requirements on Trap, Transfer and Transplant (Triple T) release sites.

“This is bigger than the interests of one group and it’s not about choosing winners or losers,” said T. Dan Friedkin Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Chairman. “The fundamental issue is how best to protect our state’s deer herds from a deadly disease. The overwhelming amount of interest this issue has generated illustrates just how passionate Texans are about deer and our deer hunting heritage. The actions taken by the commission…are the result of extensive deliberation with input from all stakeholders, and I applaud the many individuals and groups from all over the state who took the time and effort to remain engaged in the process until the end.”

But, depending on whom you talk to, not all those involved felt their concerns were addressed. In fact, several of those representing the deer-breeding business in attendance at the June 20 proceedings walked out of the meeting before the vote was cast in protest of the anticipated provisions.

However, the one provision generally accepted with approval by the deer-breeding industry was the implementation of ante-mortem (“live”) CWD testing procedures for deer, in contrast to the former methods in which deer were generally always tested post-mortem.

The rules take effect upon completion of programming modifications to the Texas Wildlife Information Management System (TWIMS), but no later than Aug. 15, 2016, and apply to the movement of deer under TPWD permits, including Triple T, DMP (deer management permit), TTP (trap, transport and process) and deer breeder.