GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids-area hunters who take deer in Kent County or four nearby counties are being asked to help the state refresh chronic wasting disease data this fall.
The Department of Natural Resources is zeroing in on Mecosta, Newaygo, Kent, Montcalm and Ionia, the same West Michigan cluster last studied intensively in 2019. Fresh prevalence figures will shape later management choices.
Brent Rudolph, who oversees deer, elk and moose work for the DNR Wildlife Division, said the agency cannot finish the census without local cooperation. All-hours head drop sites stay open through Jan. 4 at Haymarsh Hunt Club near Morley, the road commission yard in Walker, and field offices in Paris and along Flat River.
Staff at Paris and Flat River also collect samples face-to-face during daytime windows on selected weekdays and Saturdays into December. Submission tips are at Michigan.gov/DeerCheck.
CWD is an always-fatal brain disease with no treatment that can circulate in deer groups long before animals look sick. Michigan first spotted it in a captive cervid in Kent County in 2008 and later in wild deer in Ingham County in 2015; eighteen counties now have known cases.
State biologists say the illness has not been shown to infect people. Their aim is to slow its march and protect the white-tailed herd for seasons ahead.
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