Help Keep NH CWD-Free: Don’t Use Urine-based Deer Lures

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire’s white-tailed deer population once again showed no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), based on monitoring data gathered during the 2015 hunting season.

 

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 exotic cervids (members of deer family). Currently there is no scientific evidence to suggest CWD is transmissible to humans, however, caution is still advised when coming into contact with an animal that may have CWD.

 

Deer Biologist Dan Bergeron recently received results from a federally certified veterinary diagnostic laboratory that indicate that all the deer tissue samples taken during the 2015 New Hampshire fall hunting season tested negative for CWD.  In 2015, a total of 354 tissue samples from hunter-killed deer were tested by Fish and Game, with significant support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture 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 5,549 deer have b

een tested in New Hampshire.

 

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/index.html.

 

Don’t Use Urine-Based Lures – Here’s Why

 

“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.

 

The heart of the problem is that CWD is transmitted by an abnormal protein (also known as a prion) present in the nervous system and lymphatic tissue of infected animals. These abnormal proteins are very stable and may persist in the environment for several years, posing a risk to animals that come into contact with them. While most hunters use small amounts of these lures, continued application can have cumulative effects over time.

 

Studies have shown these abnormal proteins are found in nervous system tissue, lymph nodes, saliva, urine, and feces, among other places. Urine for natural lures is collected from captive deer facilities outside of New Hampshire, many of which are located in states where CWD is present. In many cases, urine is collected from animals held in pens over grates which collect a mixture of urine, feces and saliva; the liquid portion is then strained out.

 

“Deer urine is not a regulated industry or product, and these lures do not undergo any quality control or treatment that might inactivate or kill disease-causing agents,” said Bergeron. “Also, commercial lures are not tested for the presence of CWD prions.”

 

Because of these risk factors, Fish and Game strongly discourages the use of natural urine-based deer lures while hunting. Several states and Canadian provinces have already banned the use and possession of natural urine-based lures.