Chronic Wasting Disease Tests Proving Costly

One of the new things at deer check stations this season is DNR staff asking hunters if they’re willing to have their deer tested for a fatal brain illness.

The price tag on the tests is coming back, and it’s higher than expected.

The tests for chronic wasting disease have cost the state nearly a million dollars so far.

Out of 8,000 deer that DNR staff have tested, not a single one had the disease.

Chronic wasting disease showed up in Michigan for the first time in August, before the DNR started the tests.

The Michigan Natural Resources Commission says about 272,000 deer were taken statewide during firearm season.

It’s down from last year’s super-strong season, but not by much.

We did have a decline in the U.P., but there were more deer taken in the Lower Peninsula than in 2007.