DMA Check Station Returns To Voluntary Status

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission Southcentral Region Director Brad Myers today announced that hunters who harvest a deer within the 600-square-mile Disease Management Area (DMA) in Adams and York counties during the late archery and flintlock muzzleloader seasons can voluntarily check their deer at the agency's check station.

The check station is at the Game Commission maintenance building on State Game Land 249, 1070 Lake Meade Road, East Berlin, Adams County. GPS coordinates for the building are: -77.07280 and 39.97018.

The check station will not be staffed during the late archery and flintlock muzzleloader seasons, although hunters may stop by the check station and follow the posted instructions to deposit deer heads in the marked containers provided, and deer spines and rib cages may be deposited in the dumpster on the site. Any deer heads deposited in the containers must have a field harvest tag attached to the ear to be eligible for testing. 

Hunters are reminded that even though sampling is voluntary, the parts ban still remains, meaning no high-risk parts are permitted to leave the DMA. Hunters also are reminded to remove the antlers on heads prior to bringing them in for deposit at the check station.

The check station was created by the Game Commission to collect samples from hunter-killed deer within the DMA to monitor for chronic wasting disease (CWD), which was found recently in a captive-born and -raised deer in Adams County.

"While no wild deer have been found to be infected with CWD, the Game Commission is doing its due diligence to monitor whether this disease has spread to wild deer within the DMA," Myers said. "The benefit for hunters bringing deer harvested within the DMA to our check station is two-fold: the Game Commission will cover the cost of having the animal tested, and the hunter will be notified if the harvested deer is found to be infected with CWD. 

"The benefit to the agency is it can test a sufficient number of deer within the DMA without having to resort to culling deer to test."

Myers noted that deer harvested outside of the DMA will not be eligible for testing at the check station; however, hunters may get their deer checked by the Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Laboratory, for a fee, by calling 717-787-8808.

For more information from the departments of Agriculture and Health and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, visit:

• www.agriculture.state.pa.us (click on the "Chronic Wasting Disease Information" button on the homepage),
• www.pgc.state.pa.us (click on "CWD Info"), and www.health.state.pa.us (click on "Diseases and Conditions").

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SOURCE Pennsylvania Game Commission