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BLOOMFIELD, IOWA -- Deer hunting; it’s a sport many Iowans take part in. However earlier this month in Davis County, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was detected in a deer.

And if spread, this popular sport could be gone in the near future.

“The simple term is it's a long acting disease and our concern is that because this is fatal – it’s 100% fatal -- once an animal contracts it, it’s going to die and it’s fatal to elk, deer, whitetail deer, and mule deer and moose,” said Dr. Dale Garner, Chief of DNR’s Wildlife Bureau.

You may think you’re doing the right thing by feeding wildlife; however Dr. Garner said you’re actually doing more harm than good.

“The thing is that what they place doesn't cause the disease but it facilitates the transmitting of the disease and this particular disease. The prions are in the urine, the feces, the saliva and the blood. So once you contaminate the soil from those types of things and animals coming up to feed on that can then pick up the disease,” Dr. Garner.

The infected deer was found at Pine Ridge Hunting Preserve. The Iowa DNR has collected samples from 117 animals out of this facility over the past five years.

And Dr. Garner said this is not something to be taken lightly.

“We're also going to be collecting more samples down in Davis County and surrounding areas.  his fall from the wild herds so were going to try to figure out ‘did it come from this facility, did it come from the wild.’ We don't know those questions yet. Our job is to try to determine where it came from and the best way to control the disease once we find it. So that’s our job now,” said Dr. Garner.

Dr. Garner said that CWD cannot be transmitted to humans.