The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation has two new regulations that will affect deer hunting season. 

The regulation changes to the Wildlife Code of Missouri were approved May 25 by the Conservation Commission and are designed to restrict activities that are likely to unnaturally concentrate deer and promote the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. (CWD)

"We don't want people to continue to place feed to attract deer and concentrate their activities. We want them to follow that regulation," said George Shurvington, a Private Land Services Regional Supervisor from the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

"We'd like to see them properly dispose of harvested deer carcasses by placing them in a landfill or leaving them on the property and once they're processed, return that carcass to the property that it was taken from so we don't spread it around that way."

The ban on the placement of grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable natural or manufactored products is limited to the area where CWD has been found in Macon County, and surrounding areas including Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph, and Sullivan counties.

The Department of Conservation has also removed the antler point restriction. (four-point rule) This is because CWD spreads amongst yearling and bucks at higher rates. The removal of the antler-point restriction is only in effect in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph, and Sullivan counties.

Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal illness that attacks deer and other cervids. It is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact and by soil-to-animal contact. It can take months or years before symptoms of the infection appear.

The Department of Conservation will continue to collect samples of tissues from deer harvested this fall from September through January in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph, and Sullivan counties.

For more information, click here.