FLORENCE — As deer hunting gets underway, areas of Northwest Alabama are impacted by chronic wasting disease.
The state is requiring a ll deer harvested by hunters on certain public land in the state’s CWD Management Zone are required to be sampled throughout the season. Those public lands include the Freedom Hills, Lauderdale, and Seven-Mile Island wildlife management areas); the Cherokee Physically Disabled Hunting Area; and the Riverton Community Hunting Area.
- The mandatory sampling weekends in the High-Risk Zone of the CMZ are Nov. 22-23; Dec. 6-7; and Jan. 17-18. The High-Risk Zone contains all of Lauderdale and Colbert counties and part of Franklin County, extending north of Alabama Highway 24 from the Alabama/Mississippi state line east to U.S. 43.
- The mandatory sampling weekends in the Buffer Zone of the CMZ are Nov. 22-23 and Jan. 17-18. The Buffer Zone includes the remaining part of Franklin County south of Highway 24 and east of U.S. 43.
Mandatory weekends for the High-Risk Zone and Buffer Zone correspond with peaks in Alabama’s deer harvest, the season’s opening weekend and the rut in northwest Alabama. Outside of those weekends, hunters are encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at the self-service freezers located in the appropriate CMZ zone.
For the remainder of the state outside of the CMZ, hunters are also encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at self-service freezer locations. Sampling locations throughout the state can be found at www.outdooralabama.com/cwd/ cwd-zone-map…