LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas hunters are being asked to provide samples of their harvested deer for testing for chronic wasting disease.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will set up stations on the opening weekend of modern gun season at 25 sites in the 10 counties that make up the chronic wasting disease management zone. They are Boone, Carroll, Johnson, Logan, Madison, Marion, Newton, Pope, Searcy and Yell counties.
The stations will be open Nov. 12-13, and hunters are asked to voluntarily provide samples of deer.
[A KILLER IN THE HERDS: Coverage of chronic wasting disease in Arkansas]
Deer program coordinator Cory Gray said the goal is to collect 300 samples in each county.
Chronic wasting is a neurological disease that affects animals such as deer, elk and moose and was first confirmed in Arkansas on Feb. 23 in an elk in Newton County.