N.C. Wildlife Commission announces CWD surveillance areas; mandatory sampling dates set for 2024-25 hunting season

RALEIGH — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s executive director, Cameron Ingram, signed a proclamation yesterday outlining the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease primary and secondary surveillance areas as well as the 2024-25 deer season dates in which mandatory sample submission is required.

The CWD primary surveillance areas, designated by county, are Cumberland, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. The secondary surveillance areas are Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Bladen, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Harnett, Hoke, Iredell, Robeson, Rockingham and Sampson counties.

The Commission reminds the public that within surveillance area counties, it is illegal to:

• Transport fawns for rehabilitation, given CWD can easily spread to new areas whenever infected deer are transported by people. Fawns can be infected with CWD by their mother even before birth and not show any visible signs of illness until the late stages of disease.
• Place new salt or minerals in existing mineral lick sites or to establish new mineral lick sites, as surrounding soil and vegetation can be contaminated by infected feces, urine, and saliva; once CWD prions are present, they are practically impossible to remove or destroy, and can infect healthy deer for years.
• Put out bait, food, or food products to purposefully congregate wildlife from Jan. 2 through Aug. 31 each year.

Any hunter who harvests a cervid within the dates and counties listed below is required to submit a sample for testing to the Commission not later than two weeks following the harvest:

• Nov. 23 - 25, 2024 in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties.
• Nov. 16 - 23, 2024 in Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Robeson, and Sampson counties.

This information will be published in the 2024-25 Inland Fishing, Hunting and Trapping Regulations Digest this August.