Illinois DNR announces detection of chronic wasting disease in Ford County

Springfield — Deer hunters keeping score at home may instinctively place Ford County as No. 20 on the state’s chronological list of counties with at least one confirmed case of CWD.

It is actually No. 21.

With no hoopla – or even significant public announcement – Bureau County filled the No. 20 spot in late 2023. The CWD map on DNR’s website still does not include the Bureau County deer, nor do any of the charts and lists pertaining to CWD. Documents on DNR’s website still put the number of positive counties at 19.

The only trace of acknowledgement of the Bureau County CWD case is a public meeting DNR called for Jan. 17 of this year at the Hennepin Canal State Trail office in Sheffield. Purposes of that meeting were to “provide information about the recent detection of CWD, its effect on free-ranging deer populations, and DNR’s efforts to control it.”

The recent Ford County case has received much more attention. On May 1, DNR announced that a whitetail in the county tested positive for the disease in mid-March.

An odd-shaped figure that looks sort of like a fist with an index finger extended, Ford County is bordered by Champaign County to the south, Iroquois and Vermilion counties to the east, Livingston and McClean counties to the west, and Kankakee County to the north. Both Livingston and Kankakee counties are on “the list” –  both have had deer test positive for CWD.

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Ford is now the southernmost county on that list.

Affected counties now include, in alphabetical order: Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago.

DNR explained that the CWD case in Ford stemmed from “a suspect-deer exhibiting symptoms consistent with CWD infection.” The new case and the new county come in wake of a concerning year for CWD in the state. DNR’s Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Surveillance and Management Report, released in October and based on CWD reporting between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, showed 369 confirmed cases of CWD during that 12-month period. That was the most cases ever reported and far more than the 218 reported the previous year. Some of the increase in positive cases can be credited to the fact that more deer are tested.

However, DNR cautioned, “the prevalence rate among adult male deer (7.5%), adult female deer (4.5%), and across all sex and age classes of adult deer (6.2%) were much higher than the previous two years.”

What the new Ford County case means for CWD efforts in the state is still unknown. DNR still has concerns about spread to other northern counties, and into central Illinois. Far southern Illinois counties that sit near the Mississippi and Ohio rivers also are a concern.

Meanwhile, DNR is preparing to engage hunters and wildlife watchers in Ford County.

“Wildlife biologists with DNR will be available to discuss current management strategies and answer questions about CWD in public meetings anticipated to occur later this year,” the agency’s announcement promised. “Meeting dates and locations will be published at an appropriate time.”

Landowners, hunters and interested citizens will be encouraged to attend to learn more about DNR’s CWD program.