Ohio Division of Wildlife finds more CWD positives in 2024 hunt

Columbus — The Ohio DNR (ODNR) Division of Wildlife confirmed that 24 white-tailed deer harvested during the 2024-25 hunting season tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

A total of 5,783 deer were tested, according to the Division of Wildlife. Twenty-three deer were shot by hunters in Allen, Hardin, Marion, and Wyandot counties. For the first time, a deer harvested by a hunter in Morrow County also tested positive for CWD.

CWD is a neurological disease that is always fatal to white-tailed deer and other similar species, including mule deer, elk, and moose. Once an animal is infected, there is no cure for CWD. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no strong evidence that CWD is transmissible to humans. Find more information on CWD at ohiodnr.gov/cwd.

Up-to-date information on CWD in Ohio can be found on the new CWD dashboard. The dashboard includes location and harvest information for all CWD-positive wild white-tailed deer confirmed since 2020. In addition, the interactive site helps hunters monitor the status of deer they submitted for testing.

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The Division of Wildlife has extensively monitored and tested deer in the disease surveillance area since CWD was discovered in the wild in 2020. The Division of Wildlife has conducted routine surveillance for CWD since 2002, with more than 40,000 deer tested.

The disease was first discovered in the 1960s in the western U.S. More information about this disease is available at cwd-info.org.

Ohio Outdoor News reported in January that a hunter-harvested deer right on the line of Morrow-Delaware counties tested positive for chronic wasting disease. That finding came from a deer killed on Delaware Wildlife Area, which straddles the two central Ohio counties.

“The good news is that (CWD) is at a very low prevalence right now,” said Gary Comer Jr., wildlife management supervisor for the Division of Wildlife in Columbus. “Hunters should absolutely not worry about if they want to have their deer tested for confidence. As an agency we’re going to do everything we can to help them get their deer tested if they’re concerned.”

The Morrow County finding is the furthest south yet that CWD has been found in Ohio. The disease was found in Green Camp in Marion County previously, but that is still a bit north of Delaware Wildlife Area.