Deer hunting season is a couple of months off, but the Missouri Department of Conservation is still taking measures to stop the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. One of those includes making it illegal to feed deer in CWD zones.
Jason Isabelle is the Cervid Program Supervisor for the with the Department of Conservation.
“So, the prohibition on placing feed and minerals for deer — the objective is to keep our deer population healthy,” Isabelle told Missourinet. “CWD is a disease in our deer herd that certainly threatens the health of our deer herd, threatens our hunting culture.”
He said the disease spreads whenever deer come in close contact with each other.
“Whenever you have a feed site or a mineral site that’s placed for deer, of course you’re attracting deer to that location. They are artificially congregated there. They’re coming into very close contact with one another,” Isabelle said. “So, if a deer happens to have Chronic Wasting Disease, it would be a way that that disease could spread more quickly through the local deer population.”
Anyone caught feeding deer in a Chronic Wasting Disease zone can be fined up to $250.
Twelve new counties were added to Missouri’s CWD zone this year — Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Daviess, Harrison, Henry, Marion, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Ralls, St. Louis, and Texas — totaling 83 counties in every region of the state. The percentage of Missouri’s deer population infected with CWD is very small, less than 1%.
For the 2025–2026 deer seasons, the CWD Management Zone includes Adair, Audrain, Barry, Barton, Bollinger, Boone, Caldwell, Callaway, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Cedar, Chariton, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Crawford, Dallas, Daviess, Dent, Douglas, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Hickory, Howard, Howell, Jasper, Jefferson, Knox, Laclede, Lewis, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Madison, Maries, Marion, McDonald, Mercer, Miller, Moniteau, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Pemiscot, Perry, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, Ray, Ripley, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shannon, Shelby, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Warren, Washington, and Webster counties.
New counties in the CWD Management Zone: Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Daviess, Harrison, Henry, Marion, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Ralls, St. Louis, and Texas counties.
