IRON MOUNTAIN — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on Friday confirmed the first positive test result for chronic wasting disease in a wild deer in Menominee County.

Menominee County’s boundaries are the same as the boundaries of the Menominee Indian Reservation. Current tribal regulations ban the baiting of deer on the reservation, and the tribe has indicated that the ban will remain in effect.

The deer was a hunter-harvested 2-year-old buck and is the first confirmed wild CWD-positive deer detected in Menominee County. The deer was harvested within 10 miles of the borders with Oconto and Shawano counties.

This detection will cause these actions:

— The existing baiting and feeding ban for Menominee County, which was initially implemented in response to a CWD detection within 10 miles of the county, will start over and last three years.

— Oconto and Shawano counties currently have three-year baiting and feeding bans in place from positive CWD detections within those counties. This detection will not impact those bans.

To date, the northernmost wild CWD-positive detection is in Vilas County. Deer baiting and feeding is currently prohibited in Florence, Forest and Marinette counties, although confirmed CWD-positives in those counties to date have only been in captive deer.

CWD is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathiesor prion diseases. The DNR began monitoring the state’s wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.

State law requires that the DNR enact a three-year baiting and feeding ban in counties where CWD has been detected and a two-year ban in adjoining counties within 10 miles of a CWD detection. The state’s baiting and feeding ban in Menominee County applies to non-tribal members within the county. If additional CWD cases are found during the lifetime of a baiting and feeding ban, the ban will renew for an additional two or three years.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or indirectly by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine. More information regarding baiting and feeding regulations is available on the Wisconsin DNR’s Baiting and Feeding webpage at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/bait.

In the Upper Peninsula, a deer in Dickinson County’s Waucedah Township tested positive for CWD in 2018. With no further positives, the Upper Peninsula Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Zone — which included parts of Delta, Dickinson and Menominee counties — was removed beginning with the 2023 hunting seasons.

At the same time, hunters in this area were able to resume baiting and feeding practices.

More information on CWD monitoring in Michigan can be found at https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/wildlife/wildlife-disease/disease-monitoring/cwd.

As temperatures drop, the Michigan DNR is reminding everyone to put safety first when enjoying outdoor winter activities.

“People often get caught up in the excitement of the moment and overlook winter safety,” said Lt. Tom Wanless, with the DNR Law Enforcement Division’s Recreational Safety, Education and Enforcement Section.

Use extreme caution around ice, as there is no perfectly reliable way to determine ice strength. Wear a personal floatation device and carry ice picks in an easy-to-reach location.

In Michigan, all snowmobile operators ages 12 to 16 must obtain a Michigan-approved snowmobile safety certificate to operate without a legal guardian or to cross a highway or street. Earn a snowmobile safety certificate or purchase a trail permit at Michigan.gov/Snowmobiling.

The DNR’s Ride Right snowmobile safety campaign emphasizes the importance of riding at a safe speed, sober and on the right-hand side of the trail to help ensure that you “Ride home safe to your family and friends.”

Speed is the main factor in fatal and serious injury snowmobile accidents.

Currently, area snowmobile trails remain closed, due to a lack of sufficient snow for grooming.