MARATHON COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed that two wild deer in Marathon County tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Officials with the Wisconsin DNR announced in a release on Wednesday that the positive CWD results come from a 2-year-old doe harvested in Ringle and a 4/5-year-old doe harvested in Elderon.

The 2-year-old was harvested during the gun deer season and the other doe was harvested during the December antlerless deer season.

Back in 2019, the first CWD-positive wild deer was detected in Marathon County, officials say.

As required by state law, the DNR will enact a ban on the baiting and feeding of deer throughout Marathon County and any counties that are within 10 miles of the positive-tested deer.

Also following state law, the DNR has renewed a three-year baiting and feeding ban in Marathon County.

The DNR will provide more information about the recent CWD-positive detections in Marathon County, local CWD testing efforts, and disease surveillance options for the fall deer hunting season during the annual County Deer Advisory Council meeting this spring.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

CWD is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk, and reindeer/caribou. The DNR began monitoring the state’s wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.

Information about baiting and feeding regulations can be found here.