Permits for landowners and tenants to shoot deer as part of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) efforts to help eliminate bovine tuberculosis (TB) from wild deer in northwestern Minnesota’s deer management area 101 will be issued Tuesday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m., during a public meeting at Wannaska Elementary School.
DNR officials will explain the expedited permitting process at the meeting before issuing permits, said Northwestern Regional Wildlife Manager Paul Telander. Landowners and tenants unable to attend can obtain a permit by contacting their area wildlife office.
All deer shot using an expedited permit must be taken within deer management area 101 and be submitted for TB testing at a designated location.
Telander said DNR officials also are seeking approval for an emergency rule allowing landowners or tenants in deer management area 101, which is considered the TB management zone, to take deer without a permit or license provided each deer taken is submitted for testing.
Once the rule takes effect, Telander said, special shooting permits will no longer be required. The rule is expected to be in place by the end of March and to extend at least through May 15.
The DNR also will issue elk-shooting permits in the TB area on a case-by-case basis, he said. Elk permits will be considered in areas where there is direct interaction with elk and either cattle or stored feed and there are no other feasible options.
Bovine TB was first discovered in area cattle herds in 2005. Since that time, 17 deer have been confirmed with TB out of a sample of more than 3,000 tested in northwestern Minnesota.
