Montana Drafting Plans for Hunt to Monitor Deer Disease

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana officials are drafting plans for a special hunt to find out how widely a deadly neurological disease has spread in deer populations.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials hope to get a proposal before the state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Dec. 7.

Details that need to be worked out include the hunt boundaries and how many deer would need to be killed to get a statistically valid sample.

Chronic wasting disease has been slowly spreading among deer, elk and moose in the Rocky Mountains, including Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Symptoms include weight loss, listlessness and drooling.

Barb Beck with Fish, Wildlife and Parks says the hunt will be a milestone for how the state approaches chronic wasting disease.