TWRA announces chronic wasting disease unit in West TN; hunting seasons extended

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has announced the creation of a new chronic wasting disease deer hunting unit in response to the disease being found last year in three West Tennessee counties.

The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission has approved the TWRA recommendation to establish the new CWD deer hunting unit for the counties where deer have been found with CWD — Madison, Hardeman and Fayette — and counties within 10 miles of where CWD positive deer have been found — Chester, Haywood, McNairy, Shelby and Tipton, according to a news release from the TWRA.

The goal is to keep CWD from spreading and to keep the number of infected deer to a minimum, the release says.

Unit CWD muzzleloader and gun season dates have been extended from the traditional statewide season dates.

Archery-only dates will be Sept. 28-Oct. 25. Muzzleloader/archery will be Oct. 28-Nov. 8 and gun/muzzleloader/archery will be Nov. 9-Jan. 5, 2020.

For the three-day Aug.23-25 deer hunt, muzzleloaders and archery were authorized for use in the new CWD unit, according to the release.

Selected public lands will also be open to hunting in the unit for the August season.

The creation of Unit CWD also means other changes for deer hunting in the area. Read more about Unit CWD and the other changes at the TWRA website.