Special Deer Hunting Permits in TB Area

The Department of Natural Resources will issue permits next Tuesday, March 18th for landowners and tenants in northwestern Minnesota to shoot deer. The DNR is issuing the expedited permits to help eliminate bovine tuberculosis from wild deer in management area 101. The permits will be issued at a public meeting at Wassnaska Elementary School that starts at 6:30pm. All deer shot must be taken in for testing. The DNR is seeking approval for an emergency rule to allow landowners and tenants in area 101 to take deer without a permit or license. Officials hope to have that rule in place by the end of the month and be in effect through the middle of May. Bovine TB was first discovered in northwestern Minnesota cattle herds three years ago. Since, 17 deer have tested positive for TB out of a sample testing of 3,000.