“chronic”

At the risk of being called a New Age charlatan, Ron Spomer recommends you give your hunting dog massage therapy.

Researchers can dissect and explain the whitetail’s great eyes, ears and nose, but no amount of data can explain how and why each deer responds so differently to what it sees, hears and smells.

The surge in popularity of bowhunting brought the use of deer based scents to the forefront. We now have a multi-million dollar industry based on deer pee. Over 60 companies produce and sell deer urine and gland based attractants in one form or another. Unfortunately, everything is not rosy in the world of cervid secretions.

For decades, deer hunters have used deer urine and other scent-based products to lure bucks into range for a shot. Generations of hunters have reached into their coat pockets, pulled out small bottles of often foul-smelling fluid and dribbled it on the ground and vegetation. Sometimes without spilling it on themselves, sometimes not.

Biologists confirm a rare case of rabies in a deceased whitetail deer in North Carolina.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has confirmed a positive result for a deer tested for chronic wasting disease. Reported to the MDWFP in January, the deer from Issaquena County is the first to test positive for the disease in the state.

Data from the 2017-18 hunting seasons show an increase in chronic wasting disease by more than 200 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

On Aug. 9, the Michigan DNR approved new regulations for hunting in CWD areas for the 2018 deer season.