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2026 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 24
BY SENATORS WOMACK, ABRAHAM, CARTER, CATHEY, CONNICK, HENRY,
JACKSON-ANDREWS, KLEINPETER, LUNEAU, MILLER, MIZELL,
MORRIS, PRICE AND STINE AND REPRESENTATIVES BAYHAM,
BOURRIAQUE, BOYER, BROUSSARD, BUTLER, CARLSON,
FARNUM, HORTON, ILLG, MCCORMICK, OWEN, RISER,
SAWYER, VENTRELLA AND WILDER
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To amend Department of Wildlife and Fisheries rule LAC 76:V.137, to provide for chronic
wasting disease management; to provide for definitions; to provide for prevalence;
to provide for management zones; to provide for supplemental feeding and baiting
restrictions; to provide for surveillance season; to provide for sampling; to provide
for export restrictions; and to direct the Louisiana Register to print the amendments
in the Louisiana Administrative Code.
WHEREAS, chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a neurodegenerative disease found
in most cervid species, including white-tailed deer; and
WHEREAS, one of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies, CWD is infectious, always fatal, and has no treatment; and
WHEREAS, CWD is shed by infected deer onto the landscape, can persist in the
environment indefinitely, and has been detected in free-ranging cervid populations in thirty-
six states, including Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries adopted rules to establish a
CWD Control Area, consisting of the infectious zone and a buffer, to implement mitigation
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and containment measures; and
WHEREAS, the CWD Control Area has been expanded through emergency
declarations and is comprised of portions of Avoyelles, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia,
East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Pointe
Coupee, Rapides, Richland, Tensas, and Union parishes; and
WHEREAS, within the CWD Buffer Zone, feeding and baiting of deer is allowed
under certain conditions; and
WHEREAS, the CWD Control Area encompasses multiple Enhanced Mitigation
Zones wherein supplemental feeding, baiting, placement of bait, and hunting over bait are
prohibited; and
WHEREAS, deer hunting has deep roots in Louisiana's cultural heritage and provides
significant recreational enjoyment and economic benefits to families, landowners,
businesses, local communities, and the state; and
WHEREAS, many local businesses provide the feed, bait, and mineral and salt licks
Louisiana hunters use to attract deer; and
WHEREAS, restrictions and bans on feeding and baiting can discourage hunter
participation and have detrimental economic impacts that ripple from local farms and retail
businesses outward to the parishes and state; and
WHEREAS, overly broad regulatory measures may impose unintended burdens on
hunters, businesses, landowners, and government, and may undermine the cooperation that
is essential to effectively manage CWD; and
WHEREAS, successful mitigation and containment of CWD demands agile and
targeted science-based strategies, including surveillance, testing, and hunting, processing,
and transportation restrictions, all of which must be balanced with and calibrated to the
interests of conservation, recreation, and the economy; and
WHEREAS, amending the rules for CWD Control Areas will better balance
recreational and economic interests with the state's need to conserve the deer population and
mitigate the risks of CWD; and
WHEREAS, R.S. 49:969 provides that "the legislature, by concurrent resolution, may
suspend, amend, or repeal any rule or regulation or body of rules or regulations, or any fee
or any increase, decrease, or repeal of any fee, adopted by a state department, agency, board,
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or commission".
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of Louisiana that LAC
76:V.137 is hereby amended to read as follows:
§137. Rules and Regulations for Chronic Wasting Disease Control Areas
A. Definitions
Apparent prevalence – the percentage of deer tested for CWD with
confirmed positive CWD test results within a surveillance season.
Cervid – any animal of the family Cervidae including, but not limited to,
white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose, caribou "reindeer", fallow deer, axis deer,
sika deer, and red deer.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) – Neurodegenerative disease found in most
deer species, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, red deer, moose, and
caribou. It is infectious, always fatal, and has no treatment. CWD is part of a group
of diseases know as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and is similar
to BSE (mad cow disease) in cattle and scrapie in sheep. These diseases cause
irreversible damage to brain tissue, which leads to excessive salivation, neurological
symptoms, emaciation, and death of the animal.
Control Area – a designated area consisting of the CWD infectious zone and
buffer zone where mitigation measures and regulations are applied to curb further
spread of the disease. The Control Area is established and defined by the map below:
CWD management zone – an area established and defined in response
to the detection of CWD where disease mitigation is applied. It is comprised of
both a CWD 5-mile and a 15-mile zone. The CWD management zone shall be
established on the LDWF website at the beginning of the surveillance season
and published in the electronic edition of the annual hunting regulations
pamphlet annually in conformity with this Section.
5-mile zone – a defined area five miles or more from a confirmed CWD
positive deer.
15-mile zone – a defined area fifteen miles or more from a confirmed
CWD positive deer.
Supplemental feed/bait – salt, grain, or other feed that has been placed,
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exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered, if that salt, grain, or other feed
could serve as a lure or attractant for wild quadrupeds or wild birds via
ingestion.
Surveillance goal – the surveillance goal in relation to a CWD
management zone, which is the statistical probability of detecting CWD at 2.5%
prevalence with 95% confidence, not to exceed three hundred samples and
developed by subject matter experts.
Surveillance season – CWD samples collected from July 1st - June 30th.
B. Supplemental feeding, baiting, placement of bait, or hunting over bait is
prohibited within the portion of the CWD Control Area designated as the CWD
Enhanced Mitigation Zone. It is the responsibility of hunters to check their hunting
area for bait prior to each hunt. A baited area is an area on which salt, grain, or other
feed has been placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered, if that salt, grain,
or other feed could serve as a lure or attractant for wild quadrupeds or wild birds via
ingestion. Supplemental feeding and baiting is allowed in the portion of the CWD
Control Area designated as the CWD Buffer Zone, but only by non-stationary,
mechanical or electronic broadcast methods. The use of bait not normally ingested
by deer is allowed for feral hog trapping, or by holders of bear harvest permits during
the designated bear baiting period.
B. CWD Management Zone Establishment, Modification, and Removal
1. Upon confirmation of a CWD detection in a wild cervid outside of an
existing CWD management zone, LDWF shall immediately establish a CWD
management zone around the CWD index case.
2. Existing CWD management zone boundaries shall only be modified
upon the conclusion of the CWD surveillance season when CWD is confirmed
outside of a CWD 5-mile zone.
3. Establishment, modification, or removal of the CWD management
zone shall be executed via declaration of emergency by the secretary, subject to
ratification or amendment by the commission at its next regular meeting, and
publication of the map on LDWF's website.
4. When establishing the CWD management zone, LDWF shall utilize
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public roads, geopolitical boundaries, water ways, visible rights-of-way, and
other natural or manmade features that serve as identifiable boundaries. LDWF
shall endeavor to establish the 5-mile zone and 15-mile zone as closely to each
zone's respective actual radius as practicable. LDWF may consider inclusion of
processors, taxidermists, state or federal lands, WMA's and refuges, and other
relevant considerations when establishing the CWD management zone and its
components.
5. The CWD management zone shall be removed when surveillance goals
are met for three consecutive CWD surveillance seasons without an additional
confirmed CWD detection.
C. Carcass Export Restrictions
1. The export of any cervid carcass or part of a cervid carcass originating
within a designated CWD Control Area management zone is prohibited, except for:
meat that is cut and wrapped; meat that has been boned out; quarters or other
portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached, antlers, clean
skull plates with antlers, cleaned skulls without tissue attached, capes, tanned hides,
finished taxidermy mounts, and cleaned cervid teeth.
D.2. Approved parts transported out of the CWD Control Area management
zone must be legally possessed. Approved parts must contain a possession tag with
the hunter's name, address, LDWF license number, parish of harvest, date of harvest,
and sex of deer. All cervid parts transported out of the Control Area CWD
management zone that are in violation of the provisions of this ban shall be seized
and disposed of in accordance with the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission and
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries rules.
E.3. LDWF shall establish maintain a permitting system to allow for
uncleaned cervid heads to be transported out of the Control Area CWD
management zone and to Louisiana taxidermy businesses solely for taxidermy
purposes by waiver and adherence to waiver guidelines.
D. Baiting and Supplemental Feeding Restrictions
1. Placement of bait and supplemental feed for wild quadrupeds and wild
birds, or hunting over bait, is prohibited within both the CWD 5-mile zone and
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the 15-mile zone, except that placement of bait and supplemental feed is allowed
from September 1st through March 31st, when apparent prevalence is less than
2.5% and the CWD management zone surveillance goal is achieved annually.
a. If apparent prevalence exceeds the 2.5% threshold, the prohibition of
bait and supplemental feed shall be in effect for future surveillance seasons,
subject to ratification or amendment by the commission.
b. If apparent prevalence exceeds 20%, placement of bait and
supplemental feed is allowed.
c. Failure to reach the surveillance goal in any CWD management zone
shall result in a prohibition of bait and supplemental feed within the associated
5-mile zone and 15-mile zone for the subsequent surveillance season and shall
remain in effect until such time as the surveillance goal is achieved, subject to
ratification or amendment by the commission.
2. It is the responsibility of hunters to check their hunting area for bait
prior to each hunt.
3. Bait and supplemental feed restrictions for any new, modified, or
expanded CWD management zone are effective upon confirmation that
apparent prevalence exceeds 2.5%, subject to ratification or amendment by the
commission.
4. The use of bait not normally ingested by deer is allowed for feral hog
trapping or holders of bear harvest permits during the designated bear baiting
season.
E. Incentivized Hunter Harvest in CWD Management Zones
1. Properties within the CWD 5-mile zone that have forty or more
contiguous acres are eligible for Tier 1 DMAP (liberalized bag limit and season
length) at no cost. All or part of the property must be within the specified zone.
2. LDWF is authorized to issue replacement tags to any hunter who
harvests a deer that tests positive for CWD.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted
to the office of the state register, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Louisiana
Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Register is hereby directed to have
the amendments to LAC 76.V.137 printed and incorporated into the Louisiana
Administrative Code, to include removal of the Control Area map, and to transmit a copy
of the revised rules to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Louisiana Wildlife
and Fisheries Commission.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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