Oklahoma wildlife agency activates CWD response after Cimarron deer test positive

A hunter-harvested mule deer killed about 3.5 miles west of Felt tested positive for chronic wasting disease, pushing the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation back into response mode and keeping Panhandle hunters on alert from Cimarron County into Texas County.

ODWC said April 10 that it activated its CWD response plan with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, but did not expand the disease boundary. Instead, officials kept the finding inside an existing Selective Surveillance Area in Cimarron County, noting the new case landed close to a 2024 positive finding and near the Oklahoma-Texas border. For Texas County landowners and hunters, the mileage matters: ODWC’s own surveillance map already shows a previous CWD-positive road-killed deer 2.5 miles south of the border near Felt, plus two more recent positives in Oklahoma, one in Texas County about 4 miles north of Optima Wildlife Management Area and another about 15 miles east of Woodward.

ODWC said it has monitored hunter-harvested deer and elk and road-killed deer for CWD since 1999. The agency also said the June 2023 Texas County case was the first wild-deer CWD detection in Oklahoma and the first time the disease had shown up in laboratory testing of more than 10,000 wild deer and elk samples collected statewide. ODWC, which is funded by hunter and angler license fees and receives no general state tax appropriations, said its goal is to contain the disease where it is found and limit artificial spread.

“The CWD Response Plan dictates that we respond to this finding by establishing a Selective Surveillance Area,” ODWC wildlife programs supervisor Joey McAllister said. The agency said it will continue surveillance in the surrounding region and may issue more guidance to hunters if needed.

For people who hunt or lease land in Texas County, the practical takeaway is simple: expect more sampling attention, not less. ODWC says future steps could include carcass-disposal advisories, movement restrictions on captive cervids, or testing requirements for hunter-harvested deer if the disease edges closer or additional positives are found. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says CWD has been reported in 36 states, and the U.S. Geological Survey says it has been detected in 36 states and five Canadian provinces. No human infections have ever been reported, but the disease remains fatal in deer family animals and a continuing management problem in the Oklahoma Panhandle.