Minnesota DNR sampling efforts uncovered two deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Deer Permit Area 184 near Bemidji this past hunting season.

The DNR says the deer were two adult males located six miles apart in the southern part of that permit area. These were the only two detections out of 1,472 deer tested in the surveillance area that includes Deer Permit Areas in parts or all of Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Itasca, and Koochiching counties.

Because they are located close to the surveillance area, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Red Lake Nation, and White Earth Nation have been conducting CWD testing for the past few deer hunting seasons as well. They have not detected any CWD-positive deer.

By — Lakeland News