TN wildlife officials warn of disease in deer ahead of muzzleloader season

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hunters are gearing up for the 2024 statewide muzzleloader season for deer, which opens in Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 9. It’ll also be a prime day for a local business as well.

“Everybody will be out tomorrow,” said Mike Flowers, the owner of Flowers’ Farms in Nashville.

For 45 years, the family business has operated on Eatons Creek Road. Flowers told News 2 it’s important for hunters to stay aware when it comes to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

“They have billboards on the interstate about chronic wasting. I’ll have hunters that will come in and act totally surprised, ‘like what do you mean chronic wasting?’ And I’m like ‘where have you been?'” said Flowers, “But just educate yourself.”

As the season gets ready to kick off, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) officials have continued their messaging to hunters. The statewide bag limit for antlered bucks is two. Hunters may notice there are now six hunting units across the state on the map.

In fact, they’re broken down that way so that officials can change how they manage data on deer population and geography. Three counties in Middle Tennessee are designated CWD counties: Lewis, Henry and Wayne.

“We will have people out at processors collecting CWD samples. But we’re not only doing that, we’re collecting age and we’re collecting antler biometrics as well,” explained Tabitha Lavacot, a regional species biologist with TWRA. “So, we will take all those samples and work those up, and those will get shipped out and then we’ll be able to meet the quotas that the agency has given each county through a model that helps us find CWD if it is on the landscape at a very low scale.”

For those planning to hunt, Lavacot says she has already gotten calls about Hemorrhagic disease, which according to her, can look similar to CWD in affected deer.“We may see, when hunters get out into the woods, they may actually find carcasses from where the deer have died. See recovering deer that look thin where they’ve recovered from hemorrhagic disease,” said Lavacot.

For Flowers, he told News 2 right now is the calm before the storm of a season he and his family are passionate about.

“We’ll be real busy next week and then it will taper off and then Thanksgiving week gun season opens,” said Flowers. “So, business is good.”

The season will continue through November 22.