According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Disease Management Area 4, which covered nearly all of Lancaster County and parts of Berks and Lebanon counties, has been reduced ahead of the 2023-24 deer hunting seasons.
Disease Management Areas are created whenever chronic wasting disease is confirmed in wild or captive deer in an attempt to contain the spread of the always-fatal disease.
During the 2022-23 hunting season, all of Lancaster County was in Disease Management Area 4 except for the area roughly north of Columbia and west of Manheim. The Game Commission has collection bins scattered through the zone where hunters can deposit deer heads for testing.So the northern boundary of Disease Management Area 4 was moved south.
That’s the first wild deer found with the disease east of the Susquehanna River, which means it’s inching closer to Lancaster County. “A critical part of this research is testing deer that have been ear tagged or collared,” Game Commission officials said in a news release.