The Idaho Fish and Game lethally removed 82 wild mule deer from inside a high-fenced captive elk facility in Game management Unit 60A over the last month, but they’re not letting the animals go to waste.
Throughout the 2025 hunting season, hunters on nearby lands reported seeing the wild mule deer inside the facility, likely having gained access to the facility through gaps under the fence. The facility has not had any captive elk test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), but it is subject to Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s 100% CWD testing requirement. Captive elk facilities in Jefferson, Bingham, and Madison Counties have had multiple elk test positive for the disease in the past 18 months.
Fish and Game determined that the lethal removal of these mule deer was the most responsible course of action after the evaluation of several options, including hazing. With no reliable way to test live animals for CWD, and as wild deer cannot legally be kept in captivity, the decision to eliminate the animals was made.
Fish and Game worked closely with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to implement the removal alongside the facility owner. Public hunters drawn from the depredation hunt list and Fish and Game staff efforts were used to remove the animals. All removed deer will be tested for CWD, 76 of which have already tested negative.
The half of the deer harvested by public hunters are kept for personal consumption. After testing negative for CWD, the deer removed through Fish and Game staff efforts will be professionally processed and donated to local food banks, with Fish and Game and the Department of Agriculture jointly paying for the meat processing.
