“We found that harvesting a high proportion of the adult males in the herd – around 40% every year for 20 years, is expected to keep chronic wasting disease infections at low numbers,” lead author and USGS scientist Wynne Moss said in the press release.

The disease — which is 100% fatal — causes a deer's nervous system to shut down until they die, but there's no evidence of the disease spreading to humans.

Chronic wasting disease has been detected near Hawley for the first time. Hunters' voluntary testing helped identify the disease; new management zones and sampling rules may follow.