DES MOINES, Iowa- Iowa's second shotgun deer season begins Saturday. Mick Klemesrud of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says around 60-thousand hunters are expected to be out in about, wearing blaze orange, hoping to harvest a deer.
He says the same rules apply, although hunters in northwest Iowa can shoot a doe if the wish.
The DNR says so far, hunters have taken 60-thousand deer, which is similar to last year's numbers at this time.
Klemesrud says the DNR needs to collect about 25-hundred deer tissue samples, to track chronic wasting disease (CWD).
CWD has been found in wild deer in three Iowa counties, Allamakee, Clayton, and Wayne. Experts plan to pay close attention to those counties, as well as surrounding counties to see if the illness is spreading.
CWD has been found in wild deer in states surround Iowa, especially in southwest Wisconsin.