Update

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota is offering license refunds to nearly 30,000 deer hunters due to an outbreak of disease in the western part of the state. It’s the second straight year that the state’s Game and Fish Department is offering refunds. The department says it has received nearly 1,000 reports of dead deer after epizootic hemorrhagic disease surfaced in late August. It’s transmitted by biting gnats. The heaviest concentration of reported deaths is along the Missouri River, especially to the north and south of Bismarck and Mandan.

Bismarck  (Game & Fish)  The North Dakota Game and Fish Department reports that EHD  in deer, has been reported south and west of the Jamestown area.

Big game biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department Jason Smith. in Jamestown says,  “The deer population is good. The majority of the EHD (epizootic hemorrhagic disease) has been limited to the southwest and central North Dakota.”

North Dakota Game and Fish Department has offered refunds to hunters with licenses in several units across the state including 2I and 2H in the Jamestown area.

Unit 2I is outlined by Interstate 94 on the north and U.S. Highway 281 on the east. Unit 2H is defined by U.S. Highway 13 on the north and U.S. Highway 281 on the east.

A big game biologist in Bismarck, Bill Jensen, says there are some cases of EHD every year usually limited to areas south and west of the Missouri River.

This year the west area is showing some immunity. This year it started along the Missouri River and spread.

Jensen says  EHD is a viral disease spread by tiny midges. The insects, sometimes called “no-see-ums” breed in the mud of drying sloughs that were common this year during the drought.