The deer bane known as chronic wasting disease has yet to show up in the state, and the Ohio Division of Wildlife is asking — no, insisting — that hunters help keep it that way.

Prodded by the division, the Ohio Wildlife Council earlier this month approved rules that hunters heading out of state would do well to heed. The regulation makes the importation by hunters of certain deer, elk or moose body parts from known CWD-infected areas a fourth-degree misdemeanor, punishable by as much as a $250 fine and 30 days in the hoosegow.

Making rules, though, is the easy part.

"Enforcement will in reality come after the fact," said Dan Schneider, the wildlife division’s law enforcement supervisor.

In other words, don’t look for border patrols waiting at the Ohio-Indiana line to unleash venison-sniffing dogs, cats or buzzards on incoming camoclad drivers of campers and pickups. Far more likely, violators will be found out through tips or when reasons exist to make sporadic perusals of records at taxidermy shops.

Enforcement, in short, won’t be ironclad, nor is it necessarily designed to be, Schneider said.

"The goal of any rule is to get compliance. Hopefully, once more people find out about this, they will go along with it. I’d say one of the reasons for the rule is educational," he said.

Click here for the entire story.