North Dakota officers license refunds to 30,000 deer hunters

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.