Hunters in Kankakee County killed 62 deer in the first-ever chronic wasting disease hunts in the county.

The special CWD hunts have been held in attempts to control the spread of CWD, which was confirmed in deer in Kankakee and neighboring Livingston County for the first time last year.

Livingston hunters killed 54 deer in the CWD hunts — Dec. 31-Jan 3 and Jan. 15-17.

CWD, which has been spreading south in Illinois from Wisconsin since 2002, is a fatal neurological disease that causes small lesions in the brain and is characterized by loss of body condition and behavioral abnormalities, according to the CWD Alliance. No cases of CWD affecting humans have been verified.

CWD has been confirmed in 16 northern Illinois counties, south to Kankakee, Will, Grundy, Livingston and LaSalle.

During the November firearms season, a deer check station was operated at the Des Plaines Game Farm at Wilmington for the first time in 14 years. Will and Kendall county hunters were required to bring deer there for tissue sampling to check for CWD. Samples were taken from about 80 mature deer.

"We've been getting some additional positives" for CWD, Illinois DNR district biologist Bob Massey said Wednesday — "a couple in Grundy County, one in Will County, two in LaSalle. There were no brand new areas, so that was a positive.

"We didn't hardly get any samples from Kankakee County," he said, a bit disappointed. "All the effort we went to (for volunteer sampling) and we didn't get 10 samples, which is not enough to make an educated guess."

He said earlier that DNR "will likely have a check station at Kankakee River State Park next year and testing will be mandatory."

The 2015-16 Late-Winter Antlerless Only and Special CWD deer seasons concluded on Jan. 17.

The CWD total was 1,876 this season, up from 1,659 last season. A substantial portion of the total each year is from Jo Daviess County in the northeast corner of the state and of the top deer hunting counties. Its CWD total was 519 this season and 510 last season. Its deer hunt totals were 3,908 and 3,763.

The late-winter total was 4,476 this season compared to 4,102.

The late-winter antlerless-only hunting targets does as a population control measure in 35 counties — eight fewer than last year because they had met population control goals the previous two years.