Deer at RDM Goliath Hunting Lodge Euthanized After Positive CWD Test at Warren Area Hunting Preserve

CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) – A Clarion County deer breeding operation owned by Rodney Miller, RDM Goliath Hunting Lodge, underwent a mass euthanization of deer last month after a three-year-old buck tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) at a Warren-area hunting facility that had purchased buck fawns from Miller less than two months previous.

(Photo above: Whitetail deer mounts inside the lodge at Rodney Miller’s hunting preserve, RDM Goliath Hunting Lodge.)

“Deer were humanely euthanized on two Clarion County properties in 2023—a breeding farm and a hunting preserve—after deer on a farm that had purchased deer from the breeding farm tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD),” said a statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“Both operations were placed under a Special Quarantine Order under the standards and authority established in the PA Domestic Animal Law and 2019 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture CWD program,” the statement said.

Miller, preparing for retirement and downsizing his herd, recalled the sale that eventually led to the quarantine. “He asked me if I had any shooter bucks for sale. I told him all I have is 13 buck fawns. He said ‘I’ll take them all,’” Miller said.

Approximately one and a half months later, USDA agents, a sheriff’s deputy, and PA Department of Agriculture employees enforced the quarantine on Miller’s property.

“When they quarantine you, it’s for five years,” said Miller. “You can’t move any deer. You just have to keep them fenced and feed them. Well, you can’t feed deer for five years for nothing.”

Miller estimates between 80 to 90 facilities that had done business with the Warren hunting facility were affected by the quarantine.

Over seven miles of high fence surround the hunting preserve, now empty of whitetail deer.

Faced with the impracticality of maintaining his quarantined herd, Miller opted for their euthanization.

“I just told them the feds can just come and shoot them all,” he stated.

The operation involved four USDA shooters and two Department of Agriculture employees, and took place on two different dates near the end of 2023.

“I’ve been testing for CWD for twenty, going on twenty-one years. Anything that died or was shot at the lodge had to be tested at my expense. I never had a deer that had CWD. No positive deer,” Miller emphasized.

Miller has decided against returning to deer farming after the quarantine.

“I’m only partly stupid. I’m not completely stupid,” he said. “The deer business is done. That’s how easy it is to get wiped out.”

Rod Miller stands next to a mount of his most famous buck, Goliath, in the downstairs living room at RDM Goliath Hunting Lodge.

Miller said that in his 35 years in the business, he rarely sold deer. Those deer he bred and raised were typically transferred from his farm to his lodge for hunters.

Both of Miller’s operations—the breeding farm in Beaver Township and the hunting lodge in Licking Township—will remain under quarantine until 2025.

Under the euthanization agreement with the Department of Agriculture, Miller qualifies for indemnity funds from the USDA to compensate him for his losses.

“I miss the deer. When I came out (to the lodge), I still think about whistling for them and putting out things for them to eat. It’s empty up here without them,” Miller said.