MADISON, Wis. -- Shots rang out across the state on Saturday morning as hunters took to the fields for the start of the 2007 gun deer hunting season.

However, as hunters register their kills, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Rescources is fighting a deadly disease within the deer population.

For outdoorsmen, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has unfortunately become a well-known term in recent years. It’s a neurological disease found mainly in members of the deer family that attacks their brain tissue, ultimately killing them, WISC-TV reported.

DNR officials are trying to take significant measures to stop the disease from spreading, but for now, they're doing it with limited resources.

In 2006, Wisconsin hunters harvested more than 393,000 deer during the firearm hunting season.

As the 2007 season begins, DNR officials hope the numbers continue to be strong. The health of future deer populations depends on it, they said.

"Predictions are, if we don't do any management whatsoever, this could spread exponentially amongst the deer herd," said Greg Matthews, DNR public affairs manager. "That's why, for the last five years, we've been trying to reduce the deer population, and take diseased animals off the landscape."

The focus is on a section of southwestern Wisconsin, primarily in western Dane and eastern Iowa counties. Efforts in the CWD eradication zone have helped keep the disease from spreading, officials said.

But with funding cut by two-thirds, DNR officials will only be able to test 10,000 deer, which is about 20,000 less than last year.

"As far as surveillance, finding out where the problem is, that is going to be impacted, because we cannot test as many deer as we have in years past,” said Matthews.

Funding research to protect the herd might not be a priority for some, but for hunters who hunt for tradition and for venison, reducing the funding could be a threat to their way of life.

Hunter Brian Fairbrother said that he has never had a deer come back positive for CWD, and he'd like to keep it that way.

"I'd like to see more money go toward conservation in whatever form," said Fairbrother. "But I'd like to see that continue as well, the CWD testing and monitoring."

The hunting season runs through Dec. 9. Officials said that they hope to gain more information in that time in order to help battle the disease, WISC-TV reported.