The Wyoming Game and Fish Department needs help from hunters this fall to collect samples from deer for chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing in focus hunt areas.  For the 2020 hunting season around the Douglas, Lusk and Newcastle areas, Game and Fish will focus CWD sampling efforts on deer harvested from Deer Hunt Areas 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 21.  Game and Fish asks hunters that harvest deer in these specific hunt areas to submit samples to Game and Fish for testing. 
 
To assist hunters, Game and Fish will provide several options in the Douglas, Lusk and Newcastle areas to submit a sample for CWD testing:
 
Douglas area:

• Game and Fish personnel located at Tom’s Wild Game Processing Oct. 1, 2, 3, and 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
• CWD samples can also be dropped off at the Game Warden Station at 431 N. 4th.  A cooler is on the front porch with sampling kits and instructions.  
• Oct. 1 to 15, there is a drop off box for complete heads at Tom’s Wild Game Processing.  Instructions are posted on the lid of the box.  For any questions, please contact Matt Huizenga, Douglas Wildlife Biologist, at 307-298-5246.

 
Lusk area:

• Game and Fish personnel located at Lusk Game processing Oct. 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, and 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• CWD samples can also be dropped off at the Game Warden Station at 413 Linn.  A cooler is on the front porch with sampling kits and instructions.  
• Oct. 1 to 15, there is a drop off box for complete heads in the alley behind Lusk Game Processing.  Instructions are posted on the lid of the box.  For any questions, please contact Matt Huizenga, Douglas Wildlife Biologist, at 307-298-5246.

 
Newcastle area:

• Checkstation Oct. 1 and 2 at the junction of Highways 450 and 16 (AIM Equipment) from approximately 8:00 a.m. to 6: 00 p.m. each day
• Checkstation Oct. 3 and 4 at Flying V or Cambria Processing from approximately 8:00 a.m. to 6: 00 p.m. each day.

 
Additional area information:

• Game and Fish will be conducting biological checkstations across the state; all checkstations are willing to take a CWD sample from any Hunt Area for hunters.
• You can also visit a regional office M-F 8am to 5pm.

 
Since 1997, the Wyoming Game and Fish has been monitoring the distribution and prevalence of CWD to better understand how this disease affects the health of Wyoming’s deer and elk populations.  Initial surveillance goals focused on the detection of CWD in new areas of the state along with monitoring the disease.  This disease has now been identified in most deer hunt areas across Wyoming and necessitates a shift in focus of the program from detection to monitoring.
 
Continued monitoring of CWD over time is important to help Game and Fish understand the potential impacts of the disease and evaluate management actions for deer and elk.  This will be a challenge for Game and Fish, as valid estimates of prevalence require large sample sizes in focused areas across the state.  The Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory has limited testing capacity to monitor CWD across the entire state, so focused sampling will rotate hunt areas each year.  Hunters are very important in helping Game and Fish understand the disease and achieve CWD monitoring goals.
 
Hunters can find more information on CWD, along with a video guiding people on how to take and submit lymph nodes for testing at wgfd.wyo.gov/CWD.