CHEYENNE — As the 2026 hunt season gears up in areas across Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would like to remind hunters to have their harvested animal tested for chronic wasting disease.
Game and Fish needs help from hunters this fall to collect lymph node samples from deer and elk for chronic wasting disease testing in focused monitoring hunt areas across Wyoming. Hunters play a critical role in helping Game and Fish understand the disease and achieve CWD monitoring goals.
CWD is 100% fatal to infected deer, elk and moose. Continued monitoring of CWD over time is important to help Game and Fish understand the potential impacts of the disease, as well as evaluate future management actions.
To submit a harvested animal for testing, hunters can visit a game check station, drop off the animal at a Game and Fish regional office or collect a sample themselves by following online guidelines and submitting it directly to the Wildlife Health Lab. Animals harvested from any hunt area, even outside of focus areas, will be accepted.
If you hunt in a focus area selected for monitoring or mandatory sampling, you may receive additional communications about how to submit CWD samples. Hunters can view 2026 monitoring and mandatory sampling areas to determine if they may be asked to participate in surveillance efforts.
Results from Game and Fish surveillance are typically accessible online within three weeks through a hunter's website dashboard, or within 10 working days via the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab in Laramie for a fee.
To minimize risks and meat processing costs while waiting for results, hunters are encouraged to quarter and freeze their meat, wear latex or rubber gloves during field dressing, minimize handling of brain and spinal tissue, bone out meat and refrain from eating the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen or lymph nodes. Processing tools should be cleaned of tissue and disinfected in a 40% household bleach solution for at least five minutes before rinsing.
Hunters can further assist wildlife management by reporting sick animals, having harvests tested in designated focus areas and adhering to Wyoming’s carcass transport and importation regulations. More information about CWD, and interactive maps, can be found at https://wgfd.wyo.gov/CWD.
— WGFD —