CHEYENNE — Hunters in Wyoming can play an important role in helping monitor chronic wasting disease. These samples help wildlife managers better understand where the disease occurs, monitor its potential impacts on wildlife populations throughout the state and inform wildlife management decisions.
CWD is a fatal, neurological disease affecting the nervous system of deer, elk and moose. In the early stages, infected animals may not show any visible signs. As it progresses, animals experience weight loss, lethargy, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urinating and eventually, death. Animals infected with CWD will test positive long before these symptoms appear.
Game and Fish has identified several hunt areas where CWD sample submission is mandatory for harvested deer, as well as multiple focus areas where hunters are encouraged to submit samples. A full list of mandatory submission areas and focus areas can be found on the 2026 CWD informational handout.
Hunters have several options for getting their harvest tested for CWD.
Hunters can extract a lymph node themselves, fill out a CWD sample form and bring the sample to a Game and Fish regional office or headquarters. Instructions for extracting a lymph node are available on the Game and Fish website. Hunters who plan to mount their harvest are encouraged to cape out the head prior to sample collection.
Game and Fish can collect samples from harvested elk, deer or moose. Hunters may bring their harvest to a Game and Fish regional office or headquarters for sample collection, or stop by a game check station in the field. To ensure a viable sample can be collected, hunters should leave at least 2 inches of the neck attached to the head when bringing the head in for sampling.
Hunters who take their harvest to a meat processor or taxidermist should let them know a sample needs to be collected. Processors and taxidermists may save the head for later collection or collect a sample themselves. Hunters who want to know an animal's CWD status before processing should quarter and freeze the animal until test results are available.
Hunters also are asked to plan ahead for transporting and disposing of harvested animal carcasses. Improper disposal of a CWD-positive animal carcass can spread the disease to new areas. Regulations are in place to limit the spread within Wyoming and to other states.
CWD test results are usually available online within three weeks.
-WGFD-
