Deer hunt area a focus point for CWD monitoring

The hunt area on the western border of Crook County is among this year’s focus points for chronic wasting disease (CWD) monitoring.

Wyoming Game & Fish has been working to understand the distribution and prevalence of the always-fatal disease since 1997, using focused sampling due to the limited testing capacity of the Game & Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory.

Submitting a sample of a deer harvested in hunt area 18 will not be mandatory this year. However, as a focus area, Game & Fish is requesting that hunters assist through a voluntary sample.

Mandatory sample submission areas for 2024 are mainly in the center of the state and include 22, 70, 88, 89, 157 and 171.

Additional areas of focus include 17, 18, 23, 26, 35-37, 39, 40, 82, 84, 92, 94, 100, 121-123, 128, 130, 131, 134, 135, 138-146, 148, 150-156, 160 and 164. 

There are no elk focus areas in northeast Wyoming this year. However, if you are planning to hunt to the west or southeast of the state, you may be doing so in an area of interest to Game & Fish.

Focus areas include 8-12, 55, 56, 58-61, 66, 70, 71, 75, 77, 78, 80-96, 110 and 125.

Game & Fish will still accept a sample submission even if it is not from within a surveillance area.

Sampling can be done at a game check station or Game & Fish regional office. You can also collect a lymph node sample yourself by watching the department’s online video, completing a submission form and sending it to the Wildlife Health Lab or taking it to a regional office.

The results are usually available within three weeks, or can be done quicker for a fee of $40 through the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab. Game & Fish recommends quartering and freezing your animal until the results are returned to save on meat processing costs if CWD is detected.

CWD is now identified in most of Wyoming and the monitoring fosters understanding of the potential impacts of the disease and best management actions for elk and deer.

CWD is a fatal disease that affects deer, elk and moose and is caused by abnormally folded proteins called “prions”. It is still unknown whether CWD can spread to humans, but the Centers for Disease Control do not recommend consuming an animal that appears ill or tests positive for the disease.

Deer and elk may display no symptoms at first, but the advanced stages of CWD can lead to droopy ears, a lack of energy, a lack of gloss to the coat and lethargy, as well as emaciation in extreme cases.

Game & Fish recommends precautions such as not consuming animals that appear sick or test positive; wearing gloves while field dressing; minimizing your handling of brain and spinal tissues; not eating the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen and lymph nodes; boning out the meat; and disinfecting any equipment used for a minimum of five minutes after cleaning it of tissue.