Hunting News

Want your deer tested for CWD? Here’s how

Want your deer tested for CWD? Here’s how

By Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Deer check station locations, hours and days of operation are being reduced in 2020 to prevent unnecessary risk to hunters and DNR staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWD testing continues free of charge for all deer harvested in southern Jackson, southern Isabella and western Gratiot counties, and from the core CWD surveillance area in the Upper Peninsula—portions of Dickinson, Menominee and Delta counties—through Jan. 4.

Deer heads from counties where CWD has been detected—Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm—will be accepted for testing at no charge Nov. 15-18.

Because CWD testing is important to hunters and their families outside these geographic areas and time frames, the DNR has partnered with USDA-approved labs to accept hunter-harvested deer from anywhere in Michigan for CWD testing. The fee for testing will be set by the receiving laboratory.

For the 2020 deer hunting seasons, the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab are both accepting CWD samples. Hunters who plan to use these services should review the instructions now to save time after their hunt. Also, hunters should plan to store their harvest until they have test results.

To lower the cost of testing and simplify shipping, hunters may wish to remove the needed lymph nodes from the head of their harvested deer. A video with instructions on how to do this is available online.

Because of potential safety concerns with bovine tuberculosis, hunters in DMU 487 should not attempt to remove lymph nodes themselves, but should request assistance from a DNR check station. A list of check stations is available here.

Additional information about CWD, testing and deer check safety procedures can be found here.

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Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd