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NewsGame and Fish monitoring chronic wasting disease

Game and Fish monitoring chronic wasting disease

September 26, 2025

News – Sheridan Media

With help from hunters, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is continuing to monitor chronic wasting disease (CWD) to better understand how the fatal illness impacts the health of deer and elk herds across the Cowboy State.

The department’s surveillance program focuses sampling efforts on specific herds in each region on a five-year rotation. The goal is at least 200 testable samples from adult elk and 200 from adult male deer in targeted herds. According to the department, that sample size provides wildlife managers a statistically valid prevalence estimate at the 95 percent confidence level.

Samples are collected during the fall hunting season with the assistance of hunters at check stations, meat processors, in the field, or at regional offices. In some parts of the state, hunters are required to submit samples, but no mandatory submission areas are in the Sheridan Region for the 2025 year.

Designated priority sampling areas this year are deer hunt areas 19, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 163, 169 and elk hunt areas 35–40. Hunters in those areas may be contacted by Game and Fish personnel to provide voluntary samples, which require only a few minutes to remove lymph nodes from the animal’s neck.

Hunters who would like their animal tested can take the head to the Sheridan Regional Office during regular business hours. Game and Fish reminds the public that infected animals may appear healthy until the final stages of life and only laboratory testing can confirm the disease.

According to the Game and Fish, there have been no known cases of CWD in humans, but studies suggest exposure could pose a risk. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend not consuming CWD-positive animals. Game and Fish urge hunters to quarter and freeze their harvest while waiting for results to avoid processing costs. If the disease is detected, test results can be used as a receipt for carcass disposal at an approved landfill.

Results are available within three weeks and can be viewed through the hunter’s account on the Game and Fish website.