This year FWP will continue CWD surveillance and monitoring in specific areas known as Priority Sampling Areas across southwestern, central, and central-eastern Montana.
Carcass disposal requirements: Carcass parts, such as brain, eyes, spleen, lymph glands, and spinal cord material, should be left at the kill site when possible. If the animal is transported for taxidermy or meat processing, the brain and spinal tissue must be bagged and disposed of in a Class II landfill. A carcass may be transported within the state regardless of where it was harvested if the carcass parts are disposed of in a landfill after butchering and processing. Dumping carcasses is illegal, unethical, and can spread diseases, including chronic wasting disease. This requirement applies to all deer, elk, and moose carcasses wherever in the state they are harvested by hunters or as vehicle-killed salvage. Protect our herds: properly dispose of carcasses.
CWD sample submission is voluntary in most places in Montana. There are new mandatory testing requirements for tags associated with CWD management near Libby. Testing is required for all animals harvested using the Deer B License 199-20 in HDs 100, 103 and 104, or Deer Permit 103-50 in HD 103. All hunters who want their harvested animal sampled can submit samples themselves by following steps on the Montana CWD Submission Guide or by visiting a CWD Sampling Station.
If you intend to use scents to either mask human odor or as an attractant for deer and elk, you should be aware of the regulations regarding which can legally be used. You are safest if you use artificial scents, but you can also use scents certified by the Responsible Hunting Scent Association. You can identify these with the DPP✓ or RtQUIC✓ labels on them.
Certain areas of the state are designated as Priority Sampling Areas where FWP is making a concerted effort to gather more samples. In those specific areas, hunters are asked to voluntarily submit a sample from their animal. For instructions on how or where to submit a sample, visit fwp.mt.gov/cwd.
Report sick-looking deer, elk, or moose. If you shoot an animal that looks diseased or sick, report it immediately to your local FWP office for further instructions and limit handling it. FWP staff will need to diagnosis and verify diseased or sick harvested animals to determine if an animal is fit for consumption or eligible for a replacement tag.
Download the full 2024 CWD FAQ (PDF) or read through the questions below:
CWD is a 100 percent fatal disease that infects members of the deer family, including elk, moose, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. CWD is not a virus, bacteria, or fungus. It is caused by infectious, mis-folded proteins, called prions, that spread throughout the animal and result in neurological damage and eventual death. These prions are found throughout bodily tissues and secretions and are shed into the environment before and after death. When other animals come into contact with the prions, either from infected animals or from contaminated environments, they can be infected. CWD does not appear to naturally infect cattle or other domesticated animals. The disease is slow acting, degenerative, and always fatal. The name comes from the appearance of symptomatic animals, which become very skinny and sick-looking in the last stages on the infection just before they die. There is no vaccine or cure for CWD. Symptoms of CWD typically take 16 to 24 months to develop, but animals may test positive as early as 3 to 6 months into the infection. Therefore, most hunter-harvested animals that test positive do not exhibit obvious symptoms or characteristics of the disease when harvested.
There is no known transmission of CWD to humans. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hunters harvesting a deer, elk, or moose from an area where CWD is known to be present have their animal tested for CWD prior to consuming the meat and do not consume the meat if the animal tests positive.
Some simple precautions should be taken when field dressing harvested animals:
Wear rubber gloves and eye protection.
Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues.
Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed. Instruments should be washed in a 40 percent bleach solution for 5 minutes.
Avoid processing and consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, and lymph nodes of harvested animals. (Normal field dressing coupled with boning out a carcass will essentially remove these parts.)
The origin of CWD is unknown. It was discovered in 1967 in mule deer at a research facility in Colorado. Shortly thereafter it was also found in captive mule deer in Ontario, Colorado, and Wyoming. By the 1990s, it was discovered in wild white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose in Colorado and Wyoming, and among captive animals in Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma. As of 2023, it has been found in captive or free-ranging herds in 35 states, five Canadian provinces, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and South Korea.
CWD was found among wild deer in Montana in 2017. CWD infections along our northern and southern borders are likely the result of the natural spread of the disease from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Wyoming to Montana. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Wyoming have documented CWD-positive deer close to Montana’s border. CWD is also found in neighboring North Dakota, South Dakota, and Idaho.
After decades of CWD management across the country, most agencies and researchers agree that CWD cannot be eradicated once it infects a herd. Other states have attempted eradication and set unreasonable expectations with hunters and the public. Eradication is not the goal of FWP.
CWD prions spread between animals through bodily fluids like feces, saliva, blood, or urine, either through direct contact between animals or indirectly through contact with contaminated surfaces in the environment, such as soil, food, or water. Once introduced into an area, the infectious CWD prions can be transmitted among deer, elk, and moose and can spread quickly. CWD prions can remain infectious in the environment for years, so animals can contract CWD from the environment long after the infected animal that contaminated the surfaces has died. Feeding wildlife such as deer is illegal and can cause animals to congregate, leading to rapid disease spread.
If CWD infects enough animals, it could reduce herd numbers in the long term. Other states have seen deer population declines correlated with CWD prevalences above 20 to 40 percent. In Wyoming, some heavily infected herds of mule deer declined 21 percent per year, and white-tailed deer declined 10 percent per year. Colorado saw a 45 percent decline in mule deer in CWD-positive areas over 20 years.
Because the distribution and intensity of CWD infections are variable across a broad landscape, the impacts across the landscape will also be variable. Keeping deer numbers down and deer dispersed, and reducing buck:doe ratios, may keep the prevalence low and manageable. FWPs’ focus will be on preventing spread and managing CWD-infected areas with the goal of keeping prevalences at or lower than 5 percent. This may include keeping deer or elk numbers low to slow infection rates.
CWD was first found in the wild in October 2017.
FWP conducts annual chronic wasting disease surveillance in high priority areas across large swaths of the state known as Priority Sampling Areas
Hunters who harvest a deer, elk, or moose in these areas are asked to voluntarily submit their animal for sampling, so FWP can gather additional data. This information will be used to identify where CWD is found, estimate CWD prevalence, and help inform the best management strategies for the affected hunting districts. FWP is asking hunters to properly dispose of their carcass waste in a landfill to help prevent the spread of the disease.
FWP also has liberalized harvest (by either increasing total tags or either sex/antlered tags) in certain CWD-positive hunting districts, with the goal of reducing herd densities and mule deer buck densities. Mule deer bucks are more likely to be CWD positive than does. In 2023, FWP prioritized sampling in northcentral, southwestern, southcentral, and eastern Montana. In southwest Montana, FWP conducted the fourth consecutive special CWD hunt known as the Southwestern Montana CWD Management Hunt. FWP continued CWD management in the Libby CWD Management Zone with the fifth annual Special Libby CWD Hunt. In collaboration with the Libby City Council and as part of the urban deer management plan for the town of Libby, FWP trapped and euthanized white-tailed deer within the town of Libby with the goal of reducing deer densities and helping control CWD within the surrounding Libby CWD Management Zone. In 2024, FWP will continue these ongoing efforts with newly selected Priority Sampling Areas and continue to assess management strategies.
Are you a hunter? Please consider getting your animal tested. Hunting is the primary tool for monitoring and managing the spread of CWD. FWP uses sample data from harvested animals to determine the estimated CWD prevalence in positive hunting districts and to understand if CWD has spread to new districts. Even if you’re in a hunting district with no CWD detections, CWD may still be present but not detected because of low sampling numbers. FWP also uses all this information to assess how to respond to CWD when present and to determine if our management strategies are working.
Properly dispose of carcasses. Proper carcass disposal is critical to protecting our herds. All carcass parts, such as brain, eyes, spleen, lymph glands, and spinal cord material should be bagged and disposed of in a landfill or may be left at the kill site. Dumping carcasses is illegal, unethical, and can spread diseases, including chronic wasting disease. This requirement applies to all deer, elk, and moose carcasses wherever in the state they are harvested by hunters or as vehicle-killed salvage.
Receive a “Not Detected” CWD result before dropping your animal off at a meat processor or food bank. This will help prevent contamination of equipment and human consumption of CWD positive meat.
Concerns over CWD shouldn’t stop you from enjoying hunting season. Hunters are critical to conservation efforts across the state and protecting our wildlife heritage.
To guard against importing CWD from other states, Montana regulates the transportation of hunter-harvested deer, elk, and moose from CWD-infected states. It is illegal to bring into Montana the whole carcass of any deer, elk, or moose from the states and Canadian provinces where CWD has been detected.
As of 2024, those states and provinces are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
What hunters can bring home:
meat that is boned, cut, and wrapped; quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached
hides with no heads attached
clean (no meat or tissue attached) skull plates with antlers attached
antlers with no meat or tissue attached
skulls that have been boiled and cleaned to remove flesh and tissue
upper canine teeth, also known as "buglers," "whistlers," or "ivories"
finished head, partial body, or whole-body mounts already prepared by a taxidermist
tested and certified disease-free animals with proof of lab test result
Hunters should consult with meat processors or taxidermists for any specific requirements they may have. FWP is asking processors to consider single-animal processing or batch processing only animals testing negative. Furthermore, FWP is requesting that meat processors and taxidermists properly dispose of all large tissue or carcass waste (bone, non-edible portions, etc.) in a Class II landfill (see map/list of landfills) to prevent the accidental spread of CWD.
Please read the recommendations below if you intend to donate your deer, elk, or moose to a foodbank.
If you intend to donate your deer, elk, or moose to a food bank, we strongly recommend that that you get it tested for CWD and receive a negative test result beforehand. FWP will provide opportunities for samples to be collected for testing at designated CWD-sampling check stations, regional headquarter offices, or through online instructions for mailing samples to the Wildlife Health Lab.
When hunters come to have their animal sampled for CWD, FWP staff will ask hunters whether they intend to donate their animal to a foodbank. This information will allow us to track the test status of donated animals.
Carcasses may be processed prior to having a test result in hand. However, food banks typically do not have a way to track the test status of batches of meat. Thus, FWP strongly urges hunters to have a negative test result in hand prior to donation.
To determine whether an animal is infected, a certified CWD-testing diagnostic laboratory must test an animal’s retropharyngeal lymph nodes or brainstem for evidence of CWD. These samples can only be collected from dead animals. Unfortunately, there are no commercially available noninvasive CWD tests for live animals, and meat cannot be tested for CWD.
If your animal is sampled by FWP staff at a check station or regional office during the general surveillance season or during a special hunt, results will be posted online and emailed to the hunter within two weeks.
If you received a “suspect” or “positive” test result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you do not eat the meat. With a CWD suspect or positive test result, FWP authorizes the disposal of the meat, and asks that you ensure all carcass waste (meat, bones, trimmings, hide, etc.) is disposed of in a landfill. If you have already sent your animal to a commercial processor or donated it to a foodbank, please contact the Wildlife Health Lab at: 406-577-7883, 406-577-7895, or 406-577-7881 so that we may follow up with the processor and/or recipient of the meat. If you choose not to consume the meat and wish to request a new license for this year or next year, please call your local FWP regional office or the Licensing Call Center (406-444-2950) to coordinate the next steps. You will have to properly dispose of all remaining parts in a landfill, and turn in any antlers associated with your harvest, if you request a replacement license.
Hunters in Montana can have their deer, elk, or moose tested for CWD with the help of FWP staff. FWP is paying for the testing of samples, and CWD sampling is voluntary. In Priority Surveillance Areas, sampling is strongly encouraged to help FWP gather additional data to inform management.
Hunters can collect the samples themselves, fill out the online hunter submission form, and mail them to our Wildlife Health Lab in Bozeman, or they can bring the animal (or head) to an FWP regional office or CWD Sampling Station to have FWP staff collect the samples during the general deer and elk rifle season. Hunters who visit a regional office should be prepared to experience wait times during busy hours. Check with your regional office for optimal times, but in general, regional offices will be able to take samples during normal business hours. Sampling locations and hours of operation will also be posted online. If you are looking for assistance with sampling your animal outside of the general deer and elk rifle season, please call ahead to your local regional office to schedule an appointment.
While sooner is better than later, lymph nodes last a long time. As long as they are not decomposed or liquified, they can still be tested. Try to keep them cool or frozen until you submit them for testing.
To submit a sample via mail to the FWP Lab, take the following steps:
Collect the lymph nodes (for deer, elk, and moose) and obex (just for moose): Please download the printable Obex and Lymph Node Extraction Instruction Sheet and/or watch the video on this webpage for a demonstration of lymph node extraction. Extraction can easily be performed with a field knife. If you need help with sampling, please visit one of the CWD sampling locations or a regional office for assistance with collecting the obex and lymph nodes. Not all FWP offices can offer help with sampling, so please call ahead to check on availability and to ensure your visit is timely, quick, and smooth.
Put the lymph nodes in a sealed plastic bag: Ziploc bags or a similar brand work best. Double bag the sample and wrap it in a paper towel.
Fill out the digital Hunter Harvest Submission Form: Please fill out the online Hunter Harvest Submission Form and follow the associated directions for labeling your samples. Your samples must be bagged and labeled to be testable. You will receive several emails confirming your submission, including one that will assign a unique CWD number that will be used to track your test results. Results will be emailed to hunters and will be available online within two weeks. Be sure to record the location of harvest as accurately as possible. Samples without location information will not be tested.
Shipment: Place the bagged samples, a frozen ice pack, and the bagged submission form(s) in a small box or shipping envelope and send it via your choice of postal carrier. Do not freeze water in a Ziploc bag to use as a cold pack. It will leak and carriers may not deliver a leaking package. We recommend using a carrier that will deliver your samples within 24-48 hours to prevent the samples from rotting. Please try to ship your samples on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of each week, and avoid shipping on holidays, to prevent the samples from sitting over the weekend.
Send to:
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
ATTN: Wildlife Health Lab (CWD)
1400 S. 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
6. There is no cost for the test.
To submit a sample at an FWP regional office or CWD Sampling Station, bring the following items when you submit your animal’s head for testing:
Animal’s head: Leave 2 to 4 inches of the neck below the lower jawbone and base of the skull to ensure lymph nodes are present and not inadvertently left with the carcass. Samples cannot be collected from frozen heads.
Location of harvest: GPS coordinates (lat/long) of where you harvested your animal.
2024 Letter to Hunters (PDF)
2023 CWD Annual Report (PDF)
2022 CWD Annual Report (PDF)
2021 CWD Annual Report (PDF)
2019 CWD Annual Report (PDF)