In March of 2025, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind approved new rules designed to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Washington. Updates are below. For the latest information on CWD rules in Washington, visit WDFW’s CWD webpage. WDFW encourages hunters and salvagers to read the full text of these rule changes by reviewing the (PDF)rule-making order (PDF).
- Mandatory CWD testing for salvaged deer and elk – Anyone who salvages a deer or elk in WDFW's Eastern Region must submit the whole head with at least three inches of the neck attached or extracted retropharyngeal lymph nodes at the base of the skull to WDFW for chronic wasting disease sampling within 3 days of receiving a salvage permit.
- Mandatory reporting of hunting activity – If you harvest a deer, elk, or moose in WDFW's Eastern Region (100 series GMUs), you are required to provide a lymph node sample for CWD testing within five days of harvesting animals. You can find information in the Testing for Chronic Wasting Disease section on ways to submit a sample and comply with the new rule.
- Baiting – Baiting deer, elk, and moose in Washington is banned statewide, as baiting draws animals together where they can spread disease. You can read the full text of this rule on WDFW’s rule making webpage. Using scent lures derived from cervid urine or glandular materials is also prohibited.
- Transport restrictions of dead wildlife – If you hunt deer, elk, moose, or caribou outside of Washington, there are rules (WAC 220-413-030) regulating how you can bring your meat and trophies home. You cannot bring whole carcasses into Washington. These rules also apply to people harvesting or salvaging deer, elk, and moose within the 100 series GMUs in WDFW’s Region 1 and wishing to transport carcasses to other areas of Washington. Only the following items may be imported into Washington and to areas outside of the 100 series GMUs:
- Meat that has been de-boned where it was harvested and is imported as boned-out meat,
- Skulls and antlers (with velvet removed), antlers attached to the skull plate, or upper canine teeth (bugler, whistlers, ivories) from which all soft tissue has been removed,
- Hides or capes without heads attached,
- Tissue imported for use by a diagnostic or research laboratory,
- Finished taxidermy mounts.
For information on what CWD is, see WDFW’s Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan. To learn how to have hunter-harvested or salvaged deer, elk, or moose tested for the disease, see the Chronic wasting disease web page.