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 rules at the links to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) below.
- 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 either by submitting the whole head with at least three inches of the neck attached or by submitting extracted retropharyngeal lymph nodes. 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 for the purpose of hunting deer, elk, moose – Baiting deer, elk, and moose in Washington is banned statewide, as baiting draws animals together where they can spread disease. Using scent lures derived from cervid urine or glandular materials is also prohibited.
- Feeding - On March 24, 2025, WDFW's director approved a rule prohibiting feeding deer, elk, and moose in Washington, as feeding draws animals together where they can spread disease. The rule went into effect May 17, 2025.
- Transport restrictions of dead wildlife – If you harvest or salvage 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 in the state or province where it was harvested and is imported as boned-out meat
- Any part of the skull and antlers with all soft tissue removed. Soft tissue is any tissue that is not tooth, bone, or antler (velvet must be removed)
- Hides or capes without heads attached
- Tissue imported by researchers with preapproved permits 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.
Links pertaining to CWD rule making :
- Rule making order for Emergency Rules filed summer of 2024 in reaction to the first chronic wasting disease detection in WA (PDF).
- 2025 Hunting Regulations: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife – Rule making process for the following WAC’s
- WAC 220-413-100: - Mandatory report of hunting activity
- WAC 220-414-030: - Baiting for the purposes of hunting deer, elk, moose
- WAC 220-413-030: - Importation, retention, and transportation of dead wildlife
- WAC 220-400-040: - Possession of dead wildlife
- 2025 Hunting Regulations: Prohibition of Feeding Deer, Elk, and Moose | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife – Rule making process for prohibition of feeding deer, elk, or moose
- WAC 220-440-260: - Prohibition of feeding deer, elk, or moose