Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Program

If you harvest or salvage a deer, elk, or moose in GMUs 124, 127, or 130, you are required to submit the whole head with at least three inches of neck attached or extracted lymph nodes within three days of harvesting or receiving a salvage permit to WDFW. Those that harvest or salvage a deer, elk, or moose in Region 1 (100 series GMUs) are encouraged to submit a sample for CWD testing. Following are several ways to do so:

By appointment at a WDFW facility

Please fill out the CWD Sampling Appointment Form to have your deer or elk tested for CWD.

By mail

Note: Please carefully read and follow the instructions for self-submission. Both a diagram and video follow to show the most efficient way to do this. Samples submitted without all requested information or improperly packaged will not be tested. If you have questions, email CWD@dfw.wa.gov.

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1. Collect the lymph nodes for CWD testing and a front incisor tooth for aging- Watch the videos below or use the diagram above to learn how to collect lymph nodes and teeth from your harvested or salvaged deer, moose, or elk. If you are unable to collect a tooth for aging, please still submit the lymph nodes for CWD testing. If you are only able to collect one lymph node for CWD testing, please still submit that sample.

2. Put the lymph nodes and teeth in sealed plastic bags – Double bag the lymph nodes and tooth (wrap tooth in a paper towel) in a resealable plastic bag with paper towels between the sample bag and outer bag to absorb leakage. If submitting samples from multiple animals in one shipment, make sure to put the correct lymph nodes and teeth of one animal together into a bag and properly label following step 3.
3. Label your samples and provide additional information – Please label the outer bag with your name and phone number. Include the following information on paper (consider typing and printing for legibility) and put this information in a separate sealed plastic bag:
   • First and Last name of hunter or roadkill salvager
   • Hunter’s WILD ID if harvested or Salvage Permit Number if salvaged
   • Phone number
   • Date of harvest or salvage
   • Species: White-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, or moose
   • Sex of animal
   • If male, the number of antler points on the left and right antlers
4. Location of harvest or salvage – Please provide a precise location of where the animal was harvested or salvaged. This will help WDFW track and manage the disease. A GPS location with latitude and longitude or universal translocator mercators (UTMs) is preferred, but GMU with nearest road, intersection, or drainage name will be accepted, OR county with road name and mile marker number if salvaged.
5. Ship your samples – Keep samples refrigerated or frozen until you’re ready to ship them. Place sample bags and additional printed information in a leak-proof, padded envelope or box using a 1- to 2-day mail service – mail services will not accept smelly or soiled packages. Do not freeze water in a plastic bag to use as a cold pack. It will leak, and carriers may not deliver a leaking package. 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 or drop off your samples at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, ATTN: CWD, 2315 N. Discovery Pl., Spokane Valley, WA 99216 (If you do not put “ATTN: CWD”, we will not know this is a CWD sample and it may not be stored properly, making it untestable). If dropping off samples, please only do so during office hours when staff can physically take the sample from you. Do Not leave samples on premises unattended.

At a self-service kiosk

Check our CWD Reference Webmap for self-service kiosk locations where you can drop your deer or elk head off  to have staff remove the lymph nodes. Tools will be provided for removing skull caps with antlers. Heads are not able to be returned from self-service kiosks. If you wish to keep your animal's head, please stop by a hunter check station (locations also included on the map) or make other arrangements for testing. 

At a hunter check station

Hunter check stations will be available during the general firearm seasons in October and November. Check the CWD Reference Webmap for locations.

Find your CWD test results

You can look up your CWD test results by entering your WILD ID or Salvage Permit ID in the test results lookup tool. Samples are shipped to Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) and take on average 4-6 weeks to receive results. Please be patient as WADDL has experienced supply-chain delays and test results may take longer than expected.

To prevent spreading prions that cause CWD, avoid disposing of carcass parts on the landscape in a different location from where the animal was harvested. WDFW recommends either field dressing and leaving all inedible parts of your harvested animal at the kill site or dispose of inedible parts at an approved landfill (see map for information on disposal locations and instructions).

If you plan to 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. These same rules apply to those that harvest or salvage deer, elk, and moose within the 100 series GMUs and are transporting carcasses to other areas of Washington state:

To reduce the risk of spreading CWD, if you harvest or salvage deer, elk, moose, or caribou in another state, province, or country, regardless of whether or not CWD is known to be present there, or within the 100 series GMUs, only the following items may be imported to Washington and to areas outside of the 100 series GMUs:

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1. Meat that has been de-boned in the state or province where it was harvested and is imported as boned-out meat
2. 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
3. Hides or capes without heads attached
4. Tissue imported for use by a diagnostic or research laboratory
5. Finished taxidermy mounts

Other states and Canadian provinces have the same or similar regulations. Please review this map to be familiar with what you can import to each state or province if not hunting in your home state or province or transporting harvested carcasses.

If you are notified by another state or provincial fish and wildlife agency that the animal you harvested tested positive for CWD, you have 24 hours to notify WDFW by calling 360-902-2515 or emailing CWD@dfw.wa.gov.

CWD has not been shown to infect people, but research is still ongoing, and it is not known for certain if people can get infected with this disease. While CWD has not been associated with human disease, there is a theoretical risk to people who eat an infected animal. As a precaution, the Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people do not eat any animal that tests positive for CWD or appears to have CWD. WDFW and DOH also advise hunters to:

• Avoid harvesting any animal that appears sick or behaves strangely.
• Wear eye protection and disposable gloves while field dressing game. 
• Thoroughly wash hands and equipment after processing carcasses. 
• Minimize handling parts where the CWD prions accumulate, including the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, pancreas, tonsils, and lymph nodes. 
• Avoid cutting through bone, brain, or spinal cord. 
• Disinfect processing tools by soaking in household bleach (>2% free chlorine) at a 40% solution (with water) for a minimum of five minutes. Remove any tissue pieces from tools before soaking and rinse tools after soaking. 
• Safely discard inedible parts and any positive meat using one of the recommended methods listed on the WDFW website. Tissues from CWD-positive animals can contaminate the environment and infect other cervids. Do not dispose of infected materials on the landscape or feed to pets.

Please help monitor the health of our deer, elk, and moose populations. While hunting or recreating, if you observe a sick or dead animal, please report it using this online form.