CASPER, Wyo. — Hunters who harvest mule deer in any Black Hills hunt area in Wyoming are being asked to help the Wyoming Game and Fish Department with efforts to monitor chronic wasting disease.
“This year sampling efforts are being concentrated on mule deer in the Black Hills, so we can determine the prevalence of CWD,” Joe Sandrini, wildlife biologist with Game and Fish based in Newcastle, said. “We need and appreciate all the assistance hunters in these areas provide in helping us gain this knowledge.
“We hope to make submitting a sample for CWD testing easy for hunters, whether they bring us the harvested animal or collect the sample themselves.”
Chronic wasting disease is fatal to mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose. Game and Fish has been monitoring the disease since 1997 with help from hunters.
Hunters who harvest a deer from Hunt Areas 1–6 this fall are asked to provide lymph node samples from the deer they harvest to the department. Game and Fish personnel may contact hunters while in the field, at game check stations or at meat processing facilities to ask for lymph node samples.
“Sampling takes just a few minutes and requires removing a set of lymph nodes from the neck of the animal,” Game and Fish said in an Oct. 25 release.
If hunters harvest a mule deer in Hunt Areas 1–6 but don’t encounter Game and Fish personnel in the field, there are several places they can take their harvests for sampling:
- Devil’s Tower Overlook, Highway 24
- Weekends: Nov. 5 and 6; Nov. 12 and 13; Nov. 19 and 20
- 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Aquatic Invasive Species Check Station Northeast Wyoming Visitor Center
- 5266 Old Highway 14, Beulah, Wyoming (Exit I-190 at Highway 111)
- Daily: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Aquatic Invasive Species Check Station Coulter Bay – Keyhole State Park
- Take Pine Haven Road off Highway 113
- People don’t need to pay day-use fees to enter the State Park if they are coming for the CWD sampling.
- Open daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
People can also take their own lymph node samples. Kits and instructions can be picked up at the following locations, according to Game and Fish:
- A-1 Agency, 26 S. Seneca, Newcastle, Wyoming
- Game Warden Station, 121 W. Alden St. Sundance, Wyoming
“Hunters can also learn to take samples by watching an informative how-to video and can drop off their sample at any of the above locations or sampling stations,” Game and Fish said. “For more information, contact the Casper Regional office at (307) 473-3400 or visit the Game and Fish webpage.”
