Salt Lake City — Hunters are again being asked to bring their harvested deer to various stations across the state during this fall’s hunts, so Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists can test the animals for chronic wasting disease.
Chronic wasting disease in Utah
Chronic wasting disease is a relatively rare transmissible disease that affects the nervous systems of deer, elk and moose. The disease was first discovered in Utah in 2002 in a buck deer taken during the rifle hunt near Vernal.
The disease is caused by a misfolded protein, called a prion, that accumulates in the animal's brain and spinal cord. (The same type of misfolded protein causes "mad cow disease" in cows and scrapie in sheep.) Infected animals develop brain lesions, become emaciated, appear listless and have droopy ears. They may also salivate excessively and will eventually die. Deer in the early stages of chronic wasting disease appear healthy — including animals that may be harvested by hunters — so the only way to know if your deer is infected is to get it tested.
Infected animals may shed prions in their urine, feces and saliva, even when they aren't showing symptoms. Transmission may occur directly through contact with an infected animal or indirectly through environmental contamination. (A dead carcass can contaminate the soil.) Prions are extremely resilient in the environment and can stay infectious for many years.
"We take the presence of CWD in Utah seriously and will continue to do extensive monitoring to stay on top of the disease and its prevalence in the state," DWR State Wildlife Veterinarian Ginger Stout said. "Recent surveys have shown that 78% of hunters have never had their deer tested for CWD. We are strongly encouraging hunters to stop at our check stations if they harvest a deer within the sampling hunting units this year. The data collected through this is crucial in helping us stay on top of CWD monitoring in Utah in order to maintain healthy deer populations into the future."
While the Centers for Disease Control says the risk of transmission from animals to humans is considered extremely low, they recommend not consuming meat from animals infected with CWD.
As of Sept. 2, 356 deer and 10 elk have tested positive for CWD in Utah. The disease is found throughout northeastern, southeastern and some parts of central Utah. Visit the DWR website to see which hunting units have had positive CWD cases.
Important CWD sampling information
The DWR sets up monitoring checkpoints — rotating between various hunting units across the state on a five-year schedule — in order to sample Utah's deer populations for CWD.
Hunters who go to the check stations will receive a free CWD test if they harvested a deer on one of the units being sampled this year. Here are the hunting units the DWR is requesting samples from this year:
- Beaver, East
- Beaver, West
- Box Elder
- Cache
- Cedar/Stansbury
- East Canyon
- Fillmore
- Fillmore, Oak Creek
- La Sal, La Sal Mtns
- La Sal, Dolores Triangle
- Nine Mile
- Ogden
- Oquirrh/Tintic
- Pine Valley
- Southwest Desert
- Wasatch Mtns, East
- Wasatch Mtns, West
Hunters should also note that it is required to submit a sample from deer harvested in the limited-entry any-legal-weapon buck deer hunts in the La Sal, Castle Valley and the La Sal, Moab Valley areas. (The DWR will be contacting hunters in those units with more details about the mandatory sampling process.)
Hunters will need to leave about 6 inches of the animal's neck and windpipe attached below the jaw so that DWR employees can remove the lymph nodes for sampling. DWR employees will also ask the hunter a few questions, including the location where the animal was harvested. The entire process will only take a few minutes.
Anyone who harvests an animal in a nontarget sampling unit, but who still wishes to have their deer or elk tested for CWD, may do so by providing the head of the animal to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Logan or Spanish Fork and paying a $30 testing fee. Deer and elk must be older than one year of age to be eligible for testing.
Check station details
Here are where the CWD monitoring check stations will be located this year:
Southeastern Utah
The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the La Sal and Nine Mile units at the following locations:
- The Miller's Truckstop in Wellington, at the junction of SR-6 and Nine Mile Canyon Road, from Sept. 27-28, Oct. 18-20 and Oct. 25-26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
- The La Sal Junction at the intersection of US-191 and SR-46, approximately 20 miles south of Moab, from Sept. 27-28, Oct. 18-20 and Oct. 25-26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
- The DWR Price office (by appointment only) at 319 N. Carbonville Road, Suite A, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m from Sept. 24 to Oct. 2, Oct. 18-26 and Oct. 29 to Nov. 6. Call 435-613-3700 to schedule an appointment.
DWR employees also visit local meat lockers in the area and can collect CWD samples from deer harvested on the La Sal and Nine Mile units.
Southern Utah
The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Southwest Desert, Beaver, Fillmore, and Pine Valley units at the following locations:
- The DWR Cedar City office (by appointment only) at 1470 N. Airport Road. Call 435-865-6100 to schedule an appointment.
- Call one of the biologists listed in an email sent to permit holders for the Southwest Desert, Beaver, Fillmore and Pine Valley units.
Hunters can also call the DWR Cedar City office at 435-865-6100 for a list of taxidermists and meat processors in the area that will also take CWD samples, along with processing the meat or doing taxidermy work.
Northern Utah
The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Box Elder, Cache, Ogden and East Canyon units at the following locations:
- Highway 30, approximately a half-mile west of I-84 exit 5 near Snowville, on Oct. 18-19, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
- Highway 89, at the mouth of Logan Canyon in Logan, on Oct. 18-19, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
- Highway 101, at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon in Hyrum, on Oct. 18-19, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
- The DWR Ogden office (by appointment only) at 515 E. 5300 South, from Oct. 20-24 and on Oct. 27. Call 801-476-2740 to make an appointment.
Northeastern Utah
The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Nine Mile and Wasatch Mtns, East units at the following locations:
- The DWR Vernal office (by appointment only) at 318 N. Vernal Ave., from Oct. 20-24, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 435-781-9453 to schedule an appointment.
- Near Strawberry Reservoir, at the junction of U.S. Highway 40 and Co-op Creek Road (between mile markers 41 and 42), from Oct. 18-20, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.
Hunters can also call the DWR Vernal office at 435-781-9453 for a list of taxidermists and meat processors in the area that will also take CWD samples, along with processing the meat or doing taxidermy work.
Central Utah
The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Wasatch Mtns, East; Wasatch Mts, West; Oquirrh/Tintic and Stansbury units at the following locations:
- In Spanish Fork Canyon (near the Covered Bridge community), from Oct. 18-20, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.
- The DWR Springville office (by appointment only) at 1115 N. Main Street, from Oct. 21-24. Call 801-491-5678 to schedule an appointment.
- The DWR Salt Lake Office (by appointment only) at 1594 W. North Temple, from Oct. 21-24. Call 385-835-2729 to schedule an appointment.
Hunters can also call the DWR Springville office at 801-491-5678 for a list of taxidermists and meat processors in the area that will also take CWD samples, along with processing the meat or doing taxidermy work.
What to know about carcass disposal
In addition to providing samples for testing, it is also critical for hunters to dispose of gut piles and carcasses properly to help slow the spread of CWD — especially when harvesting deer in CWD-positive areas. Here are a few important tips for safe carcass disposal:
- If you're in the field, leave the spinal cord and other waste at the harvest location.
- If you're processing away from the harvest location, do not dump carcasses outdoors away from where the animal was harvested.
