The Wyoming Game and Fish Department needs help from hunters again this fall to collect lymph node samples from elk and deer for chronic wasting disease testing.
Since 1997 biologists have tracked the disease to understand how it affects the health of Wyoming’s deer and elk populations.
Hank Edwards, Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory supervisor says that hunter-submitted samples are crucial to managing the disease in wildlife herds.
Game and Fish is requesting samples from herds that have not been studied in a while so they can accurately determine what the CWD prevalence is in these herds.
Hunters can learn how to take a sample by watching a how-to video on the Game and Fish website.
Hunters who submit testable lymph node samples are entered into a raffle to win prizes.
CWD has been detected in most deer hunt areas throughout the state and biologists say that in addition to helping track the disease, the samples give the department information to inform future management actions such as license types offered, license quotas, seasons, and future disease monitoring protocols.
More information and resources for hunters on CWD are available on the Game and Fish CWD webpage.
