From the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries:
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) would like to remind hunters about mandatory Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) sampling this upcoming Saturday. CWD is a serious threat to deer in Virginia. The disease was detected in Virginia for the first time in Frederick County in 2009. Disease Management Area 1 (DMA1), which includes Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and Warren counties, was created in response to this initial CWD detection. Since 2009, 66 more deer have tested positive for CWD in those counties. In addition, DGIF confirmed the disease in a buck legally harvested last November in Culpeper County. This deer was harvested more than 40 miles from the nearest CWD-positive deer in Frederick or Shenandoah counties. This new positive led to the creation of Disease Management Area 2 (DMA2) which includes the counties of Culpeper, Madison and Orange counties.
In order to successfully continue our surveillance for CWD, we need the help of Virginia hunters.
All deer harvested in Shenandoah County on November 16, 2019, must be brought to a CWD sampling station in Shenandoah County for testing from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. There will be no mandatory CWD testing in Clarke, Frederick or Warren counties in fall 2019.
All deer harvested in Culpeper, Madison and Orange Counties (DMA2) on November 16, 2019, must be brought to a CWD sampling station located within DMA2 for testing from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/diseases/cwd/mandatory-chronic-wasting-disease-testing-in-disease-management-area-2/
It is important to note that whole deer carcasses harvested from within a DMA cannot be transported out of the DMA where the deer was harvested. Whole deer carcasses and certain carcass parts from deer killed in DMA1 cannot be legally transported out of DMA1 and whole deer carcasses and certain carcass parts from deer killed in DMA2 cannot be legally transported out of DMA2. Click here for more details on carcass transport.
Additionally, hunters can take the head from any deer harvested at any time during the season in either DMA1 or 2 to a CWD deer head drop site within the DMA for voluntary CWD testing. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) recommends that all deer harvested from areas known to be affected by CWD be tested prior to consumption. If you would like to get a deer you harvested in DMA1 or 2 tested, bring the deer head plus four (4) inches of neck to any of the Department’s CWD deer head drop sites within the DMA for free CWD testing.
Please see the following websites for more details: https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/diseases/cwd/
