By National Deer Association:
If you hunt deer in a zone where chronic wasting disease has been found, we recommend you submit every harvested deer for CWD testing. In most cases, testing requires you to leave the deer’s head in a drop-box for testing. But if you want to keep the deer’s head for a European mount or taxidermy, then removing the lymph nodes yourself will allow you to still submit the deer for free testing.
SEE ALSO: The Reality of Chronic Wasting Disease
It’s not possible to look at a deer and tell whether it has CWD, because the disease can incubate in a deer for one to two years before signs become obvious. Therefore, just because your harvested deer looks healthy does not mean it is CWD-free. This is why we encourage testing of all deer in CWD zones, which helps your wildlife agency track and fight the disease.
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