CWD check stations will be in place across Region 6

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will have check stations in place across Region 6 to sample for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer, elk and moose during the upcoming general hunting season. This is part of a planned surveillance effort, and FWP encourages hunters to help by submitting their harvested animals for testing.

Last year, FWP discovered CWD in deer south of Billings and north of Chester. This contagious neurological disease can infect deer, elk and moose. It is always fatal and there is no known cure. Because of the new discovery, transport restrictions are in place for animals harvested in locations where CWD has been detected in Liberty and Carbon counties.

In 2018, FWP will conduct surveillance during the general fall hunting season in high-priority areas in parts of northern Montana, including Hunting Districts (HD) 403 and 401 in Region 4, and 640, 670, 630, 620, 611, and 600 in Region 6, as those areas are near known CWD detections in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

At the check stations, FWP personnel will remove retropharyngeal lymph nodes, a tooth, and a genetic sample from voluntarily submitted animals, and ask for hunter information and harvest location. If a hunter is willing to contribute samples but first wants to take the head to a taxidermist, FWP personnel will take some information at the check station and follow up with the taxidermist later for the lymph nodes.

Hunters will be given a unique identification number for the sample and will be able to view the test results within three weeks at fwp.mt.gov/cwd.

Check stations for collecting CWD samples will be located in Havre, the Malta area, and shifting between the Scobey and Glasgow areas. CWD check stations will be in operation Sat. and Sun. during daylight hours.

All hunters must stop at all check stations, but submission of CWD samples is voluntary. In addition, deer harvested in HD 640 may also be sampled for bovine tuberculosis as part of a separate study. Check station locations are subject to change depending upon sampling priority, and locations will be updated weekly on the Region 6 Facebook page.

Heads may also be submitted at the FWP Region 6 Headquarters in Glasgow from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and at the Havre Field Office from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mon.-Fri. There will not be an unmanned “drop bucket” for heads at the offices…hunters will need to contact office personnel when dropping off heads so FWP can get the proper harvest information.

If hunters would like to submit a sample for CWD testing that was harvested outside of the priority surveillance area, they may do so on their own. Instructions are available on the website at fwp.mt.gov/cwd, and there is a fee of $18 to Colorado State University for the test in addition to shipping costs.

Please help FWP with CWD surveillance this fall by providing samples of your harvest(s) in the surveillance area. Thanks in advance to participating hunters, landowners, communities, wildlife watchers and other agencies for their partnership in this effort. If there are any questions, please contact the Region 6 FWP headquarters at 406-228-3700.