Hunting deer in Utah during rifle season? Visit a DWR check station to get deer tested for chronic wasting disease

Salt Lake City — It's become a standard part of Utah's any legal weapon (rifle) deer hunt each year: hunters are once again being asked to bring their harvested deer to various stations across the state so Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists can test the animals for chronic wasting disease.

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. Currently, 158 mule deer and four elk have tested positive for CWD in Utah. However, it isn't widespread in the state and is only found in six hunting units in Utah — primarily in a few counties in central, northeastern and southeastern Utah.

The disease is caused by a protein particle, called a prion, that attaches to the animal's brain and spinal cord. It is caused by the same type of particle as "mad cow disease" in cows. Infected animals develop brain lesions, become emaciated, appear listless and have droopy ears. They may also salivate excessively and will eventually die.

Infected animals may shed prions in their urine, feces and saliva. 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.

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.

The DWR sets up monitoring checkpoints on all hunting units in the state — on a five-year rotation — in order to sample the 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. 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.

Hunters who harvest an animal in a non-target sampling unit but still wish 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 $25 testing fee. Deer and elk must be older than one year of age to be eligible for testing.

"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. "We ask that hunters stop at our check stations if they have harvested a deer, within the sampling units, in order to help us with our monitoring of CWD in Utah."

Here are where the CWD monitoring check stations and sampling units will be located this year:

Northern Utah

The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Morgan-South Rich, East Canyon, and Chalk Creek units at the following locations:

• The Mountain Dell Reservoir exit on westbound I-80 and Highway 65 on Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
• The Mountain Green Rest Area on westbound I-84 on Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
• West of Kamas on Highway 248 (at the Browns Canyon pull-off) on Oct. 21–22, from roughly 9 a.m. to dusk each day.
• The DWR Ogden office — by appointment only — at 515 E. 5300 South from Oct. 23–27 and on Oct. 30, from 2–5 p.m. each day. Call 801-476-2740 to schedule an appointment.

Northeastern Utah

The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the South Slope, Yellowstone; South Slope, Bonanza/Vernal; South Slope, Diamond Mtn; Nine Mile, Anthro; and Wasatch Mtns, East units at the following locations:

• The DWR Vernal office — by appointment only — at 318 N. Vernal Ave. from Oct. 23–27, 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 the Co-op Creek Road (between mile markers 41 and 42) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.
• Just north of Vernal on U.S. Highway 191 at the Steinaker Reservoir rest stop (near mile marker 358) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.
• In the town of Manila on State Route 43 (between 100 West and 200 West) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.

Central Utah

The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Wasatch Mtns, East; Wasatch Mtns, West; Central Mtns, Manti; Central Mtns, Nebo; and Oquirrh-Stansbury units at the following locations:

• In Spanish Fork Canyon (near the Covered Bridge community) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.
• Santaquin (at exit 242 on the east side of highway) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. until dark each day.
• The DWR Springville office — by appointment only — at 1115 N. Main St. from Oct. 24–27. Call 801-491-5678 to schedule an appointment.
• The DWR Salt Lake office — by appointment only — at 1594 W. North Temple from Oct. 24–27. Call 385-835-2729 to schedule an appointment.

Southeastern Utah

The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Nine Mile, Range Creek and Central Mtns, Manti units at the following locations:

• The DWR Price office — by appointment only — at 319 N. Carbonville Road, Suite A from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m Oct. 23–27. Call 435-613-3700 to schedule an appointment.
• For the Nine Mile unit: Miller's Travel Center in Wellington (at the junction of State Route 6 and Nine Mile Canyon Road) on Oct. 21–23, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• For the Central Mtns, Manti unit: In Spanish Fork Canyon (near the Covered Bridge community) from Oct. 21–23, from roughly 9 a.m. to dark each day.

Southern Utah

The DWR will provide free CWD tests for deer harvested from the Southwest Desert, Beaver and Fillmore/Pahvant and Oak Creek 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.
• The I-15 Scipio exit (on the east side of I-15) from Oct. 21–22 from 10 a.m. to dark each day.
• Call one of the phone numbers listed in the email sent to hunters with permits for the Beaver, Fillmore and Southwest Desert hunting units.