By Doug Leier
If your deer hunting unit is under a chronic wasting disease hunting restriction, if you want to know if the deer you’ve taken had CWD or you are concerned with the future of North Dakota’s deer herd, you should make plans to get your deer tested by the Game and Fish Department.
While there is currently no scientific evidence CWD can pass from deer to humans, wouldn’t you feel better knowing the deer you harvested and ate tested negative? If you want to help biologists track the prevalence and surveillance of this always fatal disease, why not drop off the head or get a handy self sampling kit?
For hunters whose units restrict the hunting of big game over bait because of a positive CWD test in or near the unit, the current CWD management plan would lift the restriction and allow hunting big game over bait the following hunting season if the equivalent of 10% of the gun tag allocation for a unit is tested and returns negative results. The criteria is based on gun licenses but all deer tested from archery, youth, rifle and muzzleloader are counted in the CWD testing threshold.
This year the Department is focusing on testing the southeastern corner of the state, but all units and hunters are encouraged to drop off heads or request the self sample kit. You may live in Wahpeton but hunt in Williston. You may have grown up in Grafton but spend deer season in Golva (check your North Dakota geography) or anywhere in between
Self-sampling kits are available to hunters who wish to have their animal tested but are unable to drop the head off at a collection site. The kits allow hunters to remove the lymph nodes and ship them to the Department’s wildlife health lab for testing. A sampling kit request form can be found on the Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.
Hunters can drop off heads at any of the following locations prior to the deer gun season:
- Bismarck – North Dakota Game and Fish Department wildlife health lab, 3001 East Main Ave.
- Devils Lake – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 7928 45th St. NE.
- Dickinson – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 225 30th Ave. SW.
- Fargo – North Dakota Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, 4035 19th Ave. N.
- Grand Forks – Grand Forks County Sheriff, 5205 Gateway Dr.
- Jamestown – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 3320 E. Lakeside Road.
- Kenmare – Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, 42000 520th St. NW.
- Lonetree – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 1851 23rd Ave. NE (Available only during office hours, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday-Friday).
- LaMoure – Community Volunteer EMS of Lamoure, 300 4th St. SE.
- Minot – State Fairgrounds, 2005 E. Burdick Expy (map).
- Napoleon – Transportation Department, 59 Broadway St.
- Riverdale – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 406 Dakota Ave.
- Wahpeton – Transportation Department, 7930 180th Ave. SE.
- Williston – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 5303 Front St. W.
Also note, whole carcasses of animals harvested in North Dakota must remain in the deer unit or may be transported anywhere in the state, but carcass waste must be disposed of via landfill or waste management provider.
This does not apply to heads dropped at CWD collection sites or lymph nodes submitted for CWD surveillance. Taxidermists and game processors can also accept intact carcasses of animals harvested within North Dakota but assume responsibility for disposal.
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