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The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will enhance its monitoring for chronic wasting disease (CWD) through the addition of voluntary check stations in Bell and Harlan counties. The check stations will be open for three weekends in November 2022.
Hunters are not required to bring their deer or elk to the southeastern Kentucky check stations. However, participation will help Kentucky Fish and Wildlife monitor for the disease.
Chronic wasting disease is an always-fatal brain disease that affects deer, elk and other cervids. It has not been detected in Kentucky, but has been found in six of the seven bordering states.
Hunters who harvest a deer or elk in Harlan and Bell counties can bring either the entire carcass (intact or field-dressed) or just the head of the animal to one of three voluntary check stations on Nov. 12-13, Nov. 19-20 and Nov. 26-27. All deer or elk should be telechecked before arriving at the check station. As an incentive, hunters who bring their harvest to one of these stations can have the animal aged at no charge.
Stations will operate from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. (Eastern) on those dates. The monitoring program will not affect season dates or bag limits.
Stations will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m (Eastern) during these dates.
Should CWD be detected in Kentucky, the department wants to catch the disease early to help prevent its spread. The voluntary check stations will be open all three weekends of modern gun season for deer; the final weekend also serves as the opening weekend of the cow elk firearms season.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife increased sampling efforts in all its border counties in 2022. In September 2022, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency notified Kentucky of a suspect-not-confirmed case in a deer harvested last year in Claiborne County, Tennessee. The location is approximately 7 miles from the Kentucky border at Bell County. A suspect-not-confirmed case cannot be verified by additional diagnostic testing, but it could indicate an early detection.
Hunters who visit the voluntary check stations will receive a card verifying their visit and containing information about how to view test results. Test results are generally available in six weeks or less
Another way hunters can aid Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s statewide monitoring efforts is by donating the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for CWD testing and aging through the Voluntary Deer Sample Collection Station program. There is no cost to hunters. Location information, instructions and more information about the program are available online via fw.ky.gov/cwd.