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A Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) sample mail-in kit enables hunters to collect lymph node tissue samples at home and send them to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources for testing. This process aids in monitoring and managing the spread of CWD in Kentucky's wild deer and elk herds.
Mail-in Kits will be available a month before deer season opens. Check back in August 2025 to request a kit.
Hunters across Kentucky can sign up for a kit and submit a sample from their deer for CWD testing. Kits are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and hunters can also use kits obtained in previous years. Kits, testing, and return shipping are free of charge. Results are typically available within 4-6 weeks after Kentucky Fish and Wildlife receives the returned kit. Hunters can sign up for kits throughout deer season until supplies run out.
To obtain a mail-in kit, sign up by clicking the button below. Then, visit the nearest pick-up location to collect your kit.
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Pick-Up Location Map
Each kit includes printed instructions to guide the process. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife also offers an instructional video for hunters who need further assistance in successfully extracting and submitting their samples.
Each kit contains:
Mail-in kits will NOT fulfill mandatory check requirements for hunters who harvest a deer in the Ballard, Calloway, Carlislie, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, and McCracken County CWD Surveillance Zone on Nov. 9-11, Nov. 16-17, and Nov. 23-24. To fulfill mandatory check requirements in this CWD Surveillance Zone, hunters MUST go to a staffed CWD check station or a CWD Sample Drop-off site within these counties.
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