Free CWD testing being offered through DNR

REGIONAL— Hunters concerned about the presence of chronic wasting disease in the deer they harvest this season can take advantage of free testing by the Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR’s Tower area office will have mail-in testing kits available for free. The kits come with instructions for how to extract the appropriate sample for testing. Currently there are no indications of CWD in the Tower work area, which covers most of northern St. Louis and Lake counties, but the disease has been detected in wild white-tailed deer as close as Grand Rapids.
The DNR is beginning to undertake mandatory CWD testing, which is being done in different regions of the state over the next few years. This year, the mandatory sampling of deer is being done in southwestern Minnesota. The mandatory testing is scheduled for northeastern Minnesota in 2028. Under mandatory testing, hunters will need to present any deer they harvest during opening weekend within the target zone, so DNR staff can collect a sample for testing.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, contagious neurological illness that affects members of the deer family (cervids), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose, and caribou. Current science suggests the disease carried by deer is not tranmissible to humans.