Chronic Wasting Disease and Testing

What CWD is

Chronic wasting disease is a prion disease, caused by a misfolded protein, that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose ¹. Infected animals lose weight, lose coordination, and become lethargic; the disease is always fatal, with no treatment or vaccine ¹.

People: no human infections have been documented ^{1 2}. Because prion diseases can incubate for decades, public health agencies still advise avoiding exposure: test deer from affected areas before eating them, and don’t eat a deer that tests positive ^{1 2}.

CWD in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin DNR’s summary of the 2025 season ²:

• 17,759 deer sampled; 2,006 positive (11.3%).
• 87% of positives came from the Southern Farmland Zone, where 22.7% of tested deer were positive.
• First wild positives in La Crosse and Clark counties.
• Testing done at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

That means any deer from southern Wisconsin, Dane County included, is worth testing before you eat it.

Getting a deer tested

Labs test the retropharyngeal lymph nodes, tucked deep behind the angle of the jaw where the head meets the neck. Ways to submit in Wisconsin ²:

• Self-service kiosks: 163 of them in 2025, open around the clock. Drop off the head with about 5 in. of neck attached, with the required information.
• Meat processors and partner businesses, which collect heads or nodes at drop-off.
• Sample it yourself: remove the lymph nodes and drop them at a kiosk.
• DNR staff by appointment.

Results came back by email in an average of 8.9 days in 2025 ². Keep the meat frozen and labeled, separate from other deer, until you know. A negative result makes infection much less likely but doesn’t guarantee it.

Carcass disposal: don’t leave carcasses and bones on the landscape. Use DNR disposal dumpsters (127 in 2025), a licensed landfill, or your trash service as allowed ².

Handling and processing precautions

From the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center ¹:

• Don’t shoot, handle, or eat a deer that looks sick, acts strangely, or was found dead.
• Wear gloves while field dressing and processing.
• Minimize contact with the brain and spinal tissue, where prions concentrate, along with lymph nodes.
• Use dedicated tools for field dressing, not kitchen knives.
• Ask for individual processing at a processor, so your meat isn’t mixed with other deer.

At home, bone out the meat rather than sawing through bone, especially the spine; Wisconsin DATCP advises limiting sawing through bone for the same reason ³. Remove the lymph nodes and fat as you cut, and clean tools afterward with hot soapy water.

Try it

Before the season, look up the kiosk nearest where you’ll hunt on the Wisconsin DNR’s CWD sampling map, and the nearest carcass dumpster. Plan to freeze the meat labeled and separate until the result arrives.

What to take from this

CWD is a fatal prion disease of deer with no documented human cases, but agencies advise testing deer from affected areas and not eating positives. In 2025 Wisconsin found 2,006 positives in 17,759 samples, mostly in the Southern Farmland Zone. Submit the head with about 5 in. of neck or the retropharyngeal lymph nodes at a kiosk, processor, or by appointment, and wait about nine days for results. Wear gloves, avoid brain and spinal tissue, use dedicated tools, bone out the meat, and dispose of carcasses properly.