Planning to hunt the last few days of the 2023-2024 season? If successful, consider having your deer tested for Chronic Wasting Disease. Due to a positive deer found in neighboring Carroll County, a voluntary drop freezer has been installed at the Wytheville Fish Cultural Station (1260 Red Hollow Rd, Max Meadows, VA 24360). DWR would like to increase surveillance in the surrounding area to ensure CWD has not spread outside of the nearby Disease Management Area 3 (DMA3).
Testing is provided free for hunters. Please note that this Wythe County freezer is only for deer harvested outside of DMA3. Deer harvested within DMA3 cannot be transported out, and there are numerous testing options available in those counties. Please see the online CWD interactive map for more information on testing locations. DWR greatly thanks you for your assistance with CWD management!
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose. The disease is caused by an abnormal infectious protein called a prion. Prions are transmitted to uninfected deer directly through saliva, feces, and urine shed by infected deer and indirectly as a result of soil contaminated with prions. The potential impacts of CWD to the white-tailed deer populations of Virginia are a serious concern, though the disease has not been shown to pose a health risk to humans or domestic animals. The DWR leads Virginia’s CWD surveillance and management efforts and relies on assistance from hunters, taxidermists, processors, other agencies, and diverse constituent groups to implement surveillance and management strategies.
Regionally, CWD was first detected in West Virginia in 2005, Virginia in 2009, Maryland in 2010, and Pennsylvania in 2012. In Virginia, CWD has been confirmed in Fairfax, Fauquier, Floyd, Frederick, Clarke, Culpeper, Loudoun, Madison, Montgomery, Pulaski, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, and Warren counties. A summary of the DWR’s 2022-2023 deer hunting season CWD surveillance in the Disease Management Areas (DMA) can be found below (as of June 30, 2023). In total, 47 CWD positive detections were found. Only one of those was found outside of a DMA (Fairfax County).
