Support from hunters and landowners is essential for early detection and monitoring of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer.
This year, there are several options for submitting samples for CWD testing depending on where you are in the state.
- CWD self-submission kits
- Sample submission sites and participating taxidermists
- Testing for a fee
- Additional information
Reminder: Online harvest reporting is required for all hunters who successfully take a deer.
CWD self-submission kits
Pick up a free lymph node shipping kit with instructions and materials for shipping lymph nodes to Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, including a prepaid overnight shipping label. There is no charge for the CWD testing. Kits are available for deer harvested in the following counties:
- Clinton
- Dickinson
- Eaton
- Gratiot
- Ingham
- Ionia
- Jackson
- Kent
- Montcalm
More information on how to obtain a test kit is available on the CWD info for hunters webpage.
Sample submission sites and participating taxidermists
Sample submission sites
Drop off the sample and harvest information at an unstaffed drop box or a staffed sample submission site in this year's CWD monitoring areas.
Learn more and find a disease sample submission site.
We need deer heads from the following counties in the Lower Peninsula:
- Bay
- Berrien
- Branch
- Cass
- Genesee
- Huron
- Isabella
- Hillsdale
- Kalamazoo
- Lapeer
- Lenawee
- Livingston
- Macomb
- Midland
- Monroe
- Muskegon
- Oakland
- Oceana
- Ottawa
- Saginaw
- Sanilac
- St. Clair
- St. Joseph
- Tuscola
- Washtenaw
- Wayne
We also need deer heads from the core CWD area in the Upper Peninsula, which includes portions of the following counties:
- Delta
- Dickinson
- Menominee
Participating taxidermists
Successful hunters in the CWD area can bring their deer to participating taxidermists to have the jaw and lymph nodes removed. This accomplishes CWD testing goals while allowing hunters to preserve part of the animal that would otherwise be incinerated after being tested at the Wildlife Disease Laboratory.
Testing for a fee
Deer harvested in all other counties in Michigan can be submitted for CWD testing through one of the following participating U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved laboratories for a fee.
- Instructions to submit samples to the Michigan State University Diagnostic Laboratory.
- Instructions to submit samples to the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Results from deer submitted to an approved USDA laboratory using testing for a fee will be sent directly to the hunter from the laboratory.
Additional information
New this year: Online harvest reporting is required for all hunters who successfully take a deer.
Visit Michigan.gov/Deer for harvest reporting information, deer hunting season dates and regulations.
Questions? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453.