I just found out the area in KY I take the boys on our annual out of state yout hunt is a cwd zone county. Now im wondering if I sould bother going down there this year?

What are you worried about?

Getting one that has it but not showing it.

they have tests

you bone out the meat put it in 2 gallon bags and freeze them then wait for the test to come back.

we have had CWD in WI for 20+ years

How long does it take for the test to come back?

I wouldn't worry about it. We have it here too.

If you're worried about it, they have drop-off locations that are free to test and send results. Label your meat and don't eat it until you get the results. Haven't done it personally but I've heard results are back relatively quick.

Lol, definitely rolled the sleeve up.

We've got it down here too a co-worker had 1 test positive for cwd years ago he kept it and ate it.hes still living and as healthy as a horse.i think it's been around for decades and people have eaten it without knowing. Think back in the late 90s certain counties in Wisconsin were paying the landowner 200.00 for every deer shot on there property to try and stop it from spreading.not sure but I think it's just as high up there now as it was before.

If you do plan to bring a deer back, check your state's wild cervid import regulations. Many states restrict the parts of a deer you can bring in if it comes from a known CWD area unless you bring it to a licensed processor or taxidermist. The idea being they dont want you to cut the deer up in your garage and toss the head and spine in the back 40, potentially spreading the prions.

My county here claimed to have the highest rate of CWD in Colorado a few years ago (17%). We submitted over 70, youth hunt heads and never had a positive. All were killed in the middle of the hot spot. Believe what you want but I dont worry about it.

As long as you bone out the meat without cutting through the spinal column or brain, your good to go...but check that you can bring it, or how, across state lines

Have you had a mystery meat burger from fast food, gas station or any other restaurant? Not trying to be a jerk but they buy the cheapest meat they can to make a profit. I hunt in a cwd area. Never worried about it. I know a lot of hunters that stopped hunting because they are worried or their wives are worried. But its more dangerous driving to your hunting destination. And again I'm not being a jerk and understand the concern. I have not seen any deer with it . Heard of one guy that sent meat in to get tested and it was positive but that was a couple counties over.

So now we're listening to the CDC?
LOL, remember when they said you couldn't get AIDS from a woman?

I'd be more surprised if they were RIGHT about something!

To respond to your question, I took a mulie from a CWD area in Wy in 2021 and dropped off the neck lymph nodes to the state for testing and had the results back (neg) in about a week. Other states may be faster, or not. A search of the test options available should shed more light. The Wy F&G site had a good video on how to find and remove the neck lymph nodes. We did like others recommended - we processed it but didn't eat any until the results were back. The same "there has never been a case" could have been said about bovine spongiform encephilitus (Mad Cow) not being transmittable to humans, until it did. I'm not going to be the first case or risk my kids and grandkids.

This is where im at with it. Typically we stacked them up. The place I rent a cabin from has a nice covered area with tables, 2 electric hoist, semi refrigerated trailer to put them in. It will be a bit more work to bag and label each deer vs putting them mixed up in the coolers .


On the flip side we could just as easily head to eastern KY and hunt the huge woods there. Probably won't be as successful in a new area and typically big woods have very less deer per mile per crop land or at least that's how it seems to me.

Or we can just stay in state and hit new areas and camp for our guys trip.

I wouldn't give up where you have been going assuming you're talking about the same areas as you hunted last year
The reason that area is in a surveillance zone is because a deer tested positive on your side of the river, and the state put the area under the cwd zone as a precaution. I don't know what part of indiana you're in exactly, but its likely your chance of killing a cwd deer there is higher than anywhere in kentucky you hunt given the amount of testing ky has done compared to indiana in the last several years. I would feel confident enough in the unlikely hood of one testing positive, but if you're still concerned, I'd pack all your meat together as you normally would, save the parts needed for testing and drop off all heads for testing on your way out of town and just don't eat it until you get the results. I personally wouldn't eat a deer I knew tested positive, but on the otherhand ky had to run 10,000 tests a year for the last 5 or 6 years and only had one case in a wild deer. The other case was a deer farm.

If you are going to head to Ky, western Ky has a lot more deer than eastern and more generous tags. Not the same level of public land though.