Colorado deer hunters: Keep an eye on your mailbox for mandatory chronic wasting disease sampling letter

Travis Duncan
CPW Statewide

DENVER, Colo. – Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will be conducting mandatory chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing again during the 2018 hunting season in an effort to continue collecting more information about CWD and how it may be affecting our herds. Voluntary and mandatory sampling is critical for data collection on this disease that impacts the long-term health of our herds.

Beginning the first week of October, CPW will be sending out letters to Colorado rifle season buck hunters who have been selected for mandatory CWD testing. Thirty-one GMUs are included in the 2018 mandatory sample, none of which were included in the 2017 mandatory sample.

Click here for complete CWD Testing and Submission Information, including a list of testing submission sites and their schedule of operations.

CPW is notifying hunters of other changes this year related to CWD samples and CWD-positive test results. The intent of these changes is to make the CWD submission and testing program more efficient and cost effective.

1. CPW will no longer be refunding license fees to hunters that harvested a CWD positive animal. This change brings CPW in line with other states’ CWD regulations and helps ensure the testing program will have adequate funding moving forward.

2. CPW will no longer offer a replacement antlerless license for the same species as the one harvested.

3. Hunters whose deer tests positive for CWD will get a letter mailed to them by CPW explaining what we know about CWD, disposal recommendations, as well as public health information. It will also provide links to online sources for additional information. In addition to this letter, each hunter with a CWD-positive animal will be notified by phone and email.

CPW will continue the reimbursement of costs incurred from processing CWD-positive animals. The standard rate will be up to $100 for animals non-commercially processed and up to $200 for deer and elk that are commercially processed. The maximum reimbursement for commercial processing moose is $250.

Updated information on CWD and the 2018 mandatory sample will be posted on CPW’s website at cpw.state.co.us/CWD.

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