Fish and Game is running check stations in November to monitor for chronic wasting disease in the Panhandle

Idaho Fish and Game staff will be collecting samples from deer at hunter check stations across the Panhandle over two weekends in November as part of a statewide surveillance program for chronic wasting disease. Staff are asking for help from hunters in providing samples from their harvested deer.

Chronic wasting disease was detected for the first time in Idaho in 2021 after more than 20 years of proactive surveillance and testing. The first detections were in Unit 14, which is located south of Grangeville. Another detection recently occurred in Unit 32A near New Meadows. Chronic wasting disease is a contagious and fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose, and there is no cure.

Although CWD has not been detected in the Panhandle, Libby, Montana, which is a short 22-mile jaunt east of the Idaho Panhandle border, has confirmed white-tailed deer, moose and mule deer with CWD in recent years.

Check stations will be operated Nov. 11, 12, 18 and 19 from 10 a.m. to sunset. Check stations will be located:

• Priest River: along State Highway 57
• St. Maries: south on State Highway 3
• Bonners Ferry: 3-mile weigh station

Fish and Game also has freezers across the region where hunters can deposit their own lymph node samples or deer heads. Each freezer has instructions attached to it and information tags are to be filled out for each head and sample. All samples should be kept cool or frozen until transferred to a freezer. Panhandle freezers are located:

• Bonners Ferry: Idaho Department of Lands (6327 Main Street)
• Sagle: WaterLife Discovery Center, 1591 Lakeshore Drive
• Plummer: Heyburn State Park, 57 Chatcolet Road
• Kingston: Kwikstop Gas Station, 123 Stemm Loop

Hunters can also bring their own lymph node samples or deer heads into the Regional Office at 2885 W Kathleen Avenue, Coeur d’Alene from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information on sampling locations or to learn how to collect your own sample, use the links below.

• CWD Sampling Locations
• Learn how to collect a sample for CWD testing

Testing takes approximately four to six weeks after samples are submitted. For deer sampled at check stations or the Regional Office, hunters will be given a business card with a unique barcode number on it. The number can be entered into the IDFG sample results website, where status updates and final testing results will be posted. Hunters that submit samples at freezers locations throughout the region will only be contacted if a sample is positive.

For more information regarding CWD sampling in the Panhandle, please contact the Regional Office at (208) 769-1414 or visit the IDFG CWD website.