In its ongoing search to determine the prevalence of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Missouri, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is once again offering hunters voluntary deer head drop-off at select sites.
CWD is a neurological disease fatal to deer. Each year, mandatory sample collection from deer harvested in counties comprising Missouri’s CWD management zone takes place during opening weekend of the November firearms deer season.
This large-scale, two-day sample collection effort will take place again this year on Nov. 12-13, but in addition to that, MDC also offers voluntary CWD sampling opportunities for hunters who harvest deer in other seasons (archery, youth, etc.).
Each of these voluntary sites have a freezer that will preserve dropped-off deer heads until they are picked up at a later date by MDC staff for CWD testing.
