The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) announced that all deer harvested in Lauderdale and Colbert Counties this weekend must be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Under Alabama’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone Regulation (220-2-.167), all deer harvested in the High-Risk Zone and the Buffer Zone of the state’s CWD Management Zone (CMZ) must be submitted for CWD testing during specific weekends of the 2022-2023 white-tailed deer season. This is one of those weekends.
The mandatory sampling weekends in the High-Risk Zone of the CMZ are November 19-20 and December 3-4, 2022. The mandatory sampling weekends in the Buffer Zone of the CMZ are November 19-20, 2022, and January 7-8, 2023. The mandatory CWD sampling weekends apply to all of Lauderdale and Colbert counties in northwest Alabama.
To find a sampling location near you within the CMZ, visit www.outdooralabama.com/cwd/cwd-zone-map.
The mandatory weekends for the High-Risk Zone and Buffer Zone correspond with peaks in Alabama’s deer harvest – the season’s opening weekend and the rut in northwest Alabama. While it is not required to test for CWD outside of those weekends, hunters are still encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at the self-service freezers located in the appropriate CMZ zone.
All deer harvested by hunters on public land in the CMZ are required to be sampled throughout the entire season. Those public lands include the Freedom Hills WMA, Lauderdale WMA, Seven-Mile Island WMA, and Riverton Community Hunting Area.
Carcass restrictions are also in place under the CWD regulation that prohibits the transport of deer carcasses and deer parts in the CMZ. Deer harvested within the High-Risk Zone must remain and be disposed of within the High-Risk Zone. Deer harvested within the Buffer Zone must remain and be disposed of within the CMZ. Hunters may take deboned meat, cleaned skull plates, and raw hides with no visible brain or spinal cord tissue outside of these zones. Transporting deer carcasses outside of the management zone can potentially spread CWD to currently unaffected areas.
Hunting license and Game Check requirements apply to all white-tailed deer harvests statewide.
CWD is a contagious neurological disease of white-tailed deer and other deer species. It belongs to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The disease is caused by a mutated protein called a prion. It is always fatal for white-tailed deer. The best-known prion disease is mad cow disease. Unlike Mad Cow Disease, there is no known case of CWD infecting humans who consume infected animals; however, avoid consuming the brain or spinal cord tissue of any deer as a precaution.
The first case of CWD in Alabama’s deer herd was detected in Lauderdale County in January 2022.
Below is a list of mobile CWD sampling locations in the High-Risk Zone and the Buffer Zone.
Lauderdale WMA (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – HRZ
7001 County Road 14
Waterloo, AL 35677
Florence Frozen Meats (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – HRZ
1050 S. Court St.
Florence, AL 35630
34.789636; -87.670613
Cloverdale VFW (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – HRZ
11370 Highway 157
Florence, AL 35633
Freedom Hills WMA (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – BZ
4200 White Pike
Cherokee, AL 35616
Cherokee VFW (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – BZ
1455 6th St.
Cherokee, AL 35616
North Alabama Deer Shack Processor (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – BZ
407 Tracey Ln
Rogersville, AL 35652
Highway 247 VFW (9 a.m. – 7 p.m.) – BZ
4655 Highway 247
Tuscumbia, AL 35674
For more information about CWD in Alabama, visit www.outdooralabama.com/cwd-info.
ADCNR has four divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.
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