Get Your Oregon Deer, Elk Tested For CWD, Maybe Win A Rifle Or Scope

The Oregon Hunters Association and ODFW are teaming up to encourage sportsmen to get their deer and elk tested this season for chronic wasting disease with a drawing for a rifle or scope.

The offer runs through this coming April 1 and all those who submit samples will be put in for a drawing for either a Howa 1500 .223 topped with a Nikko Sterling Gamepro 4-12x40mm Scope or a Sig Sauer Whiskey3 4-12x40mm Quadplex scope.

CWD has not been detected in Oregon, but has been found in all three neighboring states – in a Spokane-area whitetail, two different regions in Idaho and a pair of counties on either side of California’s Sierra Nevada range.

“With CWD detected in three bordering states, it is more imperative than ever for hunters to provide our unique contribution toward CWD detection by voluntarily getting our animals tested,” said OHA Policy Director Amy Patrick.

The idea is to identify infected areas early to slow or stop the always-fatal deer family disease from spreading.

Testing is available at the Baker City, Celilo Park, Elgin and Prineville game checks during the upcoming opening weekends of deer and elk seasons, at meat processors and taxidermists, and at ODFW offices via appointment or dropping off the head in a collection barrel. 

Technically, successful hunters transporting game are required to stop at any check station they encounter on Oregon highways, a result of a bill passed during the 2021 state legislature and which went into effect with the 2022 season.

The drawing for the OHA-supplied rifle or scope is April 30, 2025. Each submitted sample is good for one entry.

The offer is not unlike what WDFW and the Washington Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers did last year along the same lines, raffling off 100 multiseason deer tags to incentivize hunters to get harvested animals tested.

“Hunters are a critical part of this effort, so we are grateful to OHA for offering this incentive for hunters to get their animal tested,” said Ashley Reeder ODFW’s CWD coordinator.