WDFW Announces New CWD Testing Rules, Bait Ban For 3 Spokane-area GMUs

With the start of Washington’s general fall hunting seasons just over a week away and chronic wasting disease confirmed for the first time in the state, WDFW is announcing new rules that archers, muzzleloaders and riflemen, as well as roadkill salvagers, need to be aware of.

Beginning September 1, all hunters who kill deer, elk or moose in Game Management Units 124 (Mount Spokane), 127 (Mica) and 130 (Cheney) must take the whole head of their animal plus at least 3 inches of the neck section, or the cut out retropharyngeal lymph nodes, to WDFW for CWD sampling within three days of their harvest, a rule that also applies to anyone salvaging deer and elk in the same units beginning today, August 23.

Those body parts are needed because they contain a lymph node and spinal parts that the disease concentrates in. Sampling will help determine the prevalence of CWD in the region after the confirmation of the always-fatal deer family disease in a dead whitetail doe found just outside Spokane. Previously, WDFW only encouraged far Eastside hunters test their kills through a network of expanded game check stations, dropoff locations and the ability to make appointments.

WDFW is also banning baiting for the purposes of hunting deer, elk and moose in the same three GMUs, as well as the use of natural or synthetic scents that use the urine or glandular extracts of animals in the cervid family, starting September 1.

Piles of food meant to attract big bucks and bulls can concentrate game, making it easier for CWD to be spread between animals through bodily fluids or droppings. Prions, the malformed proteins that cause CWD, are remarkably long-lasting in the environment. Banning urine scents has been a recommendation from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to also help control the disease’s inevitable creep; it was adopted by ODFW starting with the 2020 season.

And starting today, WDFW is implementing new rules barring the transportation of any carcasses of the three big game species from all 100-series GMUs – more than two dozen units in a swath of 10 counties stretching from the British Columbia border, down the Idaho border to Oregon – to other parts of Washington. Boned-out meat is excepted.

The idea is along the lines of the bait and scent bans, i.e., to reduce the risk of introducing CWD to more of the Evergreen State via improperly disposed carcasses. It’s a rule that’s been in place for hunters visiting states and provinces where the disease is known to occur.

CWD was confirmed in Idaho south of Lewiston in 2021, Northwest Montana by Libby before that, last winter in southcentral BC and just last week in far North Idaho near Bonners Ferry. The disease has spread inexorably from its 1960s discovery in a captive Colorado deer and is now in 35 states and five provinces.

A sign of the urgency of the situation for Washington is that the new regulations are being made through an extremely rare emergency hunting rule change, one of just two I can recall and which was signed off on by Director Kelly Susewind late yesterday afternoon.

“There is no cure or vaccine for CWD, and the disease is always fatal. It can only be confirmed through testing of an animal’s lymph nodes or brainstem tissue,” his order states. “The purpose of the rule is to aid in sample collection, reduce the concentration of animals and reduce the likelihood of disease transmission through transportation of carcasses. The emergency rules also prohibit scents that could contain cervid urine or glandular tissue in the area surrounding the detection as these scents can contain the disease.”

WDFW’s move received “full support” from the Washington Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

“We recognize emergency rules tend to create concern and some hunters may feel the changes produce inconveniences or require additional sacrifice,” acknowledged Josh Wilund, chapter cochair. “However, the agency is moving rapidly to handle a serious and always-fatal disease affecting cervids, including taking steps to make testing more convenient.”

Last fall, BHA and WDFW teamed up to raffle off 100 multiseason deer tags to hunters.

Since early August’s announcement that CWD had arrived in Washington, WDFW staffers have been working on their response. Where IDFG has adopted a cull to reduce deer density in the Hells Canyon outbreak and an emergency hunt in the northern Panhandle to assess the disease’s spread, Washington doesn’t have similar plans at the moment.

“At this time we have no plans for a hunt or deer cull,” said WDFW spokeswoman Staci Lehman this morning. “The detection was in a neighborhood in a no-shoot area but the geographic extent of the disease is unknown, so we will be relying on current harvest activities within the three GMUs to give us a better idea of the distribution of the disease.”

For comparison’s sake, if the testing rule had been in place last year, nearly 1,500 deer, over 300 elk and 25 moose killed in GMUs 124, 127 and 130 or their retropharyngeal lymph nodes would have had to have been presented to WDFW for sampling.

The agency does feel it is ready to handle the increased volume.

“We will have the usual staffing that includes seven staff members with CWD-specific duties, plus district biologist, conflict specialists, and volunteers as available,” Lehman stated. “We will be collecting samples at check stations, self-service kiosks, by appointment, and mail-in. We are increasing the number of check stations and number of kiosks available throughout the Region.”

She said WDFW is working to update its website on the locations of those check station and kiosks.

With state wildlife managers mobilizing to the challenge, hunters will now play a key role in helping to determine how prevalent CWD is in big game herds and keep it from spreading further or at least slow it down. The disease can lead to permanent population declines.

“As the effect on the resources cannot be understated, BHA will remain lockstep with WDFW as a partner, and we encourage all organizations and individuals who care about Washington’s wildlife to get involved and create public awareness,” said Wilund. “Given what we know from many other states that have been dealing with CWD for many years, the handling of CWD in Washington state should not be a hot potato issue. It’s our turn to step up.”