WDFW Reports New CWD Case Near 2024 Cluster

WDFW reports a new confirmation of chronic wasting disease in a buck harvested in the same area where the always-fatal deer family disease was confirmed in three whitetails last year.

This latest deer was taken in Game Management Unit 124, Mount Spokane, by a hunter who took it in for sampling, and the results came back late last week, according to an agency spokeswoman.

It’s the sixth confirmed case of CWD in a Washington deer and first of 2025.

Additionally, initial testing on a buck taken by a tribal hunter on the Spokane Indian Reservation off Drum Road north of Wellpinit in October showed it too was positive for CWD, but more testing was being performed at a Montana lab to shore up the diagnosis.

If the STOI deer is confirmed, it would mean CWD has spread to a third Washington county – Stevens, which would join Spokane and Pend Oreille Counties on the USGS CWD map.

The six WDFW-confirmed CWD deer have been found in GMUs 124 and 117, 49 Degrees North.

WDFW reminds hunters that all elk, deer and moose harvested or salvaged in the agency’s Eastern Region, which covers the eastern tier of the state and includes all 100-series GMUs, are required to be tested for CWD. Samples must be taken before the carcass leaves that region for other portions of Washington.

For much more on CWD, see this WDFW webpage.