Wildlife Habitat_Content Page_Chronic wasting disease test results

Chronic wasting disease test results

To find your test results, you will need your:

  • CWD barcode or
  • Customer ID

Find CWD test results for your deer

Test results are added as they become available. During an average year, results are typically available 10-14 days after the deer is brought to a sampling station.

See all test results

See a summary of test results in Wisconsin. Summaries are organized by CWD year which is April 1 of a given year to March 31 of the following year. 

What happens when you get a positive result?

If your harvested deer tests positive for CWD you will be notified by email if your email address is included in your GoWild customer account, or by letter if your email address is not provided. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that to date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people. Nonetheless, as a precaution, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) recommends that people only consume venison from healthy-appearing deer with test results indicating that CWD was not detected.

This is consistent with recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Unwanted deer carcass waste or packaged meat should be disposed of in a landfill that accepts this waste.

A replacement harvest authorization will be added to your GoWild account within two to four days of your positive result notification and will be valid for the remainder of the current hunting season as well as the following hunting season. A replacement statewide antlered authorization will be issued for an antlered deer registered and an either sex replacement will be issued for an antlerless deer registered which will be valid for the same unit and land type as the registered deer. The harvest authorizations are not weapon specific but the appropriate license must be purchased to use them.

Clean all equipment used to process the deer with soap and water to remove all organic material and rise with water. Then for non-steel items soak in a 50/50 solution of bleach and water for an hour, and for steel, items soak for a minimum of 5 minutes. For additional processing details see the carcass handling page.

Interactive CWD results mapping application

The CWD results mapping application lets users explore statewide CWD results. The application allows you to add a layer of CWD sampled or CWD positive deer by township or section. Results can be viewed for one year at a time. Results are added to the map as soon as they are made public.