Deer

Farmers across the state have told Democrats and Republicans that deer have caused expansive and costly damage to their crops and farmland.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reminding deer hunters about locations where deer can be tested for chronic wasting disease free of charge.

Chronic wasting disease is a deadly disease of the central nervous system in deer and elk. It was first detected in a suspect adult female deer from northwest Boone County in 2002. Since then, 185,896 wild deer have been sampled statewide, and 2,748 individual deer tested positive.
 
The disease has been detected across a 25-county area of northern and west-central Illinois.
 
Wildlife biologists monitor the geographic distribution and intensity of CWD through testing of hunter-harvested deer. It is not known to be transmissible to humans.
 
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization do not recommend eating CWD-positive venison. 
 
Hunters can visit participating vendors, including taxidermists and meat processors, or leave deer heads at self-serve drop-off sites. Search for locations online, on the Hunt Illinois app, or at IDNR’s interactive map.
 
Hunters in CWD counties are strongly encouraged to have their deer tested. 
 
If you plan to have a deer mounted you can have a cooperating taxidermist collect the sample; testing procedures will not damage the deer skull. Hunters not using a cooperating taxidermist can take the caped-out head to an IDNR sample drop-off location.
 
Firearm deer hunters in CWD counties can get a voluntary sample taken by a biologist when they bring harvested deer to mandatory physical check stations during the 2025 regular firearm seasons Nov. 21-23 and Dec. 4–7. Go online for the locations of check stations.
 
Voluntary check stations will be open for successful hunters in Adams County at Twin Oaks Club, 2702 Bonansinga Drive in Quincy, and in Peoria County at Jubilee College State Park Office, West Fussner Road in Brimfield during the first and second firearm deer seasons from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
 
Voluntary check stations will only provide CWD testing services to hunters, so harvested deer must be checked in online or by phone before bringing them in for sampling.  
 
Hunters in non-CWD counties can use sample drop-off barrels or sampling vendors to have samples submitted for testing.
 
Hunters can view the results of their CWD tests online. Results usually take two to four weeks to post. Priority is given to samples from counties with known CWD cases. Hunters will be contacted by an IDNR wildlife biologist if their deer tests positive for CWD.
 
Between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, IDNR’s Wildlife Disease Program identified 539 CWD-positive deer in 25 Illinois counties, including Adams, Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Marshall, McHenry, Ogle, Peoria, Putnam, Stephenson, Will, and Winnebago.
 
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