Michigan Department of Natural Resources partners from Michigan State University Extension and the Quality Deer Management Association will host chronic wasting disease test sample collection sites in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties in November.

Hunters in these counties may submit their deer for free CWD testing at DNR check stations from Nov. 15-18 only; outside of this timeframe, hunters still can submit their deer for CWD testing for a fee by pulling appropriate tissue samples and submitting them to a USDA-approved laboratory.

MSU and QDMA staff and volunteers at test sample collection sites will be available to assist deer hunters with lymph node removal and will transport CWD samples to the Michigan State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, a USDA-approved laboratory, for testing.

The sites will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. Sample collection dates and locations are as follows:

• Nov. 8 – Rustic Sports Shop, 519 Ensley St., Howard City.
• Nov. 20 – Magnum Sports, 6227 S. Greenville Road, Greenville.
• Nov. 22 – Belding Hometown Hardware, 930 W. State St., Belding.
• Nov. 28 – Sadler’s Great Outdoors, 3160 W. M-46, Six Lakes.

All hunters, regardless of where their deer was taken, are welcome and encouraged to bring their deer to these testing collection sites to get help collecting the appropriate tissue samples and submit those samples for CWD testing.

You can find instructions, order and pay for testing, and find resources for lymph node collection at AnimalHealth.MSU.edu.

Before visiting a collection site to submit a sample, order and pay for your CWD test. When filling out the information, select “I will bring the specimen to MSU VDL Building.” Be sure to print off a copy of your receipt to include with your sample.

Then, bring any legally tagged whole deer, deer head or extracted lymph nodes to the collection site. If you took the deer prior to the collection day, freeze the lymph nodes or head to preserve the tissue so that it will be suitable for testing. Submitted samples will be properly packaged with the individual CWD test order receipt, kept frozen and transported to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

For questions about CWD test sample collection sites, please email Katie Ockert, MSU Extension CWD educator. Learn more about CWD in Michigan at Michigan.gov/CWD.