North Dakota Game & Fish Department News

CWD testing during deer bow, elk, moose seasons

With the deer bow, elk, and moose seasons opening soon, North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials remind hunters of the options for getting animals tested for chronic wasting disease.

Area hunters can drop off heads at any of the following locations:

• Devils Lake – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 7928 45th St NE.

• Jamestown – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 3320 E Lakeside Road.

• Lonetree – North Dakota Game and Fish Department district office, 1851 23rd Ave NE (Available only during office hours, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday-Friday).

Self-sampling kits are also available to hunters who wish to have their animal tested but are unable to drop the head off at a collection site. The kits allow hunters to remove the lymph nodes and ship them to the Department's wildlife health lab for testing. A sampling kit request form can be found on the Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.

Also note, whole carcasses of animals harvested in North Dakota can remain in the deer unit, or may now be transported anywhere in the state. However, carcass waste must be disposed of via landfill or waste management provider. This does not apply to heads dropped at CWD collection sites or lymph nodes submitted for CWD surveillance. Taxidermists and game processors can also accept intact carcasses of animals harvested within North Dakota but assume responsibility for disposal.

Submit wing envelopes

Hunters can help in the effort to manage upland game birds in North Dakota by collecting feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes.

Birds included in the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s upland game wing survey, which has been in practice for decades, are ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, Hungarian partridge, turkeys and ruffed grouse.

Collecting enough pheasant samples is typically never a problem, but securing enough sharptail and partridge feathers can be.

Game and Fish biologists will take as many sharptail and partridge feathers as they can get because the more collected, the better the data. Biologists can determine if birds are male or female, age ratios, survival, nesting success, hatch dates and overall production.

What biologists learn from samples is vital to helping manage North Dakota’s upland game birds.

Instructions for submitting wing data are printed on the envelope.

Hunters interested in receiving wing envelopes should visit the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.

Hunters be mindful of farmers, ranchers

Hunters should be respectful and cautious as farmers and ranchers are busy with field work this time of year.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials said hunters should pull to the side of the road or find an approach when meeting combines, grain trucks or tractors pulling equipment.

In addition, hunters should avoid parking along roadways or field approaches where vehicles could block travel by farm machinery, leave gates as you found them, collect trash and empty shells, and not clean game in the road ditch or approach.