FRANKFORT, Ky. (Sept. 14, 2026) — The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources continues to implement strategies during the fall hunting seasons designed to monitor and prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

The strategies are designed to both limit the introduction of CWD from other states and to alert wildlife officials to any new detections of the infectious disease, which is always fatal to white-tailed deer, elk and other members of the deer family.

Strategies include:

• A special antlerless-only season in the CWD Surveillance Zone
• Restrictions on transporting deer carcasses
• Restrictions on the use of certain types of feeders
• And sampling requirements, in some cases mandatory

“Kentucky continues to work hard in the fight against CWD,” said Ben Robinson, director of Wildlife for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Every decision made is aimed at ensuring we maintain a quality deer herd for our children and grandchildren.”

Kentucky’s CWD Surveillance Zone currently includes 23 counties in four distinct areas where CWD was detected either in Kentucky or nearby in a bordering state. The counties are Ballard, Breckinridge, Calloway, Carlisle, Casey, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Laurel, Lincoln, Marshall, McCracken, McCreary, Meade, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Union, Wayne, Webster and Whitley.

For a map of the surveillance zone (and information on CWD restrictions), see Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov/CWD or the 2026-27 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide.

THE FOLLOWING REGULATIONS ARE IN EFFECT FOR THE 2026-27 DEER HUNTING SEASON:

SPECIAL ANTERLESS HARVEST:  A four-day season, Sept. 25-28, 2026, will allow hunters in CWD Surveillance Zone counties also located in Deer Zones 1-3 to take antlerless deer. Firearms, bows or crossbows may be used during this season but only antlerless deer may be harvested. Zone bag limits apply, as do mandatory sampling requirements described below.

The season is double the length of last year’s two-day CWD Antlerless Season, when 576 deer were harvested in 14 counties in the CWD Surveillance Zone as it existed at the start of the 2025-26 season.

CARCASS TRANSPORT RESTRICTIONS: Chronic Wasting Disease, which is caused by misfolded proteins, is spread by deer via contact with infected bodily fluids (such as saliva, blood, spinal fluid, urine and feces) or through contaminated food, soil and water. It can be spread by live deer as well as by the movement of carcasses and high-risk carcass parts. To block the spread of the disease, the following restrictions are in place:

• Hunters can bring into Kentucky from other U.S. states or Canadian provinces only the following parts from any member of the deer family (deer, elk, moose, or caribou, etc.): deboned meat, antlers, antlers attached to clean skull cap, clean skulls, clean teeth, hides and finished taxidermy products. It is illegal to transport whole carcasses or high-risk parts (head, intact skull or skull cap with brain material, or spine).
• Hunters who harvest a deer inside Kentucky’s CWD Surveillance Zone can take only the following parts outside the zone: Deboned meat, antlers and antlers attached to a clean skull cap, clean skulls and teeth, hides, and finished taxidermy products. It is illegal to take whole deer carcasses and high-risk parts, including head, intact skull or skull cap with brain material, or spine outside the zone.

BAITING/FEEDING RESTRICTIONS: The baiting of deer is allowed with restrictions in the CWD Surveillance Zone. Hunters may use grain, corn, salt, minerals or other attractants intended to be ingested. However, contact-style feeders (such as troughs, funnels, gravity feeders without spreading capabilities, etc.) are prohibited.

Feeders such as troughs and funnel feeders are considered contact-style feeders because they encourage deer to come into close contact at a single point, increasing the risk of CWD transmission through contaminated body fluids and feces. Broadcast feeders are allowed because they scatter out the feed, spreading out the deer and potentially reducing direct contact. Hunters may still use scent attractants and deer urine products.

Note: Feeding and baiting are illegal on public lands at all times.

SAMPLING REQUIREMENTS: As part of monitoring efforts, Kentucky uses a variety of strategies to collect samples of harvested deer for CWD testing. Within the CWD Surveillance Zone, requirements depend on the season and county and may include mandatory in-person checks of harvested deer and mandatory drop-offs of deer heads or submission of a sample. Requirements apply to all hunters, including landowners, youth and license-exempt hunters.
 

• Mandatory drop-offs: Testing is mandatory for deer harvested during the special antlerless season Sept. 25-28, 2026. This requirement applies no matter what method of take is used. Hunters must drop off that deer’s head to an unstaffed CWD Sample Drop-off Site or submit a sample using a CWD Sample Mail-In Kit. To request a mail-in kit, go to the CWD Sample Mail-In Kit webpage. Hunters can request a kit ahead of the season.

A list of sites as well as instructions can be found on page 14 of the fall hunting guide or online at the CWD Sample Drop-off Sites webpage.

Note: Hunters in Zone 4 CWD Surveillance Zone counties – McCreary and Whitley – cannot use a firearm during those four days, are not restricted to antlerless deer, and do not have to drop off samples for testing.

• Mandatory check: All deer harvested during the first three days of modern firearms season (Nov. 14-16, 2026) in Henderson, McCreary, Pulaski and Wayne counties must be taken by the hunter to a staffed CWD check station in those counties. Stations will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. See the hunting guide or go online for the locations of the two staffed CWD check stations in each of those four counties. Hunters will need their Telecheck confirmation number, license information and harvest location (see the note below).
• Voluntary sampling: In CWD Surveillance Zone counties other than those four counties, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff will be at various processors during weekends of the modern firearms season asking hunters for voluntary samples.

Outside the CWD Surveillance Zone, testing is free and voluntary. Hunters can have their deer tested by dropping off its head at a CWD Sample Drop-off Site or by requesting a CWD Sample Mail-in Kit. Hunters who submit a head or sample for CWD testing using these two methods will be entered into the Shoot for Samples giveaway.

Hunters should be aware that they will need to provide a general harvest location when taking a deer for CWD testing. This information is critical for monitoring CWD over time and will not be shared publicly. The information is general in nature – i.e. a one-mile-square box on a grid – and thus won’t identify any hunter’s “spot.”

Hunters can find the grids online ahead of their hunt on the Know Before You Go webpage. To find their hunting spot, hunters can either type the address or enlarge the map, then click on that location. The grid ID appears as a seven-character number that includes two letters and five numerals. Hunters can also find their grid number using the KY Deer & Elk App available on Apple and Android.

For questions or to get more information about CWD, go online at the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Chronic Wasting Disease webpage or contact the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Information Center by emailing info.center@ky.govor calling (800) 858-1549 during office hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) weekdays.

The public can report sick or dead deer (and elk) by filling out an online form at Report Wildlife Disease or by contacting the Information Center.