Department of Agriculture Offers Advice to PA Hunters, Processors to Protect Against Chronic Wasting Disease

With the 2021 hunting season underway in Pa., the Department of Agriculture released recommended best management practices to help protect hunters and their families against Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The following best management practices are recommended to be adopted by Pennsylvania’s hunters and processors:

• Do not shoot, handle or eat meat from wild deer or elk that look sick, are acting strangely or are found dead. However, keep in mind that most CWD-infected deer might not look or act sick.

• Report any sightings of sick or abnormal-acting wild deer or elk to the PA Game Commission.

• If you are hunting in or near a disease management area, place your deer’s head in PA Game Commission collection containers to submit it for CWD testing.

• If you have your deer or elk commercially processed, consider asking that your animal be processed separately to avoid mixing meat from multiple animals.

• It is recommended that processors take extra care to thoroughly clean equipment after processing each wild deer.

• When field-dressing or processing deer:

Wear disposable gloves.

Minimize how much you handle the organs, particularly brain or spinal cord tissue.

Do not use household knives or other kitchen utensils for field dressing.

• Double bag high-risk parts and dispose of in an approved landfill.