Beginning with the fall 2026 deer hunting season, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) will offer voluntary mail-in sampling kits to hunters who want to collect lymph node samples from harvested deer for chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing.
Kits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Hunters may request up to two kits at a time and additional kits if they harvest more deer. Hunters can request kits online or by contacting a local district wildlife biologist.
Each kit includes instructions for removing lymph node samples from harvested deer. The kits and laboratory testing are provided free of charge. Test results will be posted online when available, generally within two to four weeks. Priority will be given to samples from counties with known CWD cases.
Hunters can check test results through IDNR’s CWD test results database. Hunters whose deer test positive for CWD will receive a text or email notification from IDNR. An IDNR wildlife biologist will contact hunters by phone only when the harvest location has not been confirmed following notification.
CWD is a fatal disease of the central nervous system that affects deer and elk. It was first detected in Illinois in a suspect adult female deer from northwest Boone County in 2002. Since then, IDNR has sampled 199,136 wild deer statewide, with 3,410 testing positive for CWD. The disease has been detected in 28 counties in northern and central Illinois.
From July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, IDNR identified 662 CWD-positive deer in 28 Illinois counties: Adams, Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Effingham, Ford, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Marshall, McHenry, Ogle, Peoria, Putnam, Scott, Stark, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago.
For more information about CWD surveillance visit IDNR’s CWD information page or contact Chris Jacques, Wildlife Disease Program manager, at chris.jacques@illinois.gov.
***Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources***
