North Dakota Game and Fish will continue sampling deer harvested by hunters for chronic wasting disease in 2026 from southwestern units 2J1, 3B3 and 3C. The remaining units are 3D1, 3D2, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4D, 4E and 4F. Chronic wasting disease slowly affects the brains of deer, moose and elk and can impact populations at high infection rates.

Outside those units hunters may still test animals at Game and Fish district offices, deer head collection sites or using self-sampling kits from the website or offices, dropping heads at gf.nd.gov locations except fawns and head-shot deer. Self kits allow shipping lymph nodes to the wildlife health lab with four-week results in the My Account inbox, offices sample kept heads in business hours, and statewide processed carcass waste goes to landfill or waste management except submitted heads and nodes while whole carcasses can leave the unit.