If you’re hunting deer in the Missouri CWD Management Zone, you’re subject to a year-round ban on feeding and baiting, a 48-hour rule for getting carcasses to a processor after they leave the county of harvest, mandatory testing on the opening weekend of the November firearms season, and specific rules about where leftover parts can go. The zone covers 82 counties for the 2025–2026 seasons, and the Missouri Department of Conservation adds counties whenever Chronic Wasting Disease is confirmed in a cervid within ten miles of a county line.1Missouri Department of Conservation. 3 CSR 10-4.200 – Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone
Is Your County in the Zone
For the 2025–2026 deer seasons, these 82 counties are inside the Management Zone: Adair, Audrain, Barry, Barton, Bollinger, Boone, Caldwell, Callaway, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Cedar, Chariton, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Crawford, Dallas, Daviess, Dent, Douglas, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Hickory, Howard, Howell, Jasper, Jefferson, Knox, Laclede, Lewis, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Madison, Maries, Marion, McDonald, Mercer, Miller, Moniteau, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Pemiscot, Perry, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, Ray, Ripley, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shannon, Shelby, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Warren, Washington, and Webster.2Missouri Department of Conservation. CWD Management Zone Regulations
Twelve counties joined for 2025–2026: Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Daviess, Harrison, Henry, Marion, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Ralls, St. Louis, and Texas.3Missouri Department of Conservation. Chronic Wasting Disease Regulations The MDC has not released the 2026–2027 list yet, so check the MDC website before you hunt. Counties are rarely removed once added.
No Feeding or Baiting, Year-Round
Inside a Management Zone county, you cannot place grain, salt, mineral blocks, or any other consumable product that concentrates deer in one spot. The prohibition runs year-round and applies within ten miles of any confirmed CWD-positive cervid in the county.1Missouri Department of Conservation. 3 CSR 10-4.200 – Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone A pile of corn or a salt lick brings deer nose-to-nose and multiplies disease transmission.
Normal farming is fine. Standing crops, harvested fields, and planted food plots are not restricted because they don’t bunch deer together the way bait does. Bird feeders near your home are also allowed as long as deer can’t reach them.
Moving a Carcass Out of the County
This is the rule that catches the most hunters off guard. You can take a deer out of the county where you harvested it, but if you cross the county line with a whole carcass or unprocessed parts, you have 48 hours to deliver it to a licensed meat processor or taxidermist.4Missouri Department of Conservation. 3 CSR 10-4.135 – Transportation The clock starts when you leave the county.
Several already-processed items don’t trigger the 48-hour requirement and can travel freely:4Missouri Department of Conservation. 3 CSR 10-4.135 – Transportation
- Meat that has been deboned, or cut and wrapped for storage.
- Quarters or other portions with no part of the spinal column or head attached.
- Hides with all excess tissue removed.
- Antlers, loose or attached to skull plates cleaned of all muscle and brain tissue.
- Upper canine teeth (ivories) from elk or deer.
- Finished taxidermy mounts.
If you process your own deer at home and home is outside the harvest county, bone it out before you leave or get it to a processor within two days. You also need to Telecheck your deer before it leaves the county of harvest or by 10 p.m. on the day of harvest, whichever comes first.5Missouri Department of Conservation. CWD FAQs
Disposing of Leftover Parts
Anything you don’t keep and don’t hand to a processor or taxidermist has to go into trash headed for a sanitary landfill, or stay on the property where you harvested the deer.6Missouri Department of Conservation. Carcass Transportation and Disposal MDC recommends double-bagging remains before they go to the curb. Dumping parts in a ditch, on someone else’s land, or at an unauthorized site is not legal.
Processors and taxidermists have the same obligation for anything they don’t return to the customer: landfill or transfer station, with commercial trash service or a dumpster on regular pickup counting as compliance.6Missouri Department of Conservation. Carcass Transportation and Disposal
Mandatory Testing on Firearms Opening Weekend
Harvest a deer in a Management Zone county on opening weekend of the November firearms portion and you have to bring it to an MDC mandatory sampling station the same day.7Missouri Department of Conservation. Mandatory CWD Sampling For the 2026–2027 season, the November portion runs November 14–24, so opening weekend falls on November 14–15.8Missouri Department of Conservation. MDC Sets Deer and Turkey Hunting Dates for 2026-2027 Seasons
You can bring the whole carcass or just the head with at least six inches of neck attached. Technicians pull tissue samples from the lymph nodes. You’ll need your permit information and the exact harvest location. Testing is free, and results are posted online through MDC’s testing portal when you enter your permit number. Expect a few weeks for results. If a deer tests positive, the CDC recommends you not eat the meat.5Missouri Department of Conservation. CWD FAQs
Free Voluntary Testing the Rest of the Season
You can get any deer tested for free from September 15 through January 15, anywhere in Missouri, not just inside the Management Zone.9Missouri Department of Conservation. Voluntary CWD Sampling Options include select MDC offices during business hours, participating processors and taxidermists, and self-serve freezer drop-off sites.
For a freezer drop-off, you package the head and fill out a tag with your name, phone number, harvest county, GPS coordinates or township/range/section, and Telecheck ID number. An incomplete or illegible tag usually means no results come back to you. One scheduling note: during mandatory sampling weekend, freezer sites inside Management Zone counties are locked so hunters go to staffed stations instead. Freezers outside the zone stay available.9Missouri Department of Conservation. Voluntary CWD Sampling
Penalties for Violating the Rules
Breaking any Missouri wildlife regulation, including the feeding ban or the transport and disposal rules, is a class B misdemeanor.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo 252.230 – Penalty Not Otherwise Provided That carries up to six months in jail and fines that can reach several hundred dollars once court costs are added. Conservation agents can also seize equipment used in the violation.
Handling the Meat Safely
No human case of CWD has ever been documented, but scientists haven’t ruled out a jump to people, and the CDC issues precautionary guidance on the assumption that eating infected meat would be the most likely route. The CDC’s recommendations for hunters in CWD areas:11Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Chronic Wasting Disease
- Wear latex or rubber gloves when field-dressing.
- Avoid handling internal organs, especially the brain and spinal cord.
- Don’t use your kitchen knives or cutting boards for field-dressing.
- Get the deer tested before you eat the meat, especially in Management Zone counties.
- If you use a commercial processor, ask that your animal be processed individually so meat from other deer isn’t mixed in.
- If a deer tests positive, don’t eat the meat.
One field note worth carrying with you: a deer in the early stages of CWD looks and acts normal, with an average incubation period of 18 to 24 months.12U.S. Geological Survey. What Are the Visual Signs of Chronic Wasting Disease Late-stage signs include severe weight loss, loss of fear of humans, excessive drooling, and increased drinking and urination, but a healthy-looking deer is not necessarily CWD-free. Don’t shoot, handle, or eat any deer that looks sick or behaves strangely, and lean on the free testing program for the rest.