Illinois CWD Testing and Deer Carcass Rules

Q: What parts of a deer may be brought into Illinois?

Illinois Department of Natural Resources admits 6 categories: deboned meat; antlers; antlers attached to skull caps; hides; upper canine teeth (also known as “buglers,” “whistlers,” or “ivories”); finished taxidermy mounts. The list is the state's own and nothing outside it crosses the line.

Q: Is baiting deer legal in Illinois?

Baiting and feeding banned statewide. Feeding deer is illegal everywhere in Illinois at any time, and so is hunting them over bait.

Q: How does a hunter get CWD results in Illinois?

Illinois Department of Natural Resources posts results to a lookup of its own.

Not required

Is a sample required

a test is offered on any deer

Boned out

Carrying a carcass in

No whole carcass from anywhere

Free

What the test costs

no turnaround published

Yes, 2002

Found in wild deer

counties with CWD surveillance

The answer

Is CWD testing required in Illinois

Voluntary, offered statewide

Illinois has found the disease in wild deer, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources sets no requirement to submit a sample. A test is offered on any deer a hunter brings in.

How to submit: Illinois Department of Natural Resources names CWD sample drop-off barrels, sampling vendors, IDNR cooperating taxidermist, mail-in sampling kits requested online and designated firearm deer check station in a CWD surveillance county.
What it costs: Illinois Department of Natural Resources puts the test at no charge to the hunter.
The zone it draws: counties with CWD surveillance

IDNR’s drop off locations Look up a result

Hunters are strongly encouraged to test their deer for free.

Chronic Wasting Disease Sampling, Hunt Illinois, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Driving a deer into Illinois

What may be carried across the Illinois line

This is the rule a hunter is most likely to miss, because it is written by the state being entered rather than the state the animal was taken in. Reading the regulations of the state hunted in cover to cover does not surface it. Nationally, 42 of the 50 states restrict what crosses and 27 refuse an intact carcass from anywhere at all.

No whole carcass from anywhereA hunter driving home to this state boned the animal out before the line, whatever state the hunt was in.

An intact carcass may not be carried into Illinois from any other state. The parts IDNR does admit are listed below.

No hunter harvested deer or elk carcass may be brought into Illinois from anywhere; only deboned meat, antlers, antlers on a cleaned skull cap, hides, upper canine teeth and finished taxidermy mounts may cross the line, with a 72 hour exception for a carcass delivered straight to a licensed Illinois processor or taxidermist.

What IDNR admits, in its own categories:

deboned meat
antlers
antlers attached to skull caps
hides
upper canine teeth (also known as “buglers,” “whistlers,” or “ivories”)
finished taxidermy mounts

Importation of hunter-harvested deer and elk carcasses into Illinois is prohibited except: deboned meat, antlers, antlers attached to skull caps, hides, upper canine teeth (also known as “buglers,” “whistlers,” or “ivories”). Skull caps shall be cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue; finished taxidermy mounts; carcasses or parts of carcasses with the spinal column or head attached may be transported in the state only if they are submitted to a licensed meat processor or a licensed taxidermist for processing within 72 hours after entry

2026-2027 Illinois Hunting and Trapping Digest, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

17 Ill. Adm. Code Section 635.30 Importation of Animal Carcasses and Parts

What IDNR says

The Illinois agency’s own words on the meat

Illinois Department of Natural Resources publishes this:

No part of any CWD positive animal should be consumed by humans or other animals.

Chronic Wasting Disease Sampling, Hunt Illinois, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

That sentence is reproduced whole and unedited because it is the agency’s statement rather than a summary of one, and 30 of the 50 states here publish one of their own. The wording differs between states.

Where the state stands

CWD in Illinois: status, zones and baiting

Illinois Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the disease in Illinois's wild deer. The first confirmed case dates to 2002. IDNR says the disease now reaches 28 counties, with several core areas across northern Illinois, and names Stark, Scott and Effingham as its newest detections..

First confirmed case: 2002
Baiting and feeding: Baiting and feeding banned statewide
Moving an animal out of a zone: In the eighteen named CWD surveillance counties a deer killed in a firearm season may not simply be driven home; it goes whole or field dressed to a designated check station the same day, where it is sampled and given a permanent leg tag.
Carcass waste: IDNR asks that carcass parts be buried under six inches of soil or sent to a landfill, and calls this critical for a deer taken in a CWD area and moved elsewhere in the state.

This program, in conjunction with increased hunter harvest, successfully kept CWD prevalence at or below 5% from initial detection in 2002 until 2023.

2026-2027 Illinois Hunting and Trapping Digest, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Zone boundaries are redrawn between seasons more often than any other rule here, usually after a new detection near an existing line. The map linked above is IDNR's own and is the one that governs.

A small white steel shelter on a gravel pad with one open bay and a sign reading LDWF CWD TESTING CONTAINER SITE beside a deer silhouette, bare trees behind it at dusk — A freezer container site, open at the side and lit at night. A state that wants samples from a whole parish cannot staff a counter for three months, so it buys a cooler and a sign and takes the head whenever the hunter finishes. The tag in the box is the part that matters: everything the lab can tell a hunter later depends on the paper that went in with the head. “LDWF CWD Testing Container Site 01”, Ktkvtsh, CC BY 4.0

Illinois CWD questions

Is CWD testing required in Illinois?

Where can a hunter get a deer tested for CWD in Illinois?

How much does a CWD test cost in Illinois?

Can a deer be brought into Illinois from another state?

An intact carcass may not be carried into Illinois from any other state. The parts IDNR does admit are listed below. No hunter harvested deer or elk carcass may be brought into Illinois from anywhere; only deboned meat, antlers, antlers on a cleaned skull cap, hides, upper canine teeth and finished taxidermy mounts may cross the line, with a 72 hour exception for a carcass delivered straight to a licensed Illinois processor or taxidermist.

What parts of a deer may be brought into Illinois?

Does Illinois have chronic wasting disease?

Is baiting deer legal in Illinois?

How does a hunter get CWD results in Illinois?

CWD rules in other states

CWD rules in every stateHow the 50 states differ on sampling, cost and what crosses a state line.Venomous snakes by stateWhich species a state actually has, and where the range maps put them.Burn permits by stateWhether a permit is needed today, and who issues it.Firewood permitsWhat a cord off public land costs, and which forests still sell one.Illinois tick activityThe weather driven tick index for Illinois, updated daily.

Illinois read September 23, 2026 from 2026-2027 Illinois Hunting and Trapping Digest, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, linked above. Carcass rules, zone boundaries and sampling requirements change between one season’s regulations and the next, and a state can add a rule mid season after a new detection, so the IDNR document linked above is the one that governs. Every state is on the CWD testing hub.