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Michigan has found CWD and tests any deer a hunter brings in

Michigan CWD Testing and Deer Carcass Rules

Michigan testing is free and voluntary with DNR drop boxes and staffed sites in five focused counties and free mail in lymph node kits everywhere else, only a named list of parts may be brought in from another state, and a deer taken in Montcalm County or in the named Ionia and Kent townships may leave that area only as those parts or by going straight to a registered processor or taxidermist.

Not required
Is a sample required
a test is offered on any deer
Restricted
Carrying a carcass in
Listed parts only
Free
What the test costs
no turnaround published
Yes, 2015
Found in wild deer
zones drawn
The answer

Is CWD testing required in Michigan

Voluntary, offered statewide

Michigan has found the disease in wild deer, and Michigan 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
Michigan Department of Natural Resources names DNR drop boxes, staffed sample submission sites, free lymph node shipping kit and DNR wildlife field office.
What it costs
Michigan Department of Natural Resources puts the test at no charge to the hunter.

DNR’s drop off locationsLook up a result

In 2026, the DNR is conducting focused collection for CWD testing in the following counties.
CWD testing, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
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Driving a deer into Michigan

What may be carried across the Michigan 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.

Listed parts onlyThe packing list is the rule, and anything not named on it does not cross.

Michigan names the parts that may cross its line and admits nothing outside that list.

Only a named list of parts may be brought into Michigan from a hunt in another state or province, and bringing in a whole head or carcass carries penalties and confiscation.

What DNR admits, in its own categories:

  • hides
  • deboned meat
  • quarters or other parts of the cervid that do not have any part of the spinal column or head attached
  • finished taxidermy products
  • cleaned teeth
  • antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue
You may bring only the following parts from a free-ranging or captive deer, elk, moose or other cervid hunted within another state or province into Michigan: hides, deboned meat, quarters or other parts of the cervid that do not have any part of the spinal column or head attached, finished taxidermy products, cleaned teeth, or antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue.
CWD hunting regulations, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Where the state stands

CWD in Michigan: status, zones and baiting

Michigan Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the disease in Michigan's wild deer. The first confirmed case dates to 2015. The DNR lists the counties with previous positive detections in free ranging white-tailed deer, one in the Upper Peninsula and seventeen in the Lower Peninsula plus a set of unknown origin, and gives a running total of positives..

First confirmed case
2015
Baiting and feeding
Banned inside the zones
Moving an animal out of a zone
A deer taken in Montcalm County, in four named townships in Ionia County or in six named townships in Kent County may leave that area only as the listed parts, or by going straight to a registered processor, or with the head going straight to a licensed taxidermist.
Counties with previous positive detections (378 total) of CWD in free-ranging white-tailed deer
County-level CWD detection information, Michigan 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 DNR'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

Michigan CWD questions

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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.Michigan tick activityThe weather driven tick index for Michigan, updated daily.

Michigan read September 23, 2026 from County-level CWD detection information, Michigan 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 DNR document linked above is the one that governs. Every state is on the CWD testing hub.