Mississippi CWD Testing and Deer Carcass Rules

Q: Is CWD testing required in Mississippi?

In the areas Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks names, yes. Sampling is required of deer taken in the statewide private lands Velvet Season of September 11 to 13, 2026, and of deer taken on the CWD DMAP 3 Mile Tag Program tags issued near a detection; elsewhere and at other times it is a request, not a requirement.

Q: Is baiting deer legal in Mississippi?

Banned inside the zones. Supplemental feeding, including salt licks, mineral licks and feeders, is banned inside every CWD Management Zone.

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

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks posts results to a lookup of its own, and the agency says results are usually available within two weeks of sample collection, and that a hunter is notified only if CWD is detected..

In named areas

Is a sample required

and voluntary everywhere else

Boned out

Carrying a carcass in

No whole carcass from anywhere

See the agency

What the test costs

turnaround below

Yes, 2018

Found in wild deer

CWD Management Zone

The answer

Is CWD testing required in Mississippi

Sampling required in the named areas

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks requires a sample from deer taken in the areas it names, and a test is available on a deer taken anywhere else in Mississippi.

Where the requirement bites: Sampling is required of deer taken in the statewide private lands Velvet Season of September 11 to 13, 2026, and of deer taken on the CWD DMAP 3 Mile Tag Program tags issued near a detection; elsewhere and at other times it is a request, not a requirement.
How to submit: Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks names drop-off freezer program, participating taxidermists and statewide collection sites.
How long results take: The agency says results are usually available within two weeks of sample collection, and that a hunter is notified only if CWD is detected.
The zone it draws: CWD Management Zone

MDWFP’s drop off locations Look up a result

Velvet Season September 11-13, 2026 • Mandatory Reporting by 10 p.m. • Mandatory CWD Sampling • One State-Legal Buck Bag Limit • Archery Only • Statewide on private lands

CWD Sample Collection and Drop-Off Locations, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Driving a deer into Mississippi

What may be carried across the Mississippi 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 Mississippi from any other state. The parts MDWFP does admit are listed below.

No part of a cervid carcass from any other state, territory or country may come into Mississippi except deboned meat or bone in quarters with no spine or head, clean antlers and skulls, cleaned teeth, finished taxidermy and hides.

What MDWFP admits, in its own categories:

Meat from cervids that has been completely deboned, or bone-in quarters with no part of the spinal column or head attached
Antlers, antlers attached to cleaned skull plates or cleaned skulls where no tissue is attached to the skull
Cleaned teeth
Finished taxidermy and antler products
Hides and tanned products

It is unlawful to: Import, transport, or possess any portion of a cervid carcass originating from any state, territory, or foreign country into Mississippi. ... This rule does not apply to: Meat from cervids that has been completely deboned, or bone-in quarters with no part of the spinal column or head attached. Antlers, antlers attached to cleaned skull plates or cleaned skulls where no tissue is attached to the skull. Cleaned teeth. Finished taxidermy and antler products. Hides and tanned products.

Carcass Transportation, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Where the state stands

CWD in Mississippi: status, zones and baiting

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has confirmed the disease in Mississippi's wild deer. The first confirmed case dates to 2018. The agency maps CWD positive deer by county for last season and draws three mile buffers around detections, and it groups the affected ground into three named management zones in north Mississippi, around Issaquena and Warren, and on the coast in Harrison and Hancock..

First confirmed case: 2018
Baiting and feeding: Banned inside the zones
Moving an animal out of a zone: A carcass may not leave a CWD Management Zone at all, only cut or deboned meat, bone in leg quarters, hides with no head, finished taxidermy, clean antlers and clean skulls, plus a head carried to a participating taxidermist within five days on a sample number issued beforehand.
Carcass waste: The agency recommends leaving unwanted bones and organs at the harvest site, double bagging them for an approved lined landfill, or burying them deep, and says deer parts should not be rendered into animal feed or composted.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was first detected in Mississippi in February 2018 and is recognized as the primary threat to wildlife in the state.

Updated 2026-27 CWD Guide, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, 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 MDWFP'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

Mississippi CWD questions

Is CWD testing required in Mississippi?

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

How long does a CWD test take in Mississippi?

Can a deer be brought into Mississippi from another state?

What parts of a deer may be brought into Mississippi?

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks admits 5 categories: Meat from cervids that has been completely deboned, or bone-in quarters with no part of the spinal column or head attached; Antlers, antlers attached to cleaned skull plates or cleaned skulls where no tissue is attached to the skull; Cleaned teeth; Finished taxidermy and antler products; Hides and tanned products. The list is the state's own and nothing outside it crosses the line.

Does Mississippi have chronic wasting disease?

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has confirmed the disease in Mississippi's wild deer. The first confirmed case dates to 2018. The agency maps CWD positive deer by county for last season and draws three mile buffers around detections, and it groups the affected ground into three named management zones in north Mississippi, around Issaquena and Warren, and on the coast in Harrison and Hancock.. 36 of the 50 states compiled here have confirmed a case, the earliest in 1985.

Is baiting deer legal in Mississippi?

How does a hunter get CWD results in Mississippi?

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

Mississippi read September 23, 2026 from Updated 2026-27 CWD Guide, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, 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 MDWFP document linked above is the one that governs. Every state is on the CWD testing hub.