Hunter Transport and Disposal Has Big Impacts on Wyoming Wildlife

Wyoming Game and Fish implores this fall’s hunters to prepare their transport and disposal plans for their fall trophies.

Not doing so risks the spread of the fatal Chronic Wasting Disease.

While most hunters are planning to succeed in their fall hunts, that’s only part of their plan. Game and Fish has transport and disposal regulations in place to ensure the safety of the state’s deer, elk, and moose.

Proper disposal prevents the unintentional spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, which is already spreading its way throughout the Western United States. The disease has already been detected in almost every deer hunt area in Wyoming, so now the priority is monitoring and containing the spread.

Wyoming’s regulations require deer, elk, and moose hunters transport only the following items within Wyoming:

• Deer, elk, and moose can be transported to a camp, private residence for processing, a taxidermist, a processor or a CWD sample collection site in Wyoming provided the head and all portions of the spinal column remain at the site of the kill or such parts are disposed in any approved landfill or approved incinerator in Wyoming. A listing of landfills that will accept waste from processed game animals and whole carcasses is available on the Game and Fish website.
• Edible portions of meat with no portion of the spinal column or head attached
• Cleaned hide without the head attached
• Skull, skull plate or antlers that have been cleaned of all meat and brain tissue
• Teeth
• Finished taxidermy mounts

Whole animals cannot be transported out of Wyoming unless they are taxidermized first. Rules on transporting deer from Wyoming to another state can change depending on the state in question.

Hunters need to check the rules of their home state if they’re planning to hunt here but return elsewhere.

You can find a full list of transport and disposal regulations for your fall hunt on the Wyoming Game and Fish website.