IDFG running weekend check stations

Idaho Fish and Game staff will be collecting samples from deer at hunter check stations across the Panhandle over two weekends in November as part of a statewide surveillance program for chronic wasting disease.

Chronic wasting disease was detected for the first time in Idaho in 2021 after more than 20 years of proactive surveillance and testing; the first detections were in Unit 14, which is located south of Grangeville. Chronic wasting disease is a contagious and fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose, and there is no cure.

Although CWD has not been detected in the Panhandle, Libby, Montana, which is a short 22-mile jaunt east of the Idaho Panhandle border, has confirmed white-tailed deer, moose and mule deer with CWD in recent years.

Check stations will be operated Nov. 12, 13, 19 and 20 from 10 a.m. to sunset. Check stations will be located at:

• Priest River: along State Highway 57

• St. Maries: south on State Highway 3

• Bonners Ferry: 3-mile weigh station

IDFG also has freezers across the region where hunters can deposit their own lymph node samples or deer heads. Each freezer has instructions attached to it and information tags are to be filled out for each head and sample. All samples should be kept cool or frozen until transferred to a freezer. Panhandle freezers are located at:

• Bonners Ferry: Far North Outfitters, 6791 S Main Street

• Sagle: WaterLife Discovery Center, 1591 Lakeshore Drive

• Plummer: Heyburn State Park, 57 Chatcolet Road

• Kingston: Kwikstop Gas Station, 123 Stemm Loop

Hunters can also bring their own lymph node samples or deer heads into the Regional Office at 2885 W Kathleen Avenue, Coeur d’Alene from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.