GRAVES COUNTY — Hunters in the Jackson Purchase Region will face limited restrictions this deer season for Chronic Wasting Disease.
CWD is a fatal brain disease caused by misfolded proteins that only affects members of the deer family, causing lesions in the brain and eventual death.
“It’s an always-fatal disease; there is no cure for it, and there is no live test for it,” said Joe McDermott, deer program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “A lot of it is in the Western United States, but it’s creeping this way.”
KDFW reports three cases in 2026 so far, with one in Ballard County and two in Pulaski County.
Unlike in previous years, no Purchase Region counties will have staffed check stations for disease testing. Instead, a special antlerless season will take place between Sept. 25-28, where all surveillance regions will require heads to be dropped off for sampling at various sites.
“You just have to put the head of that harvested animal in the freezer and there will be freezer tags,” McDermott said. “You’ll put your confirmation number down, hunter information, and ideally a rough area where you were hunting.”
McDermott said results will come back within weeks after drop-off. The drop-off will be mandatory during that short period of time.
Nathanael Burnett, owner of Burnett Meats in Melber, said staff work with the state to conduct their own testing. He said hunters coming to get their deer processed shouldn’t be worried about CWD.
“It doesn’t have to be done on every deer,” Burnett said. “They’ve tested thousands, and the likelihood of it having CWD is very slim.”
For Burnett, keeping the meat fresh and bacteria-free is more important for safety, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said CWD hasn’t been shown to affect humans.
“We are very careful around that wound to clean that out,” Burnett said. “I would rather throw away a pound of your meat than run any risk of contamination.”
Following a yearly trend of growth for deer meat processing, Burnett expects a big season for 2026-2027.
“Beef prices are high; that might make people want to eat more deer,” Burnett said. “So I do expect a pretty big year this year.”
Rehabilitation of deer and importation of a carcass are prohibited for surveillance zones.
The deer season will run from Sept. 5 to Jan. 18, 2027.
