CWD Management and Incentive Programs

Hunters and landowners have become TWRA's greatest partners in the fight against CWD since its discovery. The following programs were developed to encourage continued hunter participation and increase deer harvest to help reduce deer densities within CWD-positive counties and prevent the spread of disease.

Hunters can exceed the statewide bag limit of two antlered deer by meeting specified criteria or by harvesting CWD-positive deer. Removing the Unit CWD designation expands hunter opportunities to benefit from these programs and allows for quick adaptability if CWD is detected in a new county.

Hunters in all deer management units throughout the state can access the Fight CWD Incentive Program and the Replacement Buck Program. The Earn-a-Buck Program applies only in CWD-positive counties and will automatically activate if a county becomes CWD-positive during the hunting season, along with carcass transport and wildlife feeding restrictions. Deer Management Unit harvest regulations, including methods of take, deer season dates, and bag limits, otherwise apply regardless of county CWD status. 

Fight CWD Incentive Program

TWRA has developed the Fight CWD Incentive Program (FCIP), which contains hunting incentives to support TWRA’s CWD management efforts.

Program Details

 Voucher Incentive:

• Hunters who receive a CWD-positive test result for a harvested deer will receive a voucher redeemable for $75 of processing fees at participating processors.
• A Voucher is not redeemable for cash.
• A voucher may be gifted to another individual.
• A voucher may be redeemed during the 2025-2026 or the 2026-2027 deer season. 
• Vouchers will be emailed and must be printed in order to be redeemed. Please ensure that your TWRA account has an up-to-date email address (Go to GoOutdoorsTennessee.com and login to update your information).
• Contact your local processor and ask if they are participating in this program.
• Thanks to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation for partnering with TWRA to make this program possible.

Earn-a-Buck Program

Hunters in CWD positive counties can earn additional bucks by harvesting antlerless deer and submitting them for CWD testing, regardless of the test results. This helps to increase the number of deer that are harvested and submitted for CWD testing.

CWD positive counties include Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Humphreys, Lauderdale, Lewis, Madison, McNairy, Shelby, Tipton, Wayne, Weakley, and Williamson. 

• Tennessee’s statewide antlered deer bag limit is 2.
  
• Hunters in CWD postive counties may earn an unlimited number of antlered deer for harvest in addition to the statewide bag limit.
  
• An additional antlered deer is earned for each antlerless deer harvested in a CWD positive county and submitted for CWD testing, regardless of CWD test result.  
• Earned antlered deer must be harvested in CWD positive counties.

• Valid only for the 2025-2026 hunting season.
• The earned antlered deer is available immediately upon check-in and submission for CWD Testing.

Replacement Buck Program

To assist CWD management efforts, replacement bucks will encourage hunters to continue hunting and harvesting. The Replacement Buck Program is an added incentive for hunters to have their deer tested for CWD.

• Hunters will receive a replacement buck if they harvest an antlered deer with an official test result of positive.
• There is no limit on the number of replacement antlered deer.
• Replacement bucks must be harvested in a CWD positive county or in the county where the CWD positive antlered deer was harvested.
• Replacement bucks must be harvested in the current deer season or during the following year's deer season. The next antlered deer harvested counts as the replacement buck.

Landowner Programs

To effectively manage CWD, TWRA looks to partner with landowners and hunters. Landowner programs are available to provide additional surveillance tools within CWD-affected areas, while also reducing the potential for disease transmission by maintaining deer densities at ecologically sustainable levels.

Management of CWD is most effective when the disease is found early and in low prevalence. Therefore, by sampling around a CWD-positive detection, the Agency can better assess the extent of the disease, maintain low prevalence, and reduce CWD prion accumulation in the soil at that specific location. The two landowner programs listed below are offered by TWRA on a voluntary basis to assist with post-season surveillance and management.

1. Landowner CWD Management Permits

This program allows landowners to take additional deer on their property and collect CWD samples after the hunting season for disease management purposes. Permits are issued by County Wildlife Officers directly to landowners exclusively in Fayette and Hardeman Counties (including any portion of the property that may extend into the neighboring county), and within a 3-mile radius of an Agency-confirmed, CWD-positive location. This program allows landowners to be the stewards of CWD management on their properties, while also benefiting the local area.

If you own land in Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Lauderdale, Lewis, Madison, McNairy, Shelby, Tipton, Wayne, Weakley, or Williamson County, you may be eligible

If a property lies within a county other than Fayette or Hardeman County, the landowner must submit all deer taken on the property to TWRA for CWD testing (services provided). If an antlered deer is taken, antlers cannot be retained.

If desired, landowners in Fayette and Hardeman Counties can work directly with diagnostic laboratories that accept public testing requests (listed below).

Labs Providing Public CWD Testing Services:

Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory            Phone Number

Colorado State University                            970-297-4168

University of Pennsylvania                          717-787-8808 ext. 200 or 814-863-0837 or 610-925-6725

University of Wisconsin                                 608-262-5432 or 608-574-0432

University of Missouri                                    573-884-9280

Michigan State University                            517-353-1683

Kansas State University                                785-532-5650 or 866-512-5650

Texas A&M University                                   979-845-3414

Utah State University                                     435-797-1895

Bronson Animal (Florida)                             321-697-1400

2. Targeted Sampling Program

If landowners want to participate in CWD management on their properties after hunting season closes but are unable or unwilling to take deer themselves, this program provides assistance. TWRA is partnering with USDA Wildlife Services to strategically sample a limited number of deer on properties within a 1-mile radius (up to a 3-mile radius) around CWD-positive detections that are on the leading edge of the known disease distribution or near new “spark” locations that show opportunity to limit the spread of CWD.

This highly focused approach allows for sampling of deer that had the highest risk of coming into contact with the positive animal. This program is not broadly applied and is only available if the preceding criteria are met and landowner permission and written consent have been granted. All deer collected through this program are tested for CWD, and if CWD is not detected, the meat is available to the landowner or donated to charity.

Complete eradication of CWD is virtually impossible once established, but other states have seen success in keeping localized CWD prevalence low when this strategy has been applied.

TWRA is contacting landowners with properties that lie near CWD-positive detections on the outskirts of the CWD distribution in Carroll, Chester, Decatur, Dickson, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Humphreys, Lewis, Madison, McNairy, Wayne, and/or Williamson Counties to recruit them as partners to help fight CWD.

Please visit the National Deer Association webpage to learn more about CWD management efforts and how these strategies can effectively combat CWD.

If you are interested in either of these programs, please contact:

• Region 1 TWRA office at 731-423-5725 or TWRA.ASKRegion1@tn.gov
• Region 2 TWRA office at 615-781-6622 or TWRA.ASKRegion2@tn.gov