Frequently Asked Questions with CWD Sampling

Sampling with Kate's Bait

We offer a 24 hour self serve kiosk outside our store door at Kate's Bait & Sporting Goods- 3916 State Road 23, Dodgeville WI 53533. For this service you bring your deer head, fill out the data sheet and leave it in the CWD Drop Box. Kate's Bait then samples the deer as we are able and preps for the weekly DNR pick up. Deer heads should be cut about 1-2 inches below the jaw line for us to collect the correct gland for sampling. Should you want your head back for a euro mount, you may specify on your data sheet and we will call you when the sample is collected. If you are shoulder mounting your deer, you should see your taxidermist first and they will give you the caped out skull/neck for us to extract the glands from. You may also stop in for an In-Person Lymph Node Sample September 13th-November 21nd- Mondays, Thursdays & Saturdays between 8-2:30. We do not offer Lymph Node Sampling on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays or Sundays. For the Nine Day Gun Season, we will be closed opening day and Thanksgiving. Hours will be Sunday through Sunday 10am-2pm

**We will not be doing Lymph Node Sampling after the Nine Day. We will only offer Head Drop Offs. **

What is CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease)

How Does Kate's Bait Sample for CWD

The Lymph Nodes that we extract are the Retropharyngeal Lymph Nodes located in the neck of the deer near the jaw line. Please do not shoot the deer in the head or upper neck if you plan on having the deer tested. Also, if you slit the throat of the deer to finish off a kill, please be sure to do so well below the jawline. Disrupting the glands makes testing impossible. These glands are the only glands we are testing. Do not bring in brains, legs, hooves or other parts of the deer for sampling. We prep the samples for the lab and the DNR picks up the samples weekly.

CWD Sampling and the 9 Day Deer Hunt

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk and reindeer/caribou. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases. CWD occurs only in members of the cervid or deer family -- both wild and captive. The Wisconsin DNR began monitoring the state's wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999. The first positives were found in 2002.

Result Turn Around Time

Once the sample is sent into the DNR, Kate's Bait & Sporting Goods service is complete. We will not be able to give you status of your results. You can visit the DNR Website and use their convenient "Find Your Test Results" Tab to help monitor the sampling process.

Deer Carcass Dumpster

Kate's Bait will host a deer carcass Dumpster through the month of November. Please plan on donating towards the cost of the dumpster when using it so we are able to continue to offer this service. Donations can be made in the drop box at the dumpster or inside the store. Money collected goes towards the bill Kate's Bait has to pay to host the dumpster in the parking lot. Your help with keeping this service offered for all fellow hunters is appreciated!

Kate's Bait now offers a convenient 24 hour CWD Head Kiosk.

We will offer In-Person Lymph Node Extractions ONLY during the listed times below:

Saturday (Opening Day) November 22nd CLOSED-

NO Lymph Node Extraction time available.

Sunday Nov.13: 10AM-2PM

Monday Nov. 24: 10AM-2PM

Tuesday Nov. 25: 10AM-2PM

Wednesday Nov. 26: 10AM-2PM

Thursday (Thanksgiving) CLOSED-

NO Lymph Node Extraction time available.

Friday Nov. 28: 10AM-2PM

Saturday Nov. 29: 10AM-2PM

Sunday Nov. 30: 10AM-2PM

Monday Dec. 1: 8AM-Noon

*You may use the Kiosk and still ask to get your head back too. Please make note in the comment section and Katie will contact you when ready for pick up. Katie samples each deer head in the kiosk before DNR pick up.