Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has received the first CWD-positive results for an elk located in southeast Montana.

This was only the fourth elk across the state to test positive, and a fifth elk tested positive in southwest Montana soon after.

The southeast Montana elk was located in Hunting District 704, on private land just north of Custer National Forest. This area hosts some of the largest concentrations of elk in the region. The bull was symptomatic. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists, the animal was very thin and lethargic. It had been hanging out at a water tank for a few days, allowing people to ride horses and drive vehicles close to it. Upon further inspection, the elk was showing neurological symptoms and couldn’t pick its head up. It was euthanized and test results were submitted.

Biologist Emily Mitchell said, “My theory on why we’re just now seeing it in elk is simply the smaller number of samples collected from elk.”

“Due to the ease of pulling a whole deer carcass out, it is more likely for folks to get their deer sampled at an FWP sampling station,” Mitchell said. “However, elk are so much bigger that hunters usually only bring the quarters or meat out of the field, and so they don't get tested. I think we have such a small sample size of elk that it isn't that it's new on the landscape, we just hadn't gotten enough samples to detect it yet.”

“Statewide, we have sampled just over 38,600 deer, but only 4,800 elk,” she added.

CWD impacts elk and deer in the same way. It is always fatal, but infected animals may not show significant symptoms until the late stages and typically die in 18-24 months.

“I would remind people that just because an animal looks healthy, that doesn't mean it doesn't have CWD,” Mitchell said. “Since it takes so long for CWD to kill an animal, it can be in early stages of the disease and look just fine.”

With confirmation of CWD in elk is southeast Montana, FWP is encouraging hunters to have both deer and elk tested so it can get a better idea of disease prevalence in both populations to help guide management decisions. In both species, the retropharyngeal lymph nodes in the neck area are extracted and submitted to state labs, with results available within about two weeks.

FWP provides assistance with CWD sampling at its Miles City headquarters during business hours, and at several CWD sampling stations located around the region (see fwp.mt.gov/cwd for locations, hours). Please bring animal heads with a portion of the neck still attached. FWP will cover the cost of these samples. Hunters also may follow instructions to collect samples themselves (fwp.mt.gov/cwd) and mail them to state labs at their own cost.

“I would encourage people to watch some videos on our website (fwp.mt.gov/cwd) on how to find the lymph nodes so they can submit samples themselves, or bring the head, with neck, into CWD check stations for FWP to sample them,” Mitchell said.

Further detections of CWD do not and will not impact the hunting season. Hunting is one of the main tools FWP uses to help minimize the spread of CWD. Without harvest, the disease simply spreads more quickly through populations.