Texas CWD Regulations

Due to the regular amending of regulations in Texas, it is recommended that before hunting you check these CWD regulations, as well as those of any other states or provinces in which you will be hunting or traveling through while transporting cervid carcasses. The contact information for Texas can be seen below:

Last update was October 2021

Click a section to expand:

[accordion tag=h3][accordion-item title="Agency & Contacts" id=Agency-Contacts]Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) Contact: Dr. Susan Rollo, susan.rollo@tahc.texas.gov Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Contact: Dr. Bob Dittmar, bob.dittmar@tpwd.texas.gov

[/accordion-item][accordion-item title="Standard Regulations" id=Standard-Regulations]TAHC: Elk imported from other states must be enrolled in an official CWD monitoring program for at least 3 years, imports from states with CWD must be enrolled in an official monitoring program for at least 5 years (2002). TPWD: The importation of WTD and MD from out-of-state is prohibited. TPWD has jurisdiction over native wildlife: white-tailed deer and mule deer. TAHC has jurisdiction over "exotic wildlife" including elk, red deer and sika deer.[/accordion-item][accordion-item title="CWD Regulations for Captive Cervids and Wildlife"]TAHC: Elk imported from other states must be enrolled in an official CWD monitoring program for at least 3 years, imports from states with CWD must be enrolled in an official monitoring program for at least 5 years (2002). TPWD: To move deer intrastate, WTD/MD breeding facilities must be enrolled in TAHC Herd Certification program and have attained 5th year status or higher; or tested 80% of mortalities 16 months of age and older annually, with a minimum number of not detected tests annually equal to 3.6% of the test eligible animals in the herd. Allows utilization of ante-mortem testing to meet some requirements (e.g., if no animals die in a report year, ante-mortem testing may satisfy the 3.6% requirement). Depending on source herd status, some release sites have testing requirements for hunter-harvested deer. TAHC &/or TPWD: All captive WT deer, mule deer and elk must have a visible ear tag with a TPWD-assigned unique ID number printed/written on it. Deer must have that same ID number tattooed in one ear prior to being transported from a breeding facility. [/accordion-item][accordion-item title="New CWD Regulations in Development"]No new regulation at this time
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Testing Program For Captive Cervids"]TAHC: Voluntary status monitoring program since 1999. Participating herds required to submit annual inventories and submission of samples from all cases of mortality in animals over 12 months of age. TPWD: Mandatory herd monitoring for CWD on captive WT/MD herds in order to move deer intrastate. [/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Testing Program For Wildlife"]TPWD: Established protocols in free ranging native cervids for testing to detect CWD at 1% prevalence with 95-99% confidence. Annual surveillance goals are set with established protocols for each deer management unit (DMU) to attempt to achieve stratified sampling across the state. From July 2002 through March 2019, Texas has documented over 176,000 "Not Detected" samples with over 82,000 of those from free-ranging cervids though sampling of hunter-harvested, road kill and clinical animals. The remainder are through various permitted activities regulated by the state, including over 32,400 ante-mortem samples from captive white-tailed deer. To move free-ranging WTD/MD under a Trap, Transport and Transplant (TTT) permit, the trap site must provide 15 "Not Detected" test results annually prior to movement. TPWD and TAHC: Established Containment and Surveillance Zones in those areas of the state where CWD has been detected in free-ranging cervid populations in West Texas, the Texas Panhandle and South-central Texas. There are regulations that include increased live animal movement restrictions, carcass movement restrictions, and mandatory testing of harvested susceptable species. TAHC: Requires testing of a minimun of the first 3 non-native susceptable species mortalities each year on a property.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Baiting Banned?"]No ban.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Feeding Banned?"]02/02/04: Prohibit the feeding of wildlife in state parks.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Ban On Movement of Animal Parts?"]Restrictions on movement of certain carcass parts into the state from CWD positive states and out of Containment and Surveillance Zones within the state.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Found in Captive Cervids?"]Yes[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Found In Free Ranging Cervids?"]Yes [/accordion-item] [/accordion]

Show all Texas articles