Michigan CWD Update: New Case and What Hunters Need to Do

While I'd prefer my Michigan deer updates to feature big bucks and trail-camera photos of raccoons committing petty theft, we get another disease update instead. Lucky us.

On October 20, 2026, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) confirmed chronic wasting disease in a farmed deer in Hillsdale County. Investigators are checking for additional exposures.

CWD attacks the nervous system and is fatal. The lousy bonus? Infected animals can look healthy for years.

Michigan CWD Has Already Hit Close to Home

brown deer on gray asphalt road during daytime

Wild-deer cases now span 18 counties in Michigan, including Jackson, Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, and Hillsdale. The list stretches to Dickinson County in the Upper Peninsula.

Hillsdale already had wild cases. This announcement concerns a farmed animal.

Earlier farmed cases occurred in Calhoun, Kent, Lake, Mackinac, Mecosta, Montcalm, Newaygo, and Osceola counties.

What Michigan's Department of Natural Resources Needs From You

See a deer looking emaciated, confused, or unusually sluggish? Report it through the Eyes in the Field tool.

Hunters, the DNR wants your deer heads, especially from Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, and Newaygo counties. Complete your harvest report, then use designated drop boxes or staffed sites for free testing.

Wear rubber gloves while processing, minimize contact with brain and spinal tissue, and follow DNR guidance for carcass disposal, including landfill or regular trash disposal where permitted.

RELATED: Michigan’s First 2026 Deer Hunt Was Nearly 80 Percent Bucks: Liberty Hunt Harvest Report

No human CWD cases have been reported, but don't eat infected animals or feed them to pets.

I'm all for deer-camp traditions. Guessing about dinner shouldn't be one.