I feel the same as BhamFred. There is no way to ensure a deer is CWD negative because deer don’t test positive until they have had the disease for 3-6 months. That means that if you hunt in an area with 10 % prevalence of positive testing deer; another 2-3 percent or so likely have the disease but are in that 3-6 month limbo where the prions are increasing to the point where they can be tested for. Out of 100 deer, if you throw out all positives in this area of 10 percent prevalence and just eat the “not positive deer”, then 2 or 3 of those deer eaten will still have CWD.

All testing does in a hot area with 10 %testing prevalence is lower your risk of eating a deer with CWD from rougly 12.5 percent to somewhere between 2 and 3 percent. Those 2-3 deer are carrying around, at a bare minimum, the prions that got them infected so you’re likely going to gobble those and more down if you eat them. Thus if you want to avoid eating CWD deer, you should not eat deer killed in those areas. The Mississippi department of health actually recommends that hunters consider not eating venison from deer harvested in an area with known CWD. Think of how strong a statement that is.