Why Utah will require chronic wasting disease testing in Ogden’s 2026 deer hunt

Hunters who snag a deer near Ogden during next year’s general season hunt will be required to have the animal tested for chronic wasting disease, following an increase in cases detected in the region.

Over 350 deer and 10 elk have tested positive for the disease in Utah since it was first found in a buck harvested near Vernal that tested positive in 2002. Nearly 100 of the 2,460 deer and elk sampled over the past two years tested positive, including multiple cases in the Ogden and East Canyon units, and parts of central, northeast and southeast Utah, according to Ginger Stout, state wildlife veterinarian for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

That includes an elk in the Ogden unit that had no other nearby deer detections, which she said is “abnormal” for how the disease spreads a