ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia’s firearm season for deer hunting kicks off on Saturday, and some hunters in our hometowns will have to get any deer they kill on opening day tested for Chronic Wasting Disease.

The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources will be conducting mandatory CWD sampling in six counties across the state, including Patrick, Roanoke, Smyth, Tazewell, and Wythe Counties, to monitor the spread of the disease.

“We hope not to find any, but with this mandatory sampling day, we can really get a high number of samples to increase our surveillance of the area just to get a better sense of where the disease might be and how much might be out there,” said Justin Folks, DWR Deer Project Manager.

Folks said that mandatory CWD sampling is done on the opening day of rif

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