Ray County is part of the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone and hunters are required to take harvested deer or at least the head of any deer harvested on Nov. 16-17, 2024, to the mandatory CWD testing site at 16306 Highway 13 in Richmond. CWD is a fatal and highly contagious neurological disorder that affects deer, elk, moose, reindeer and other members of the deer family. Currently, there is no known cure for CWD. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) mandates tissue sampling to increase the number of samples collected. This effort aims to help scientists better understand the distribution and prevalence of CWD, as well as to identify new cases in various regions. The MDC employs a ranking tool to prioritize counties for CWD surveillance. This tool considers various disease risk factors to allocate staff resources effectively to areas where CWD is most likely to spread. In 2023, less than 1% of tissue samples from hunter-harvested deer tested positive…