Under Alabama’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone Regulation (220- 2-.167), all deer harvested in the High-Risk Zone and the Buffer Zone of the state’s CWD Management Zone (CMZ) must be submitted for CWD testing during specific weekends of the 2025-2026 white-tailed deer season.
The mandatory sampling weekends in the High-Risk Zone of the CMZ are November 22-23, 2025; December 6-7, 2025; and January 17-18, 2026. The mandatory sampling weekends in the Buffer Zone of the CMZ are November 22-23, 2025, and January 17-18, 2026. The High-Risk Zone contains all of Lauderdale and Colbert counties and part of Franklin County, extending north of State Highway 24 from the Alabama/ Mississippi state line east to U.S. Highway 43. The Buffer Zone includes the remaining part of Franklin County south of Highway 24 and east of U.S. Highway 43.
Mandatory weekends for the High-Risk Zone and Buffer Zone correspond with peaks in Alabama’s deer harvest, the season’s opening weekend and the rut in northwest Alabama. Outside of those weekends, hunters are encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at the self-service freezers located in the appropriate CMZ zone. For the remainder of the state outside of the CMZ, hunters are also encouraged to voluntarily drop off samples for testing at self-service freezer locations. Sampling locations throughout the state can be found at www.outdooralabama.com/cwd/cwd-zone-map.