Wildlife biologists throughout Kentucky will be collecting brainstems and lymph nodes from deer taken during modern firearms season as part of the ongoing surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease.

"This is our fourth year (of surveillance)," said Karen Alexy, who works in the deer program for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "So far, we have collected samples from about 1,500 deer. We're hoping to get about 2,500, and we'll also be testing some road kills and any elk (taken outside the elk zone) during deer season."

All of the tissue samples, voluntarily provided by hunters, are being sent to the Southeast Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study laboratory in Athens, Ga. Alexy said that last fall, tissue samples were tested from deer in 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties.