State
CWD rules in Colorado
CWD zone status
Agency
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Last verified
June 16, 2026
CWDCrossing provides informational summaries of state CWD carcass-transport regulations. Rules change annually pre-hunting-season; verify with both the origin and destination state wildlife agencies before transport. Failure to comply may result in citations. Not affiliated with the CWD Alliance, the National Deer Association, or any state agency.
Bringing a carcass into Colorado
Colorado is the regulating authority for what you can bring in. CWD is endemic in Colorado. Binding import rule codified in the Code of Colorado Regulations (2 CCR 406-0/406-2, Big Game) and summarized on CPW's CWD page. The codified regulation PDF (sos.state.co.us) uses custom font encoding and could not be machine-extracted; rule text corroborated across multiple searches quoting the CPW regulation.
Allowed for import
- Meat that is cut and wrapped (commercially or privately) / deboned meat
- Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached
- Hides with no head attached
- Clean (disinfected) skull plates with antlers attached
- Antlers with no meat or tissue attached
- Clean/disinfected whole skull (European mount) with no brain or nervous tissue
- Upper canine teeth
Restricted from import
- Whole carcasses (from CWD-positive game management units/states)
- Spinal column / spinal cord (including dorsal root ganglion)
- Head with brain tissue / brain
Handling + processing
Restriction applies to dead deer or elk imported from any other state or country from a game management unit diagnosed as positive for CWD in the wild; only the listed lower-risk parts may be brought in from those areas.
Taking a carcass out of Colorado
When you hunt in Colorado and bring the carcass to another state, that destination state sets the rule. Because Colorado has confirmed CWD detections, several destination states apply their stricter "from a CWD-affected state" rule to carcasses originating here — plan to bring back lower-risk parts only.
Colorado on the CWD map
- CWD confirmed in state
- Under heightened surveillance
- No known CWD detections
Zone status is informational, not a hazard rating. Detections expand over time — confirm current status with each state's wildlife agency.
CWDCrossing provides informational summaries of state CWD carcass-transport regulations. Rules change annually pre-hunting-season; verify with both the origin and destination state wildlife agencies before transport. Failure to comply may result in citations. Not affiliated with the CWD Alliance, the National Deer Association, or any state agency.