HUNTING -- Spokane-region hunter check stations will be staffed this weekend, with biologists sampling the harvest for data important to managing deer herds.

Look for the stations at truck scales along Highway 395 at Deer Park and Highway 2 south of Chattaroy.

The stations will be open five days this season: Sunday, Oct. 20 and 21, and Nov. 17 and 18.

Biologists will determine the age and health of the deer as well as gathering information for a major whitetail study under way in northeastern Washington.

However, the state won’t be sampling for chronic wasting disease at the stations, so the lymph nodes won’t have to be removed from the carcasses.

The agency will be testing only animals that show CWD symptoms, such as emaciation or abnormal behavior.

A federal grant that funded the more extensive CWD testing of the past expired last month, said Kevin Robinette, WDFW regional wildlife manager.