Minnesota CWD hunt is Dec. 19-21 in select areas

St. Paul — Deer hunters may participate in a late-season chronic wasting disease management hunt in Minnesota Friday, Dec. 19 through Sunday, Dec. 21. Deer permit areas open to this CWD management hunt are 605, 642, 643, 645, 646, 647, 648, and 649.

“CWD testing is voluntary for this year’s late CWD hunt, a change we made because we obtained enough samples during the opening weekend of firearms deer season to calculate the apparent prevalence and distribution of CWD in these areas,” said Erik Hildebrand, wildlife health supervisor with the Minnesota DNR. “The hunt is another opportunity that hunters have to help manage this disease by harvesting additional deer in these areas.”

Hunters who would like to get their deer tested for CWD may use a self-service station, the partner sampling program, or hunter mail-in kits. Hunters may also make an appointment at a DNR wildlife office. This year, there will not be any in-person, staffed check stations available during the CWD management hunt dates.

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While CWD testing is voluntary, carcass movement restrictions remain in effect for all the DPAs included in the late CWD hunt. Hunters who want to bring meat out of the CWD zone immediately will need to quarter their deer first. However, the head with neck and hide attached can go directly to a Minnesota-licensed taxidermist outside the CWD zone. Hunters need to wait until a “not detected” test result is received to remove a whole carcass from the CWD zone.

To encourage participation in the hunt, there is flexibility in the licenses and permits that are valid. Unlike other hunts, disease-management permits may be used to tag both antlered and antlerless deer. Bonus permits and early antlerless tags may only be used to tag antlerless deer.

The bag limit is five deer, which includes both antlerless and legal bucks during the late CWD hunt. The statewide bag limits for antlerless deer or legal bucks do not apply during this hunt. Although the bag limit for this hunt is five, 97% of successful hunters during the late-season CWD hunt in 2024 took only one or two deer.

Details about licenses and permits, voluntary CWD sampling, and other information for hunters is available on the Minnesota DNR website.

Results of CWD tests completed thus far are available on the Minnesota DNR’s CWD test results webpage. Additional test results for deer harvested in 2025 will be added to this webpage as they become available. The DNR will directly notify any hunter who harvests a deer that tests positive.

CWD affects cervids, which include white-tailed deer, moose, and elk, and has no known cure. It has been found in more than two-thirds of the states in the U.S.