Minnesota deer hunters on Tuesday may be introduced to an expanded youth hunt and will see for the first time a set of new regulations springing from an updated chronic wasting disease (CWD) response strategy.

The 2019 deer season rules, to be printed in pamphlets and unveiled on the website of the Department of Natural Resources, are expected to liberalize harvest limits in some CWD areas, including permission for a single hunter to take multiple bucks. Limits on the movement of carcasses are expected in addition to regulations that will spell out locations where hunter-harvested whitetails must be tested for CWD.

It's been nearly three years since Minnesota detected an outbreak of CWD in wild deer in Fillmore County. Since then, as findings of the disease in the region have become more frequent and a new case has popped up in distant Crow Wing County, the agency has updated its disease-management policy to reflect three phases of response: initial, persistent and endemic.

According to the "initial'' thrust outlined in DNR's draft plan for CWD surveillance and management, it's likely that a new deer permit area will be created in Crow Wing County as a special CWD zone. Its boundary would be no less than 15 miles around Merrifield, where the infected deer was discovered. Special regulations would be spelled out to cull the local herd, test hunter-harvested deer and keep deer carcasses from leaving the zone until test results are returned.

Regarding the youth hunt, Minnesota in the past restricted the activity to the southeast region of the state, where deer are most abundant. Later, northwestern Minnesota was opened up for kids to hunt. Now, after a recent DNR survey showed public support to expand the youth hunt, the agency appears ready to open it up geographically.

Barbara Keller, the DNR's big game program leader, declined to comment before Tuesday's announcement. But stakeholders who have been in discussions with the agency expect a statewide youth deer hunt to occur over the MEA school break that starts this year on Oct. 17.

Keller said any expansion of the youth hunt also would fit with a push within the DNR to actively recruit more hunters. Traditionally, deer season in Minnesota directly involves a half-million men and women. This year's archery hunt begins Sept. 14. The firearms season opens Nov. 9.