ST. PAUL — Deer hunters take to the Minnesota woods this weekend for the opening of the state’s archery deer season.

The archery season opens Saturday morning, giving deer hunters their first chance of bagging a trophy buck or just putting some venison on the dinner table. It runs through Dec. 31.

Mandatory testing for chronic wasting disease continues in part of southeastern Minnesota. Hunters who take deer in permit area 602, which includes Rochester, must register their deer in person and may not remove the carcass from the area until a negative test result is reported. No deer from the permit area has tested positive for CWD since 2010, even though the Department of Natural Resources has sampled more than 4,000 since then.

Minnesota’s main firearms deer season opens Nov. 9.