BILLINGS - Two more cases of chronic wasting disease are suspected in Montana, this time in a white-tailed deer in east of Joliet and a mule deer buck southeast of Bridger, Robert Gibson of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Friday.

The new suspect samples were collected from hunters during the weekend of Nov. 16-17.

Fish and Wildlife officials said the new discoveries could affect the scope of a planned special hunt in Carbon County, which is designed to gather new information about the prevalence of the disease.

FWP intends to propose that the area of the special hunt expand northward, possibly as far as the Yellowstone River. The new information also means that special white-tailed deer “B” licenses would be issued.

FWP scientists worked Friday evening to determine exactly what areas would be included and how many additional licenses the department should issue to gather a statistically valid sample of mule deer and white-tailed deer in the expanded region.

Story re-posted from KTVQ by Q2 News.