Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Friday marks the start of firearm deer season – a time-honored tradition in Michigan.

It runs from November 15th through the 30th.

DNR Deer Management Specialist Chad Stewart told WHMI it’s exciting that opening day is on a Friday this year because it gives people a head start on the weekend and they’re hopefully expecting a lot of participation. He noted November 13th and 14th are typically some of the busiest days of the year for license buying. Stewart said they’re seeing a 0.7% increase in the number of people who purchased a license so far, which is certainly encouraging, but referenced the large loss of deer hunters over the years.

Stewart said they’ve been struggling to manage the deer herd, especially in the southern half of Michigan where there’s a lot of private land, high deer productivity, and a declining number of hunters.

Stewart noted the state has lost 250,000 hunters since 2000, which makes it more challenging to manage the herd. He said they’re trying to emphasize the increase in antlerless harvest and explore different options, and the special season is one being attempted this year.

Additionally, Stewart pointed out that about 1 in 5 of hunters are age 65 or older, so while they’re seeing an increase in license buying behavior this year compared to last, he doesn’t think that’s a trend they can bank on and will start seeing declines resume again in the coming years as people age out.

There aren’t a lot of changes with firearm season this year but there are some related to the antlerless deer harvest in the Lower Peninsula. The early and late antlerless firearm seasons have been expanded to include public lands, in addition to private lands. There’s also a new extended late antlerless season that runs from January 2nd through 12th in parts of southern Michigan. Also, muzzle loader season in the Northern Lower Peninsula is no longer muzzle loader exclusive and hunters can use all legal firearms.

The DNR also continues to monitor deer in certain areas for different diseases such as EHD or epizootic hemorrhagic disease, Chronic Wasting Disease, and Bovine Tuberculosis.

Online harvest reporting requirements remain in effect and hunters are asked to submit their deer within 72 hours of harvest online at Michigan.gov/DNRHarvestReport or via the DNR’s Hunt Fish mobile app. Stewart noted that anyone who has challenges with online reporting can contact a customer service center and representatives will be happy to help.

As for the online reporting; Stewart said it seems to be fairly well received, although there is still certainly some resistance and they’ve tried to make adjustments based on feedback received.

Stewart said there has already been over 80,000 deer reported online through the archery season to this point a month and a half into the season, which is a little behind last year.

Stewart said deer season has been taking place for well over 100 years and it’s such a tradition in Michigan, with more than 500,000 people taking part and looking forward to it.

Stewart said the November 15th date is unique to Michigan – as most states have their season start on a specific day, rather than a specific date. That being said, the November 15th season tends to hold a lot of nostalgia and sentimental value to many hunters in Michigan and Stewart encouraged everyone to get out and be safe.

Stewart also shared an interesting fact he said they’ve been able to ascertain from opening day harvests over the past couple of years - it generally translates to one deer being taken in Michigan per second of daylight hours on Opening Day. Stewart added that’s an incredible statistic to think that over 40,000 deer will likely be harvested on Friday, November 15th – and it shows the amount of participation and impact that hunters have on the resource and contributions to conservation through their license buying purchases.

More information is available in the provided link.