Michigan deer hunt: Why rifle season won’t dent populations & other questions

• Deer herds are growing in the Lower Peninsula as Michigan’s hunter population shrinks
• That’s bad news for drivers, farmers and the environment
• What can be done to address the problem? We answer four common questions

Michigan’s popular deer hunting firearm season opener is Friday, but chances are good there’ll be fewer hunters and more deer in the woods than ever.

Bridge Michigan has written extensively about how declining hunter participation, sprawl and other factors have created deer overpopulation problems, resulting in more car crashes, crop losses and disease risks. 

We’ve documented the causes, consequences and the potential solutions, and devoted a recent Lunch Break webinar to the topic.

This year, state officials relaxed regulations to encourage hunters to kill more deer. But in all likelihood, the changes will do little to cull herds and population problems in the Lower Peninsula will remain just as bad as ever.

Last year, 527,000 Michigan hunters took to the woods, down about 270,000 since the late 1990s. 

Meanwhile, state officials estimate deer herds have soared above 2 million though they don’t keep an official count.

So as hunters prepare to take the woods, Bridge has consulted two experts to discuss vexing hunting questions. 

If the goal is to reduce deer herds, why is Michigan’s popular rifle season limited to two weeks?

First off, rifle hunting is no longer just a fortnight.

State officials have loosened regulations for years in hopes of encouraging hunters to shoot more deer. So in addition to the traditional two-week season that runs Friday to Nov. 30, there’s now a September antlerless firearm season, an early December muzzleloading season (which, despite the name, is open to all legal firearms), and a mid-December antlerless firearm season that continues through mid-January in some parts of the state. 

Despite all those additional hunting opportunities, “we don't see additional harvest occurring,” said Chad Fedewa, acting deer, elk and moose management specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Related:

• Watch Bridge Lunch Break on deer hunting trends in Michigan
• As hunting wanes, fear of a southern Michigan deer invasion grows
• Five reasons why Michigan deer herds are surging: hunting declines are just one
• Archery deer-hunting season in Michigan. What to know: Dates, licenses
• In antler-obsessed Michigan, the state begs hunters to shoot more does

Why? The average hunter simply doesn’t want to spend that much time in the blind. State records show Michigan hunters average 12 days of hunting each fall, and many of them have a “one-and-done” mentality.

That is, once they’ve killed a deer, they’re done hunting for the year.

Beyond being seemingly futile, extending deer hunting seasons can pose an ethical dilemma, said Katie Ockert, a deer educator with Michigan State University Extension. 

Allowing hunting in spring or summer would almost certainly mean killing pregnant or nursing mothers.

“There are a lot of feelings and value issues associated with that,” Ockert said.

What hunting regulations have changed this year? 

State officials continue to liberalize hunting rules in hopes of combating overpopulation. 

Changes for the 2024-25 deer season include:

• Extending the urban archery season into several counties. The season, which runs Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, previously only existed in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. Now, Huron, Kent, Lapeer, Sanilac, Tuscola, Washtenaw and most of St. Clair counties have been added to the list.
• Expanding the types of firearms hunters can possess. In the Lower Peninsula, the longstanding muzzleloading season is now open for all legal firearms, not just muzzleloaders.
• Expanding opportunities: The early and late antlerless firearms seasons, in late September and late December, were once confined to private land but are now open to both public and private property. In addition, officials have created a special extended late antlerless season across the southern Lower Peninsula, adding nearly two weeks of hunting opportunity from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12.
• A new discounted antlerless license is available for $5 per license.

The DNR has also adjusted Upper Peninsula deer hunting regulations to deal with growing populations in some areas and stagnant populations in others. Those regulations can be found here.

My suburb is overrun with deer. Why can’t I shoot them?

First, let’s establish the statewide rules: It used to be illegal to fire a bow-and-arrow within 450 feet of an occupied structure without permission from the landowner. State officials have rescinded that limit.

Still, local ordinances vary by community, and many municipal leaders see good reason to restrict hunting within their jurisdictions.

For one, hunting in densely-populated areas can be dangerous. 

“If you miss, there's an increased potential for hitting somebody's house, shooting a person — it’s just not safe,” said Ockert.

Also, urban and suburban hunting is logistically challenging. 

Deer shot with a bow and arrow rarely die on the spot, so hunters may have to track their kill across long distances. On a landscape dominated by small private lots, that means walking across neighbors’ yards.

Getting permission to access private property is tricky, Fedewa said. And neighbors may not love the idea of finding a maimed or dead deer in their garden.

Frustrated with problem deer herds, some suburbs have allowed recreational hunting in big parks or hired sharpshooters.

And deer management coalitions have formed from Kent County to southeast Michigan as local officials ponder how to cull problem herds without sacrificing public safety.

If there are so many deer in the Lower Peninsula, why aren’t any of them showing up at my hunting blind?

Location, location, location.

Deer are not evenly distributed across the landscape. They prefer to congregate where there’s plenty of food and shelter and little pressure from predators and hunters.

Often, that’s on private land. We’ve all seen the huge herds grazing on corn fields or munching someone’s backyard acorns. Trouble is, it’s illegal to hunt on those properties without permission.

Hunters without private land access are confined to Michigan’s roughly 10 million acres of publicly-accessible hunting land. And that land is mostly in northern Michigan, while the biggest deer herds are in the south.

The DNR is trying to rectify this imbalance by buying more public land in southern Michigan. But it’s a slow process.

Other factors can influence chances of seeing a deer, Fedewa said. For instance, deer in heavily-hunted areas will sometimes go nocturnal in order to evade hunters. 

Michigan’s legal deer hunting hours only run from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

Has the state considered allowing commercial hunting to reduce herds? 

It’s a frequent subject of conversation, but so far it’s not on the table.

“It’s an uncomfortable topic for a lot of folks,” Fedewa said. 

That’s because for-profit hunting nearly wiped out whitetail deer in the 1800s, driving the historic population of 30 million down to just 300,000 deer by 1890. Commercial hunting bans and stringent recreational hunting rules were key to the animal’s recovery. 

For now, species managers are focused on recruiting new hunters and encouraging existing hunters to shoot more deer. Hunters who don’t have the freezer space for more meat can look into donating their deer to charity.

And what happens if we don’t get the deer problem under control? 

More habitat loss, disease, and conflict with humans, Fedewa said. All of which would make the topic of commercial hunting “a relevant discussion as we move forward.”