WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

 

Firearm deer-hunting season opens: new regulations to know

LANSING, Mich. -- The firearm deer-hunting season has begun in Michigan today. It runs through Nov. 30.

A bill signed into law in July reduces the penalties on deer harvest reporting. The penalties have been lowered from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction with a maximum of 150-dollars in fines.

Last year, the Department of Natural Resources implemented new rules requiring hunters to report their deer harvest to get better data on deer populations and make more informed resource management decisions.

Deer Biologist Chad Stewart with the D-N-R talked it about on West Michigan's Morning News on WOOD Radio.

"At any time during the deer season, we're asking hunters within 72 hours to report their deer," Stewart said. "Basically, where they shot it, what type of deer it was - and a couple of other very basic questions - to our online reporting program or an online mobile app that we recently developed last year called Michigan DNR Hunt Fish."

Stewart said you should always tag a deer before you starting moving it.

More than 300,000 deer were reported to the DNR last year through the harvest-reporting program. It was the first year of the program. About 90,000 deer were reported harvested leading up to opening day this year.

Stewart said Michigan has lost around a quarter of a million hunters since 2000. The DNR expects about half a million hunters to hit the fields during this firearm deer-hunting season. He said the declining hunter participation has resulted in lower and lower deer harvests each year.

He noted that more bucks are being shot, because they are easier targets.

"But we really need to manage for the antler-less side of our population. Most antlerless deer are female deer, which are going to have fawns that contribute to next year's population, as well. So that herd continues to grow throughout much of Southern Michigan, and we really need to start getting on top of it because, otherwise, the herd is going to start increasing and causing problems."

The website Michigan.gov/deer has a lot of information about deer management and hunting regulations. License information can be found here.

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From the Michigan DNR.


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