LANSING, Mich. -- Open firearm season starts Thursday, and the Michigan DNR is reminding hunters to have fun but follow the rules.
Tens of thousands of Michigan residents and non-residents will take to the fields and forests for open firearm deer season, which runs from Nov. 15 to Nov. 30.
The Michigan DNR is expecting an even bigger harvest than last year but says the number of people going hunting is on the decline. You can find a place to hunt here.
If you're hunting in a chronic wasting disease (CWD) area, it's mandatory to check your deer in the core CWD area, located near Lansing, and recommended to check your deer in the surrounding counties.
You can find a checkpoint location here.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that if you harvest a deer that is positive with CWD, ,do not consume the meat.
Here are a few other reminders for Michigan hunters from the DNR:
- Firearm deer season runs Nov. 15 to Nov. 30
- Wear hunter orange.
- A deer or deer combo license can be purchased at a license agentor online.
- There are public- and private-land anterless deer licensesstill available.
- Deer hunting hours can be found on pages 12 and 13 of this year's Hunting and Trapping Digest
To pay it forward, you can donate extra venison to area processors who will donate it to area food pantries.