LANSING, Mich. — On the first day of summer, let's talk fall: Deer season, more specifically.
Last week, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission heard recommendations from the DNR's newly-formed Deer Management Initiative (DMI) on how to handle the state's growing deer herd amid a decades-long decline in hunting.
"There's more of an open ear than there has been in the past," said Chad Stewart, deer, elk and moose management specialist for the DNR.
For months, Stewart has met with hunters, representatives of state conservation clubs and even those "critical" of his department for the sake of the initiative, a task that totaled hundreds of hours for him and several others involved.
"I've got to commend the members of these groups so much," Stewart told FOX 17 on Friday.
Splitting their recommendations between the upper and lower peninsulas, the DMI named several regulatory and non-regulatory items for the commission to consider, also seeking input from tribal representatives in Michigan.
Regulatory items in the lower peninsula...
- Continue mandatory reporting
- Pursue an earn-a-second buck rule
- Change the combination license to permit one deer of either sex (regular tag) and one additional anterless deer (restricted tag)
- Enact 3 or 4 per side antler-point restrictions across the peninsula, dependent on location
- Reduce antlerless bag limits in the northwest portion of the lower peninsula from 10 to 5
- Reinstate baiting in counties where chronic wasting disease or bovine tuberculosis has not been detected in white-tailed deer
- Expand late season urban archery to additional counties, including Kent
- Expand early and late antlerless seasons to public land (already allowed on private)
- Restore traditional muzzleloader season
- Allow drones to recover harvested deer
- Expand the Hunter Access Program
Regulatory items in the upper peninsula...
- Reinstate year-round coyote season
- Allow antlerless deer to be hunted with archery equipment only during early archery season, restricting late-season availability
- Eliminate antlerless permits in Deer Management Units 351 and 352
- Set antlerless licenses to expire on Nov. 14
- Enact a 3 per side antler point restriction
- Allow Deer Management Assistance Permits only in southern Deer Management Units
- Revisit regulations once every three years
- Pursue hunter safety classes in schools
Watch the Chad Stewart's full presentation to the NRC on behalf of the Deer Management Initiative here.
For each recommendation, the Deer Management Initiative shared its members' level of support. In the lower peninsula, the expansion of late season urban archery (100%) and continued mandatory reporting (96%) received the most approval, while the use of drones (46%), the expansion of antler-point restrictions (54%) and changes to the combination license (54%) received the least.
In addition, commissioners for the NRC also proposed restoring a three-point anter-point restriction in DMU 122, adding restrictions on combination licenses, and changing the liberty and independence hunts to antlerless only.
"It's kind of like an engine," Stewart said about the recommendations. "It's the collection of all the parts together that are helping it perform."
As for non-regulatory items in the lower peninsula, recommendations centered around increasing both harvest and hunter numbers, with the initiative naming increased education on the antlerless deer harvest, increased funding for Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger, improved public land and more as priorities.
READ MORE: Deer harvest total drops in Michigan, DNR talks regulations with FOX 17
Further north in the lower peninsula, however, the deer population is relatively sparse, leading to the DMI to ask for funding for habitat protection, a plan for wolves and other predators, revisted DMU lines and additional ways for UP residents to participate in the NRC, among other items.
"We have two different sets of challenges in each peninsula," Stewart said.
During this months-long meeting process, Stewart noted the relationship between some hunters and the DNR could use repair: "Let's face it: The Department of Natural Resources is a governmental agency," he said. "There's certainly a layer of distrust in any layer of government."
Through the crowdsourced campaign, he thinks not only the state's deer population can be better managed, but trust with the department, too.
On Wednesday, June 26, the NRC will discuss the DMI's regulatory recommendations during a work session, deciding whether to adopt or amend them on July 11, in time for the upcoming deer season.
