GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Deer hunters here in Michigan had a few more chances to get out into the field this past season with a new extended late antlerless firearm season and extended archery season in some counties.
But were people more successful with this extra time?
In previous years, the late antlerless firearm season ended January 1st, but this year the new extended season kept the hunt going until January 12th.
“We had about 13,000 deer reported in that particular season, which I'd say is successful,” Chad Fedewa with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources told me.
And a "successful" season is encouraging news especially when this extended season is aimed at managing deer populations in the state.
“But when you also look at the regular late antlerless season that we've had for many years," Chad added. "In late December, the harvest was down 30% in that season. So when you, kind of, combine those two late antlerless seasons, we saw an increase of about 6,000 harvested across the southern lower. So not a huge number but a step in the right direction for areas where deer are causing a problem with crops or car accidents."
Looking at the numbers according to Chad, in 2024 [after you account for the out-of-season damage permits ] we had 130,404 antlerless deer harvested across Michigan. That number included the new extended season.
That is about 10% higher than in 2023, where 118,633 antlerless deer were reported taken by hunters across all seasons.
Another new number this year was the Urban Archery season in Kent County.
"In Kent County was added to that list for West Michigan. I did look at numbers for Kent County, we had 84 deer reported that extended our tree season, so not a huge number of deer," said Fedewa. "But now again, if they were sort of targeted in some of those urban areas where they're seeing negative impacts from deer, then that could have some benefit, but we don't have. That fine level of detail on where those deer coming from, specifically at this moment.
These numbers are not blowing anybody’s socks off, but the extended seasons are giving hunters more time in the field— and that can be a good thing, especially when looking at the number of hunters.
"So as far as total hunters buying a deer license, we were up almost 2% from last year... So that's encouraging," Fedewa added. But when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, you know, the trend is still downward. 25-30 years ago, we had almost twice as many hunters that we do now."
Again, this is just the first shot during this extended season. It will last for at least two more years before the Department of Natural Resources decides whether it will stay or not.
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