ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Participation numbers are encouraging one week into Michigan’s regular firearm deer season, but total harvest figures are lagging behind where they were at this point in 2023.
According to statistics from the Department of Natural Resources, total license sales are up by more than 1% since last year, but as of Friday, the overall harvest is down by around 6%. The decline is in large part due to a rash of hemorrhagic disease that affected herds in southwestern Michigan counties.
“The Upper Peninsula seems to be up a little bit,” Chad Stewart, deer management specialist with the DNR, told News 8. “But the Lower Peninsula drives much of our harvest. With the outbreak of hemorrhagic disease in the southwestern part of the state, that seems to be dragging things down a bit. Some counties like St. Joseph and Cass are down almost 50%.”
The figures come as conservationists hope for a hefty harvest because deer overpopulation continues to cause dangerous car-deer collisions and crop damage. Culling the herd can also ease the spread of damaging diseases.
The DNR is also encouraging the harvest of antlerless deer, which can have a greater effect on the overpopulation problem. Female deer are capable of bearing between two and four fawns every year of their adult life.
So far, buck-doe splits are also lagging behind recent years. As of Friday, only about 28% of harvested deer in 2024’s firearm season are antlerless, compared to a final figure of around 38% last year.
News 8 visited a popular local deer processing operation to get a closer look. Managers said business is booming, despite the statewide drop in harvest, and added that they are actually seeing more bucks than usual.
“Lot of bucks. We haven’t had many doe at all. I bet out of the 600, we’ve probably had about 60 does,” Gina Zeitler, manager at Barb’s Deer Processing in Comstock Park, said. “They just want the horns, and they’ve been big. Ever since the cold snap, the big boys have been coming in.”
The season runs through Nov. 30.
