In Michigan it’s required to report deer harvests. The state has a mobile app that makes it pretty simple to report, and you can also check the past and present deer harvest summaries.

As it stands, Michigan’s deer harvest is down over 23% this year.

There’s still about 4 weeks of late doe and the entire month of January is open in select counties. It’s also worth considering that people stopped buying tags and subsequently reporting harvests given the astronomical increase of processing costs. But I don’t think that accounts for a 23% decrease. Thought this was interesting.

I hunt the northern lower…… in five days of hunting I saw around 12 deer and I don’t believe any of them would go over 100 lbs live weight.
Saw one buck that was one antlered spike….. we have antler restrictions of three on side for the first then four on a side for the second.

I did see quite a few rubs and scrapes however so there is some bucks around— just didn’t see them.

I’m not crabbing about it— it is what it is….. I did not hear much shooting around me and I have heard several guys complaining about the season

I harvested a decent 9 pt and let several mature deer walk that werent bigger than the the first...no shortage of deer around here. Cant kill them from the couch...gotta get out and hunt.

I would imagine a unchecked wolf population and no coyote market doesn't help in the Upper. EHD hit pretty hard in the southern lower and they are talking about increasing license fees. I struggle to understand the logic of Michigan's management of its game. We have had 2 relatively mild winters in a row and according to their "experts" the deer herd should be fine. Most hunters would beg to differ. Why would you spend millions stocking fish and then restrict otter harvest? Regs here are based on emotion and not science. Frustrating

I would agree, maurob.

Seems a single buck tag and decreased cost for doe tags in southern lower would help with the deer population issues. Need to be incentivizing actual herd reduction harvest activities.

After a couple years of single buck tag I suspect there would be a significant improvement in the age class structure, resulting in more non-resident hunters (and resulting license fee revenue) as well as more hunter interest (and thus, more revenue).

Supergoose, are you hunting public ground?

maurob, is spot on for the U. P. to mild winters and still not many deer, we are losing deer hunter because of this, less and less hunters every year I was just talking to local bar's and restaurants, and the casino, all said hardly any hunters, and how they want to raise the cost of license,

Our little local locker in a village of 200 ppl took in 600 whole deer in 10 days during rifle season. Muzzleloader season opens the 10th.

Sorry Leroy , cashed out for the night……

I hunt private land. It is really bedding area only it’s thick and swampy. Not much food on it. Several orchards and corn nearby.

I should also note that the five days I mentioned was for rifle only….. I was out during bow season in October . No bucks seen and several yearlings I passed on.


Again, I’m not fussing about it . It is just the way the season was for me……. It will be interesting to see the final results of the deer harvest.

Got my biggest buck ever on October 12th.

Many smaller bucks that I could have shot. Many does around but I decided not to shoot one. I didn't have time to cut it up myself and I wasn't going to pay $140 to get a doe processed.

I hunt in Shiawassee County

I don't know what to think about Michigan's deer harvest,or hunters reports.Living in the U.P. you can definitely see hunter numbers are down,not so much from the locals but from out of towners especially those coming from downstate.I remember when the week before deer season the traffic on U.S.2 would pick up big time ,now its nothing.Bars and restaurants would host different events for hunters,now nothing.BUT!How much of that is declining hunter numbers or hunters hunting close to home is debatable.Southern Michigan produces more trophy size racks,the north does not.Southern Michigan deer are not subject to cyclic population swings due to weather ,the deer up north are.Everybody seems to be looking for a 30 point buck nowdays.Mention deer hunting up here and everybody talks about no deer and wolves behind every tree.Well,here in the banana belt of the U.P. we have wolves,we also have deer.I have no complaint about how many deer I see during deer season,somehow word has gotten out the wolves have picked the bones clean of the last deer in the U.P.,not true.But like I said earlier the majority of hunters want to see monster bucks walking past their blind and complain when they dont.Maybe deer numbers are down here from the '90's,but with the winters and predation your going to have good years and bad years.I have no complaints.Personally,I think a lot of hunters just like to complain.Like my dad used to say "they'd complain about their mothers milk"

That’s a solid buck fur_ Nicely done. !!!

The processing has increased here as well. I was and am still prepared to cut up any deer I shoot. The guy I used went to $ 130, plus additional to cut the antlers, skin etc…… just better now to do it yourself

I agree Buck…… I know a few guys that hunt the Southern and south/east lower…. They see plenty and are generally successful…….
One thing that I find interesting is the size of the deer that I’ve seen….. most appeared to be yearlings. Just not very big.

And you’re right guys like to complain—-that’s why I’ve stressed in this string that I’m not complaining— I accept most things that happen outdoors as it’s just the way it is…..

Nice buck, Mark!

I hunt towards the southern edge of the centerfire rifle zone in Osceola County. For a Saturday opener the amount of shots heard was notably down compared to past years - I didn’t venture anywhere to rate how hunter traffic was in the local drinking and eating establishments. I opted at the last minute to even participate in this years hunt, doing so more out of tradition than anything else as this was year number 50 spent out in the deer blind. There is definitely a different tone to deer hunting these days compared to years ago, and the instant gratification crowd isn’t willing to partake in learning the true magic of deer hunting.

Anyway, I was rewarded for my efforts on opening day…

Not defending the DNR/NRC/MUCC/whomever, but MI IS a hard state to manage. So many different types of land, weather, predators, hunting numbers, public to private ratio, etc,.. Add all kinds of BS politics and money into the mix and it's a nightmare.


Here locally in Mid-Michigan there are a surplus of deer, including real decent bucks. Go south and it only gets better, go north and it gets a lot tougher sledding. I'll often see more deer in one evening here locally, just sitting on a run, than I'll see in a week of all day sits at my camp in the UP with food plots and a feeder.


I'd say average season for me and my group of friends and family. It was a slow week for us at camp in the UP. Weather change, influx of hunters at nearby camps, rut played a factor. Still seeing a few shooters on cameras, so hopefully they got a chance to breed and make it through the winter.

I don't buy into the not buying tags, not hunting this year stuff. I know the state squanders some of our potential, but a lot of the entitled ProStaff hunter mindset has been amplified by social media and every 23 yr old with Sitka gear, 83 cell cams, a phone and a tripod making hunting channels and podcasts while using dad's credit card border hopping states to show how easy it is to name a few bucks stupid names, "put the work in" and "get it done".

As the late, great Fred Trost used to say, "Get outside, it's a great place to be.". Shoot what makes you happy. If that doesn't work, change spots or try a new state I guess. Or quit.

Me, I hung up a suet cake to watch birds when it gets slow up north, but I also enjoy just sitting there looking around in the woods. Maybe I'm the minority anymore.

Rusty— good call on the suet cake…… I’m going to do that next year….. and you nailed it— this a hard state to manage….. why I don’t like to complain— I don’t have a better answer !!!

One great thing from this year….. we have creek that goes through the property. I watched a mink travel down the bank for several minutes…. I mentally “ made sets”….. in front of several likely spots and “ trapped” that mink several times as he made his way down the creek lol. Fun is where you find it I guess!!

My brother took a video this year of a weasel at his spot. Showed it to me and said "you weren't kidding about them poking into ever little hole in the woods!"

...just the way it is... If I would have thought of that line I wouldn't have wrote a whole paragraph!LOL! But you're exactly right.Some years are good some not so good.It'll always be that way.

in WI they have been tracking average age of a deer hunter about 5 years ago it was 47

it could be possible for a good percent of people to get too old or die in a year

this was my first year in 35 years not hunting , I purchased a license back in April , but got hurt days before season.

we have been loosing land we can hunt every year for a while

some one buys it or leases it that is new and 1 person sits on it if it even get hunted
about 300 acres guy died who had let us hunt it for well since the great depression
his wife who had told me for many years thanks for asking but you don't really need to ask your always welcome did a hard no hunting by anyone at all soon as the husband was dead.
her anti hunting daughter moved in with her just long enough to stop the hunting , divide it up into lots and cash out of the land sale for the money , no place like that exists any more it is all divided up into little parcels.


since from that parcel you can see Michigan I can't imagine it is doing much different on the other side of the line

It always seems whether you hunt public or private ground there's good and bad to both.I hunt 90% state land,the other 10% is family property.People say a lot of negative things about public land but private property isn't always a nirvana either,paying large sums of money to hunt a property then find other members of the family or family friends hunting that same property you're paying on,landowner sells out and you're no longer welcome,family gets jealous because you shot a big one on their property,etc.It probably all depends on where you hunt,here we can walk for miles and not leave public land.That's the way I like it,I don't care if others are hunting around me.Other states with smaller tracts of public land will no doubt see it different.