Opening day of deer season probably ranks pretty high in the list of Michigan holidays. I know a lot of businesses that will be closed for the next few days in recognition that their employees would just be out sick anyway with buck fever. And just as I know that the sunny skies forecast for today are making a lot of people dressed in orange unhappy, I know those same folks are happy that snow is on the way tonight!
The Michigan DNR has all the details on deer hunting in Michigan, including a reminder that much public land is open to hunting - be aware! While Michigan saw 750,000 hunters just a few years ago, less than 650,000 will purchase licenses for the November 15-30 firearm deer season. In 2011, some of these will be 10 and 11 year-olds due to Michigan's new Hunter Heritage Act. Speaking of the DNR, check out their MI-Hunt program, which allows you to locate public lands open to hunting. You can get a forecast for the 2011 Michigan Deer season from Game & Fish Magazine, and a lot more info from the White-tail Deer Portal from the DNR and MSU.
The Livingston Daily news reports that the overall deer population in Michigan has quadrupled since 1970, with southern Michigan's deer herd increasing 10 times! An excellent, in-depth report from Bridge Magazine titled Deer have Michigan on the run says:
The number of hunters in Michigan has been shrinking since the 1960s, according to state data. Hunting license sales have decreased 15 percent over the past 15 years, from 934,430 in 1995 to 786,880 last year.
The ranks of hunters are shrinking nationwide. But the effects of that trend are especially prevalent in Michigan, where deer dominate vast areas of the landscape, hunters are the primary method for keeping the herd in check and revenue from the sale of hunting licenses funds many of the state’s wildlife management programs.
Fewer hunters mean: Less money for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to manage wildlife; less money to maintain forests, marshes and other areas where birds and mammals reside; less money for conservation officers who keep poachers in check; and less money for small businesses that count hunters among their best customers.
It also means more deer - read on to learn about the impacts of our 1.7 million deer.
AnnArbor.com notes that Opening Day is Michigan's other Black Friday, as deer hunters spend an average of $800 each, making deer hunting a half a billion dollar industry in Michigan. If you are headed out, be sure to look in on our Sporting Goods section.
Happy hunting!
3 Comments
From the Deer season looks a lot like 2006 in the Ironwood Daily Globe:
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Why wont MI go to a four point on one side rule we definetly have the deer to do so and if we already bring in 500 million a year in revinew it might put us on the map and bring even more in.But allowing hunters to shoot any buck for there first tag isnt allowing our bucks to mature and produce.
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notify me results for deer taken for archery and opening day results with the no baiting also the rifle early results. Any new deer infected with (cwd)?
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[...] Today is Opening Day of deer season in Michigan, and for over 600,000 people, it’s a pretty important holiday. Over on Absolute Michigan we have a roundup of of the 2011 deer hunting season. [...]
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