GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Weeks before the opening day of firearm season, the Michigan DNR released a letter to the state's deer hunters.
"We need to have some frank conversations about deer management in this state," wrote Chad Stewart, the department's deer, elk, and moose management specialist.
In the following paragraphs, Stewart detailed a need to shoot more does than bucks, amid a decades-long decline in hunting in Michigan: "We need to quickly, and substantially, increase our antlerless deer harvest across much of our Lower Peninsula. Our reputation as conservationists may be defined by it!"
READ MORE: Michigan DNR: Try shooting a doe this deer season
Months later, with only one type of season remaining on the 2023-24 hunting calendar (extended urban archery), the state's deer harvest has again disappointed, dropping nearly 10% from the previous year.
In the 2023 license season, the DNR reported a total harvest of 274,057 deer (as of Friday), with only six counties increasing their numbers from the prior season, including Muskegon (+2%).
As for the rest of West Michigan, the harvest totals from Mecosta and Montcalm Counties both dropped 14%, while Kent and Newaygo Counties fell 12%, to name a few notables.
"We feel that we need to really try to reevaluate some of our current deer management strategies," Stewart said.
The department's goal at the beginning of deer season—that hunters take more does than bucks— also failed, with the antlerless harvest dipping to 40%, as compared to 43% from the prior year.
While Stewart admits that reporting rates may have played a role in this year's numbers, in addition to a late corn harvest that kept deer in fields, rather than hunter-filled forests, he says the department wants to "have some conversations with sportsmen" about how to reverse these trends.
"Whether you're a hunter or not, it's really incredibly important from a resource standpoint and an ecological health standpoint," Stewart said.
This week, the department announced its Deer Management Initiative, a crowdsourced campaign to address declining harvest and hunting numbers.
"Some of it will be short-term fixes," Stewart said. "Some of it might be long-term fixes that we start building towards over several years."
With bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease especially problematic in the Lower Peninsula, and predatory and habitat concerns in the Upper Peninsula, the DNR says members of the public can participate in the process through virtual and in-person meetings.
"I mean, not saying that things are bad, but I think there's a lot of things that need to be changed," said Dale Techel, the owner of Michigan Deer Hunters, a popular Facebook page.
The longtime hunter who lives in Southeast Michigan says the initiative should "help the communication" between hunters and the state.
I think a lot of people feel that sometimes the management of the herd isn't specific enough," said Techel, suggesting a county-by-county approach to regulation.
"People want to see deer and they want to have a healthy herd," Techel said. "I don't want to see those traditions go away, it's part of what Michigan is."
"Even if you're not a hunter, you can certainly appreciate looking at a deer and a fawn in the summertime," Stewart said. "I think there's a lot of value and a level of wildness that goes along with having that sort of experience with a white-tailed deer."
In a Friday interview, Stewart talked potential population management policies with FOX 17, including the cost of hunting licenses, buck restrictions, and the length of firearm season.
While a single kill tag deer license in Michigan costs $20 for residents and non-residents ages 10 through 64, the DNR does sell $5 licenses in Deer Management Unit 487, a multi-county stretch of land in the Northern Lower Peninsula, particularly affected by bovine tuberculosis.
Despite the cheaper price tag, Stewart hasn't seen an increase in the harvest.
"Does that apply to other parts of the state? Maybe, maybe not," Stewart said, admitting that the current license structure "certainly needs to be reviewed" by the initiative.
As for introducing additional antler-point restrictions, Stewart said they were "absolutely on the table" and "worth discussion." But he noted that an earn-a-buck rule may not be popular with hunters, citing how Michigan's Midwest neighbor, Wisconsin, banned the measure after its institution.
"When we talk about regulations, we have to talk about not only the biological impact, but also the social acceptance of them," Stewart said.
The length and purpose of the different types of deer seasons have also been critiqued, and Stewart says the typical suggestions— extending firearm season and turning the youth hunt into antlerless-only— likely won't matter.
"The more days you add onto the end, it's really more of a diminishing return," he said, citing a "majority" of deer being within the first few days of any season.
Regarding the youth hunt, the number of deer taking during the short season is so small, he says any restrictions on bucks would not be "impactful whatsoever" from a biological perspective.
"It really comes down to education and mentorship," Stewart said about the next generation of hunters in Michigan. "We're talking about getting a whole lot of people together and tasking them with changing deer management dramatically."
"That's a really ambitious goal."
