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DNR forecasts successful hunt as firearm season underway

Courtesy photo A trail camera captured a photo of a buck in the northern Lower Peninsula.

ALPENA — Today is the start of firearm deer season, which will run until Nov. 30, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources expects an increase in harvests this year.

The first designated Michigan deer season took place 159 years ago, in 1859, and the season has remained a staple to the state’s outdoor culture. According to the DNR, Michigan has been one of the top five states in the country for deer hunters and harvests.

The DNR recently released its 2018 Michigan Deer Hunting Prospects, which shows biologists expecting an increase from last year, which saw a 10-percent increase from 2016 across the entire state.

Within the report, it points out that the 2017 season had a drop in the number of hunters. Still, there was an increase in the actual number of deer harvested, compared to 2016, with almost 50 percent of hunters harvesting a deer.

A relatively normal winter has allowed for increased survival of deer and fawns, which may mean a larger success rate for 2018, the DNR says. Deer populations have been increasing in the northern Lower Peninsula within recent years, and there was a reported 15-percent harvest increase from 2017 as compared to 2016 in the northern Lower Peninsula.

That has led to the increase in antlerless quotas, as well as more deer management units in the 2018 early and late antlerless seasons. The deer management units with an increase in antlerless licenses include Clare, Lake, Mason and Osceola, with Clare, Gladwin, Mason, and Osceola included in the deer management units for the early/late firearm antlerless season.

The DNR also reports an increase in deer numbers in the Upper Peninsula, which had experienced harsh winters in 2013 and 2014, affecting deer numbers, with the largest bucks with the biggest antlers usually found in agricultural areas.

Baiting bans have been a major topic in the world of hunting this year, and the DNR confirmed that, after Jan. 31, 2019, all baiting and feeding will be prohibited in the entire Lower Peninsula in effort to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis.

For the 2018 deer season, there are baiting and feeding bans already in effect for a variety of counties, including Presque Isle, Montmorency, Alpena, Alcona, Oscoda and Iosco.

Deer Management Unit 452, with boundaries in Northeast Michigan, has had an increase in bovine TB from 1 percent of deer testing positive for the disease in 2015 to 2.7 percent the following — the highest it has been since 1998 — and it has remained above 2 percent.

The DNR encourages anyone hunting in Alcona, Alpena, Arenac, Bay, Cheboygan, Crawford, Genesee, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle and Roscommon counties to bring in deer head for testing.

Hunters can find testing locations at michigan.gov/deercheck.

The state also asks hunters to avoid moving a deer carcass a long distance, and, if hunting out-of-state to only bring back allowed parts.

More information can be found at michigan.gov/cwd.

Kaitlin Ryan can be reached at kryan@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 989-358-5693.

2018 Michigan white-tailed deer TB testing

A look at the number of deer testing positive for tuberculosis, as of Nov. 9.

County Total Tested Number Positive

Alcona 208 1

Alpena 449 2

Montmorency 135 1

Presque Isle 104 0

Source: Michigan Department of

Natural Resources

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