During the deer hunting seasons nationwide, it is normal to hear of states struggling to get harvest numbers where they want to due mainly to bad weather. But Michigan is scratching their heads at the moment trying to figure out where all the deer hunters went.

There are no official reports out yet but the Michigan DNR is saying that Michigan sold about the same number of hunting licenses as in the past. They also are reporting that deer harvest rates were up by about 6% in the Upper Peninsula, down 6% in the upper lower peninsula and down 7% in the lower lower peninsula.

Other unofficial reports statewide seems to indicate that hunter participation was low everywhere. A couple weeks ago, Eric Sharp, outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press, asked where all the hunters were. DNR officials are perplexed and don’t seem to have any rational explanation for that.

Meanwhile, over in Iowa, the Department of Natural Resources is considering an emergency statewide deer hunt because harvest numbers have been so low. To this point in the season, hunters have taken 34,000 fewer deer than was projected. If the commission approves the emergency hunt, it will be statewide and any hunters with unfilled tags will be able to fill them with antlerless deer only.

Iowa officials blame poor weather for the lousy success rate.

Tom Remington

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