LANSING (WKZO) — There was a time when Michigan boasted it had a million deer hunters, but no more.
The DNR says there were fewer hunters again last year, and the ones that did go hunting reported less success, less satisfaction with the experience, and fewer deer harvested. 615-thousand hunters hit the woods last season, which was down over 7% from the previous year.
They say the sport peaked with over 800-thousand firearms hunters in the 1990’s and the numbers have been slowly shrinking ever since.
They aren’t just concerned because the hunt is the state’s way of managing the deer herd, it’s also one of the DNR’s largest sources of revenue.
Money from the deer hunt goes into a broad range of conservation programs.
It also helps communities in Northern Michigan that rely on summer tourism stay afloat in the off-season.
Two incredibly hard winters have decimated both the deer herd and the industry iin Northern-most Michigan. .
