LANSING, MI — The firearm deer season opens across Michigan this morning and reports from the DNR indicate deer are plentiful. But the numbers of hunters pursuing those deer continues to drop across the state, according to Chad Stewart, a deer specialist with the DNR.
“The biggest reason for the drop in hunters is we are losing a lot of older hunters through attrition. And then we just don’t the number of younger hunters filling in behind them,” Stewart said.
Stewart says the trend is expected to continue. And it’s not just the number of deer hunters that’s dropping. He says the decline is across all forms of hunting from small game to even fishing.
Reports show that the hunting seasons contribute nearly $9-billion dollars to the state’s economy annually and more than 500,000 hunters participated in deer hunting seasons last year.
The firearm deer season continues through Nov. 30th.
Hunting regulations and other information can be found at michigan.gov/dnr.
