Michigan Announces Major Changes in Deer Limits, Regulations

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Published: 18 May 2026

MDNR Report

Following extensive public input, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission on Wednesday approved several deer regulation changes for the 2026 and 2027 hunting seasons.

The seven-member citizen commission, appointed by the governor, acted on and amended recommendations developed by the Michigan DNR to support healthy deer populations while balancing hunter opportunity and public feedback.

Under Michigan law, the NRC has the authority to issue wildlife orders and establish hunting regulations.

Changes for the 2026 deer seasons

The NRC's approved changes include:

• Elimination of the antlerless access drawing in the Upper Peninsula. Deer Management Units 351 and 352 have been rescinded. Hunters in the U.P. will only be able to use universal antlerless licenses in DMUs 022, 122, 155, 255, 121 and 055 during the 2026 season.
• Reduction of the Statewide Muzzleloader Season from 10 days to three days. The shortened season will begin on the first Friday in December. In the Lower Peninsula, any legal firearm may be used during this season, which will now be called the December Firearm Deer Season.
• Opening the Late Antlerless Season earlier, beginning on the Monday following the December Firearm Deer Season and continuing through Jan. 1. The season will be open across the Lower Peninsula except in Deer Management Units 245 (South Fox Island) and 145 (North Manitou Island). DMU 115 (Beaver and Garden islands) is now open for both early and late antlerless seasons.
• Elimination of the Limited Firearms Deer Zone in the Lower Peninsula, allowing the use of all legal firearms, including bottleneck cartridges, throughout the Lower Peninsula. Firearms larger than .22 rimfire are now permitted statewide.
• Authorization for residents with a valid senior deer license, senior deer combo license or senior antlerless deer license to use a crossbow during the Late Archery Deer Season in the U.P.
• Elimination of the Extended Late Antlerless and January Archery Seasons, concluding all deer hunting seasons after Jan. 1.
• Scheduling the Early Antlerless Firearm Deer Season to run concurrently with the Liberty Hunt during the second weekend in September. The Liberty and Early Antlerless seasons will be Sept. 12-13 this year.
• Authorization for the department to establish universal antlerless deer license use limits in consultation with the commission. The limits will be reviewed and published annually. This change applies limits on the number of universal antlerless licenses that hunters may use within individual DMUs or counties.

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From the Creek to the Console: Raising a Tournament Partner

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Published: 13 May 2026

By Matt Summerlot, Guest Columnist

A father’s dream is to raise his son in a way that one day, the kid you were teaching becomes the best friend you get to share it all with, or at least it was for me. At some point in Hunter’s life, he stopped being just my child and became one of the guys. It didn’t happen overnight. There wasn’t a single moment when it flipped. It was built over time. From the first fish to the first harvest, and every trip between then and now.

Our first house had a small creek running along the back of the property. Being a fisherman, I was always down there trying to see if anything would bite. And no matter what, he was right there with me. He’d wake up from a nap asking to go see the “wa-wa.”

I’d be mowing the yard and look over to see him standing on the little bridge, staring down into the water.

Before long, he was dragging a kiddie pole down there on his own, trying to catch his first fish. Eventually, he did. A small creek chub on a piece of corn. And from that moment on, it was over.

For the next few years, he absolutely terrorized those creek chubs. Every chance he got, he was down there. I swear by the end of it, he had caught every one of them multiple times and probably knew them all personally.

That’s where it started. Not with a boat, not with electronics, not with tournaments: just a kid, a creek, and the freedom to figure it out.

From about the age of two, he went with me to the deer woods or the duck swamp. I would carry him in on my back, I’d lay a blanket down in the blind, and he’d sit there with his toys or on my knee, watching. We didn’t harvest a lot in those first few years, and it didn’t matter. He was there.

Fishing, though, was different.

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