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At first glance, Michigan’s 2014 deer harvest estimates that were released last week are startling.

Wildlife managers say the deer harvest was down 15 percent statewide and the hunting effort declined 19 percent.

That marks the second consecutive year in Michigan’s deer harvest. (Indiana saw a 4 percent decline in its stats released in April.)

What is going on?

Well, just be glad you hunt southern Michigan. The biggest drop occurred in the Upper Peninsula where harvest plummeted 25 percent and that certainly skews the state numbers. The northern Lower Peninsula wasn’t much better.

The UP suffered a brutal winter for the third straight year. There was more than 3 feet of snow on the ground before the Nov. 15 firearm season, making it difficult for hunters to get out.

More importantly, deer numbers have been declining due to heavy snow that makes it difficult for the deer to move and feed. That has led to fewer fawns and a big reason why the DNR is restricting antlerless deer hunting there this fall.

Southwest Michigan persevered much better. DNR statistics show some 8,000 deer were taken in Deer Management Unit (DMU) 311, which encompasses Cass, Berrien and Van Buren counties. Of those 8,000, 4,400 were bucks.

Admittedly, that’s 1,000 fewer deer harvested than the year before, but there are some reasons for that, too.

The entire Southwest Michigan District, that covers far more counties, saw a 20 percent increase in doe harvest during the archery season but a 16.7 percent drop during gun season.

The district’s buck harvest during archery season climbed 8.9 percent but dipped 1.9 percent during the gun season.

Part of the reason for the decline, said District Wildlife Supervisor Steve Chadwick, is because Michigan reduced antlerless quotas for the gun season by 15 percent last fall through most of his district.

DMU 311 (Cass, Berrien and Van Buren) took an even bigger hit – a 27 percent cut - to allow the herd to rebound from the EHD disease that hammered this region five years ago.

“First there was EHD, followed by a couple of hard winters,” said Chadwick. “When you have hard winters, females that were bred during the fall go into spring in poor condition and fewer fawns are produced.”

But there is a bright side to this story. Chadwick, who monitors trail cameras during the summer, is seeing more fawns this year, a sign the herd is coming back.

“Also, a lot of hunters I’ve talked to report seeing a lot of bucks,” he said. “I have a feeling 2015 will be a better year.”

The harvest will probably fall in line with this past season which will be an indication the herd is starting to stabilize. Chadwick said the antlerless quota will remain the same as the DNR tries to bring the herd back to stable numbers.
As a side note, the statewide number of deer hunters last year declined 19 percent while the Southwest Michigan District saw a 5.7 percent drop. That can be attributed to fewer deer and poor hunting conditions weather-wise.

The deer season raises a lot of DNR revenue, so you can bet biologists want to bring herd numbers up to a more sustainable level.