Michigan’s Hunting License Revenue Continues to Drop

Steve Beyer, DNR Research and Management Section supervisor whines about not getting an increase in fees since 1996.  What he fails to mention is that fees were increased a few years ago – 50 percent to be exact – for antlerless permits.  So, how’s that working out?

The real problem is how the herd is managed:  for numbers, not quality.  People from Michigan hunt elsewhere for quality whitetails – Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, etc., because of better buck-to-doe ratios and ultimately better bucks.

Driving up the cost of licenses will eliminate more hunters from the pool, so there’s always a tradeoff.

Revenue will only have a chance of increasing if the quality of hunting gets better.

Here are three suggestions:  1)  Lower cost of antlerless permits to balance the herd and decrease car/deer accidents.  2)  Allow only one buck per season.  3)  Mandate antler restrictions state-wide to a minimum of 4 antler points per side for several years.

Maybe a bit radical but if we keep doing what we have been doing, we’ll keep getting what we have gotten.