Join in the time-honored tradition of deer hunting in Michigan. Get ready for a terrific time in Michigan’s beautiful forests and fields. Firearm deer season is open Nov. 15-30.
Assistance for those who need help with reporting or experience technical difficulties is available at a variety of locations around the state. Reporting assistance is also available by calling 517-284-9453 during normal business hours and on Nov. 19 and 20 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reminders:
Each deer kill tag has a different license number. You will need to use the number on the kill tag that is attached to your harvested deer to report that deer.
Keep the confirmation number you receive after you have reported your deer.
Kill tags purchased online at eLicense take seven to 14 business days to arrive in the mail. You must have kill tags in your possession before hunting. To ensure you can hunt in a timely manner, purchase your license at a local license agent.
Before you head into the field, be sure to check the latest hunting regulations in your area by looking at the 2022 Hunting Digest.
Download digests
For on-demand digest access that travels where you do, without the need for internet access, download DNR hunting and fishing digests right to your phone through the DNR Hunt Fish mobile app!
Important reminders
The sections below refer to specific pages of the 2022 Hunting Digest for more information on these topics.
Baiting and feeding
Baiting and feeding is banned in the entire Lower Peninsula and the Core Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Area in the Upper Peninsula.
See pages 56 and 61-62 for additional information about the baiting and feeding bans.
Universal antlerless license
Universal antlerless deer licenses may be used on public or private land in any deer management unit open to antlerless hunting. See pages 47-48.
Some hunters in the Upper Peninsula (DMU 351 and 352) will need to have an access permit along with a universal antlerless deer license to hunt antlerless deer. See pages 60-61.
Antler point restrictions (APR)
Mainland Lower Peninsula hunters may harvest an antlered or antlerless deer with deer or deer combo licenses during archery, firearm and muzzleloader seasons.
Be sure to check the APR chart before heading out this year:
Lower Peninsula APR chart, see pages 53-55.
Upper Peninsula APR chart, see pages 58-59.
Disease monitoring and testing
Deer stations: Disease sample submission sites
Our new harvest reporting system should make it easier for you to understand if you are in a location where the DNR is looking for volunteers to submit their deer for testing. If you are in one of the disease monitoring zones, you will see a message on the harvest report confirmation page asking you to submit your deer head for testing, along with locations where you can submit your deer head or sample for testing. The submission is not required for a reported harvest but is strongly encouraged to help meet our disease monitoring goals. You can also find a list of disease sample submission sites.
Check stations will be focused in places where we need to gather physical samples for bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease (CWD). This allows us to maximize our use of staff resources for disease monitoring purposes. Harvested animals must be reported using the online harvest reporting system.
CWD monitoring and testing
Support from hunters and landowners in this year’s CWD monitoring counties is requested to inform the state’s CWD monitoring plan. Early detection of the disease is an important part of the state’s management philosophy.
Hunters who harvest a deer in Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm counties, where CWD has previously been detected, can submit deer heads for testing via a drop box or submit lymph nodes with a free lymph node shipping kit. More information on this program is available on the CWD info for hunters webpage.
Testing in Isabella and Hillsdale counties, the state’s other two counties where CWD has been detected, is available to hunters at an area disease sample submission site.
Testing for a fee
In the remainder of the state, if you want your deer heads tested for CWD, you may submit them to a participating U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved lab at any time for testing. You will be charged a fee to have your deer heads tested. See more information about testing for a fee.
2022 deer hunting preview
Find out what to expect for this year’s deer hunting seasons, including harvest reporting, disease monitoring and regional forecasts, in the 2022 deer hunting preview.
