Category: Hunting

Apply Now for Wyoming Preference Points

Dreaming of an epic Wyoming hunt? Apply now for preference points. Resident and nonresident hunters can build points for moose and bighorn sheep, and nonresidents can acquire elk, deer and antelope points. All applications must be submitted online through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website.

“Preference points can help increase odds of drawing some species and hunt areas,” saidJosh Moulton, Game and Fish license section manager. “Drawing odds for all species and hunt areas are available on the Game and Fish website.”

Hunters must purchase a preference point for a species for two consecutive years to maintain their totals and avoid losing points. Residents who were unsuccessful in their 2024 moose or bighorn sheep applications were automatically awarded a point. Only one point can be acquired per species annually.

Hunters can view their preference point balance by checking the website. Totals for the 2025 hunt season will be updated in late November.

Hunting

Summer Sweepstakes Hosted by FL Outdoors

The grand prize features a Texas whitetail dream hunt with professional hunters Levi Morgan (Bowlife TV show) and Joel Burham (Whitetail Fit).

FL Outdoors—makers of TAC Vanes, Swhacker Broadheads, and C’Mere Deer Attractants—has launched an Outdoor Summer Sweepstakes, open to all, with a grand prize package featuring a Texas whitetail dream hunt with professional hunters Levi Morgan and Joel Burham at Cactus Jack Ranch.

Grand Prize Details Read more

Contests, Hunting

Get Safety-Certified During Hunter Safety Education Week

Fall hunting is right around the corner, but you can get safety-certified now during the DNR’s Hunter Safety Education Week, Aug. 12-18. More than 60 in-person classes and/or field days are being offered in 40 counties throughout the state as additional opportunities to obtain your hunter safety education certificate.

To purchase a hunting license in Michigan, anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1960, is required to successfully complete an approved hunter safety education course.

These classes are commonly offered in the spring, ahead of spring turkey season, or in the fall before the firearm deer season. Hunter Safety Education Week is being offered in addition to the already planned fall classes.

“Just like preparing for school and fall extracurriculars, hunting season needs to be considered in advance,” said Lt. Tom Wanless, DNR recreational safety, education and enforcement supervisor. Read more

Hunting

Stealth Cam 360-Degree Revolver Series Trail Cameras Now Available

IRVING, TX –– Pre-season starts now. With the mid-point of summertime commemorated and the 4th of July holiday behind us, scouting season is officially underway. And with it comes a brand-new assortment of trail camera technologies and accessories ready to take to the field—all courtesy of Stealth Cam™.

After launching two revolutionary, 360-degree trail cameras earlier this year, Stealth Cam, the leader in trail camera technology research, development and evolution for more than two decades, has announced their all-new Revolver™ and Revolver™ PRO trail cams are now available for purchase both online and through a variety of retailers nationwide.

Most notably, these cameras offer the equivalent of six cameras worth of coverage in a single device. Revolving through six unique zones, each cam delivers a complete panorama of its surroundings, meaning users get 360 degrees of visibility, day and night, to ensure they never miss a thing—even deer passing behind where the lens is positioned.

Each cam responds almost immediately to movement, quickly situating its lens in the correct zone and delivering superbly clear images and videos within moments of capture. But that’s just the beginning. The Revolver series of trail cams also offers the option to get more than one photo from a single vantage, eliminating the need for setting up multiple cameras overlooking food plots by ensuring the area is always covered, all the way around.

This includes the following three photo operation setting selections: Read more

Hunting, Optics

Best States for the Biggest Elk

By PJ DelHomme 

Using the most up-to-date data from the Boone and Crockett records, we compiled the entries from the last ten years to bring you the states (and counties) that give you the best shot at killing the bull of a lifetime.
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Elk of any size are fascinating creatures. Sneak in close enough to hear the mews and chirps of cows and calves and call that a memory. Get between a herd bull and his harem, and you have a real hunting story. Being within earshot of a record-book bull is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of us. Sometimes, we get lucky and win the tag lottery. Other times, we burn 20 years’ worth of points to hunt a trophy area. And some hunters pay top dollar to hunt the best areas for the biggest bulls. Regardless of your journey to the record books, it’s always an exciting ride.

The Boone and Crockett Club recognizes four distinct categories of elk: tule, Roosevelt’s, and non-typical and typical American elk. Roosevelt’s and tule elk are found only in western North America, and tule elk are found just in California. Typical and non-typical American elk are found across North America, including east of the Mississippi River.

The Best Elk State Overall Read more

Hunting

Help Shape the Future of Michigan’s Managed Waterfowl Hunt Areas

Calling all waterfowl hunters! Join the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Saturday, Aug. 3, 3:30-6:30 p.m. at the Saginaw Bay Waterfowl Outdoor Festival to learn about planning efforts for the DNR’s managed waterfowl hunt areas, or MWHAs.

The open house will be hosted in the auditorium of the Saginaw Bay Visitor Center located inside Bay City State Park, 3582 State Park Drive in Bay City.

Michigan’s MWHAs were created to offer exceptional waterfowl hunting opportunities and are managed to provide quality waterfowl habitat for nesting and migration and for the benefit of other wetland wildlife. To clarify habitat and recreation management priorities for these Wetland Wonders, the DNR Wildlife Division formed a planning workgroup to establish goals and objectives for the next 10 years for the six areas within the Managed Waterfowl Hunt Program: Read more

Hunting

Whitetails Unlimited Grants Over $191,000 to 4-H

In the last fiscal year, Whitetails Unlimited has granted over $191,000 to 4-H groups in multiple states that are providing kids with a sense of community, mentors, and learning opportunities to develop the skills they need to create positive change in their lives.

Head, Heart, Hands, and Health are the four Hs in 4H, and they are the four values members work on through fun and engaging programs. Whitetails Unlimited is the nation’s premier nonprofit white-tailed deer organization and a strong supporter of educational programs and shooting sports.

With their DEER Program (Developing Educational & Environment Resources) that focuses on outdoor education, Whitetails Unlimited partners with 4-H, a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is “engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development.” Environmental and wildlife education programs such as shooting teams, focusing on safe handling of firearms, and clay target shooting by 4-H certified coaches can help youth develop a sense of responsibility, initiative, and self-worth, and build life skills such as confidence, independence, resilience, and compassion. Read more

Hunting

Michigan deer hunting regulation changes: What you need to know for 2024

On , 2024, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission approved the scheduled deer hunting regulations for this fall. The full package of regulations includes updates that won’t begin until after the 2024 seasons have ended; those updates will be explained at a later date. The commissioners and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources thank everyone who gave their time, insight and feedback to the work of the DNR’s Deer Management Initiative, which contributed to many of these regulation changes and decisions.

The following updates apply to the fall 2024 deer hunting seasons. (For ease of reading, the acronym DMU is used throughout for deer management unit.)

Upper Peninsula

  • A 3-point antler point restriction, or APR, was implemented on the single deer license in DMU 122.
  • In the western central part of the Upper Peninsula, in DMU 352 when using a universal antlerless deer license, it is required to also have an antlerless deer hunting access permit. The eastern central part of the U.P., DMU 351, is closed to antlerless hunting with a universal antlerless deer license in 2024.
    • DMU 352 is made up of DMUs 027, 036, 152 and 252. DMU 351 includes DMUs 017, 021, 117, 149, 249 and 349. See the online deer management units map for locations of all DMUs.
    • 500 access permits will be available in DMU 352. The application period is

      -Aug. 15.

    • For each deer harvested, you will need one antlerless deer hunting access permit for the DMU you’re hunting in, plus one universal antlerless deer license.
  • Antlerless deer can be taken in DMUs 017, 021, 027, 036, 117, 149, 152, 249, 252 and 349 during archery season on the single deer license or the combination deer license until Dec. 10, 2024.

Lower Peninsula

Extended archery season

  • Archery season is extended through Jan. 31, 2025, for select counties: Huron, Kent, Lapeer, Macomb, Oakland, Sanilac, St. Clair (except DMU 174), Tuscola, Washtenaw and Wayne.

Legal firearm expansion – Zone 2 muzzleloading season

  • If you are hunting deer during the muzzleloading deer season in the Lower Peninsula, you can use all legal firearms to take a deer. If you are hunting in the limited firearms deer zone, you must follow equipment requirements for that zone.

Early and late antlerless firearm season expansion to public land

  • Early and late antlerless firearm seasons in open counties have been expanded to include public land in addition to private land. The early antlerless firearm season runs Sept. 21-22, 2024, and the late antlerless firearm season runs Dec. 16, 2024, through Jan. 1, 2025.

New EXTENDED late antlerless season

  • A new extended late antlerless firearm season is open Jan. 2-12, 2025, in Allegan, Barry, Bay, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Mecosta, Midland, Monroe, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair (excluding DMU 174), Shiawassee, Wayne and Washtenaw counties; DMU 311 (Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties); DMU 312 (Branch, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties); and DMU 332 (Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties).
  • A discounted antlerless license for this extended season will be available for $5 per license.
Hunting

Iowa’s 2024 Pheasant Nesting Outlook

Iowa’s pheasant population typically shows increases following mild winters with springs that are dryer and warmer than normal. While last winter was average to below average snowfall, spring was wetter than normal, with May coming in as the eighth wettest in 152 years of records.

Given the statewide information, the weather model is predicting pheasant populations will likely be lower for the 2024 hunting season.

“I expect there to be regional differences in the population this fall,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR. “Our best counts will still likely be in the northern and central regions, but likely lower counts in the southeast and south-central regions. With the severe cold and snow in south central and southeast regions, quail numbers will likely be the same or lower than last year, but perhaps higher in the southwest region.”

This prediction is based on weather data, Bogenschutz said, and it can be wrong. The DNR’s August roadside survey is the best gauge of what upland populations will be this fall. The survey is conducted between Aug. 1 – 15, and the results will be posted on the DNR webpage www.iowadnr.gov/pheasantsurvey around Sept. 15.

Hunting, Wildlife

Commission Action on Part of Wolf Trapping Regulations to Be Postponed

Furbearer and wolf hunting and trapping regulations for the 2024-2025 season are on the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission agenda for Aug. 16. To give Fish, Wildlife & Parks additional opportunity to assess wolf trapping dates and where those dates would apply, agenda discussion and decision on those specific aspects of the wolf trapping regulations will be postponed until the commission meeting on Oct. 10.

All other elements of the 2024 wolf harvest regulations including hunting dates, harvest quotas, bag limits, trap setbacks, harvest reporting and proposed amendments will remain on the Aug. 16 meeting agenda. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife
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