Lower Peninsula hunters urged to target more does for sustainable deer management
LOWER PENINSULA, Mich. — With the 2023 deer hunting season set to kick off soon, one Michigan DNR animal specialist has a simple message for Lower Peninsula hunters: they aren't targeting enough does.
In his open letter to Michigan deer hunters, DNR deer management specialist Chad Stewart says that the gap between doe and buck harvests has been widening for some time.
According to Stewart, antlerless deer harvests have decreased in the Lower Peninsula by about 28% since the early 2000s, compared to an 11% decrease in antlered harvests over that timeframe.
"Taking on average about 1 to 1.5 additional antlerless deer per square mile in the Lower Peninsula can improve our overall management, help balance our adult sex ratios and even improve the quality of the bucks that we see," Stewart said. "The current trend we are experiencing is simply not sustainable for long-term deer management in Michigan."
It is important to hunt for does earlier in the season as, according to Stewart, last season hunters only began hunting antlerless deer more than antlered deer after Thanksgiving.
Stewart argued that targeting more does earlier in the season can balance out the buck-to-doe ration prior to the rut, which can intensify rutting activity.
"I am asking hunters to consider the long-term benefits of being selective in their choice of taking a buck, even if that means not taking a buck in the upcoming year," Stewart said.
"If we could get hunters to rethink their philosophy of 'get your buck and then wait for a bigger buck to show up later in the season,' we would see marked improvement in our buck age structure and more balanced sex ratios," Stewart said.
Those interested in reading Stewart's entire open letter can do so by clicking here.
To see the hunting season calendar for Michigan, click here.