A deer hunter for the past 10 years, Brandon Township resident Billy Starr says he prefers the balmy October deer archery season over the later November firearm-deer season.
‘The October season is not too cold, the squirrels are active and I see more deer,? said Starr. ‘It’s nothing to see six or seven deer per night.?
Starr is just one of more than 400,000 hunters statewide that take to the fields and woods of Michigan during the deer archery season.
Brian Frawley, wildlife biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, says local deer hunters, like Starr, should expect a pretty good season.
According to DNR records in 2003, about 2,000 antlered deer and 2,000 does were taken during the Michigan archery season. In Genesee County 1,300 bucks and 900 does where harvested.
‘So far this season looks decent,? said Frawley. ‘Yet there are many factors that can produce a great season or reduce the numbers of deer taken.?
Deer density depends on the severity of the winter, says Frawley, which effects the number of twin fawns born and the production of acorns and beechnuts, one of the top food sources of deer.
‘Early snowfall can give an advantage to hunters, while a wet fall can keep corn in the fields thus leaving more cover and food for deer.?
Modern compound bows, hunting from raised platforms, and a human population density have produced an advantage to hunters, says Frawley.
‘You’d be hard-pressed to find deer in southern Michigan at all 100 years ago,? said Frawley. ‘As settlers moved in the southern sections of Michigan the deer herds moved north. Early settlers destroyed much of good deer habitats in the south. Then as crops were planted in the south deer moved back and spread out.?
With the high amount of private land in Genesee and Oakland counties land access creates refuges where the public just can’t get to the deer, added Frawley.