Atlas Twp.- Goodrich resident Gregg Wilcox, has been hunting deer for the past 33 years and says the Atlas Township buck he shot on Nov. 16, the second day of the 2004 gun deer season was the biggest ever.
‘I past up several smaller deer before I shot this buck at about 85 yards,? said Wilcox. ‘It was kind of warm to start but the season turned out OK.?
Wilcox was just one of more than 750,000 Michigan hunters who participated in the gun-deer season which opened statewide Nov. 15. Several hunters reported seeing plenty of deer but commented the weather was a little warmer for the first part of season.
David Koehler, meteorologist for the National Weather service at White Lake, Mich. confirms the warmer than average November.
‘It’s about 4 degrees higher than normal through November 22,? said Koehler.
According to the National Weather service a report from Detroit Metropolitan airport the average high daily temperatures for November is 47.8 degrees, compared to 52.1 in 2004; the average low temperature is 40.7 degrees, and 44.7 for 2004.
Although the temperatures were slightly higher this year’officials from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says the relationship between deer hunting success and temperature has not been scientifically proved a factor..
‘There’s no data to show deer move around any more or less in warm weather,? said Brian Frawley, wildlife biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
‘Warm weather is a double edged sword’it keeps hunters out in the woods longer and they sit still longer however, hunters don’t get up and push deer around either,? said Frawley. ‘But in cold weather hunters can’t sit still very long and get up to walk around, pushing deer.?
Despite the warmer weather Jeff Hyder, sporting goods manager at Brown’s Do-it Center, 7281 S. State Road, Goodrich says sales of hunting supplies were excellent.
‘I’ve seen a few big bucks come into the store,? said Hyder. ‘Our ammunition sales was excellent during gun deer season, and the archery season did very well too. You can’t have a bad year deer hunting here in either Genesee or Oakland county, there’s tons of deer.?
Hyden said there were 9,000 anterless deer permits available in Genesee says Hyder.