Michigan’s deer hunting season ended January 6, 2024 with a year-on-year decrement of 11% in harvested game.

Around 590,000 hunters participated in the 2023 firearm deer meat harvest and bagged some 273,775 deer. In comparison, hunters in 2022 fell 303,082 antlered, whitetail and other deer species.

The decline for 2023 occurred mostly in Upper Peninsula, an elevated forested area on the U.S.-Michigan border. Here, the harvest slumped by 26% from 2022’s count. A similar fall of 16% happened on the northern section of Lower Peninsula near the state capital, Detroit. Likewise, south Michigan saw a dip in harvested deer of 7% this season.

The decline echoes lowering deer harvests in the nearby state of Wisconsin, where numbers fell by 17.4% by end 2023.

Mild Winters Steer off Deer

Michigan hunts for most of its deer during winter months. At this time, 80% of the herbivores come to nestle in shelters close to private farms and government land. 

However, recent mild winters have made the animals less prone to visit their traditional wintering grounds, hence the low harvests.

On top of the weather aspect, there are lesser predators such as wolves in the jungles. This in turn retains deer in the wild and out of reach of the hunters. 

Besides, a boom in Michigan’s agriculture has seen lesser and lesser hunting activities. Despite a slight rise in hunting licenses in 2023, statistics show a 3-decade decrement in licence acquisitions. While hunters picked 872,000 deer tags in 1995, by 2023 these dropped to 590,000 and may hit rock bottom at 434,000 by 2030. 

A paper tag is an important accessory in the United States’ laws on deer hunting. Michigan’s deer harvesting laws require hunters to tag each deer they kill within 72 hours or prior to sales. 

Tagging helps the state’s wildlife authorities to track down the harvest numbers.

Declining Youthful  Hunters

In tandem with lessening deer population is also a declining number of young deer hunters.  

Even if the 2023 deer harvest attracted an increase of 1% in deer hunting licensees, youthful hunters are depreciating.

According to a Mining Journal case study, youthful hunters have decreased by 7.1% since 2018.  The cause is a general decrease in the youth population in Michigan by 0.7% per year.

How much does Deer Meat Cost?

Venison, another name for deer meat, is pretty expensive fare in Michigan. While a kilo of U.S. beef averages $16.31 with a minimum of $9.41, a venison pound costs between $10 and $50. 

This quoted price also varies greatly by the type of cut. While a short rib cut costs the least for $6, whole loin can set the buyer back $52 per pound.  

Whole tenderloin is generally the most expensive at between $48 and $63 a pound. 

This implies that as the deer harvest season ends in Michigan, price will likely expand amid declining harvests.