Leelanau leads northern Michigan in trophy deer.

Tiny Leelanau has fast gained a reputation for producing big bucks.

Twelve-year-old Sean Lammy's 11-point buck taken last fall was the largest shot in Leelanau County, but certainly not the only buck to qualify for a prestigious list of big bucks harvested and scored for the Commemorative Bucks of Michigan record book.

"People are still asking about that buck," said Lammy, who will be out with his father, Dr. Thomas Lammy, Saturday for the state youth hunt. "Hopefully, I'll get one as big, but everyone tells me it will be hard to beat."

SEAN LAMMY displays the
largest buck taken in Leelanau
County during the 2006 firearms
season, an 11-point that he
shot on Nov. 17.

In some counties in northern Michigan, the better description would be "impossible" to beat. Just two bucks from Benzie County are on the list, and only one each from Grand Traverse and Kalkaska counties.

But the 21 bucks taken in Leelanau on the Commemorative Bucks list make Leelanau the home of the best deer hunting in Michigan north of a line drawn across the state starting at about Saginaw and ending at South Haven.

A Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist and Leelanau's official scorer for the Commemorative Bucks program point to a change in hunting rules that prohibits the taking of small bucks as the reason for the change.

And the change has been dramatic. From 1981 through 2002, the year the new rules went into effect, an average of about 3 1/2 bucks per year from Leelanau were deemed eligible for the Commemorative Bucks list. In 2004, eight bucks made the list, followed by five in 2005.

And 2006 turned out to be a watershed year, as had been predicted by backers of the new "quality deer management" (QDM) rules.

In fact, draw a line from Benzie County east to Lake Michigan and include all the Michigan counties north, and you'll find 42 entries on the 2006 Commemorative Bucks map. Half were shot in Leelanau, the second-smallest county in the state.

Unlike most of Michigan where all bucks with 3-inch or longer "spike" antlers may be taken, only deer with at least three "points" on one antler may be legally tagged in Leelanau since 2002.

The rule change has created a buck population spread out among several age groups, according to DNR biologist Rich Earle, who is more interested in the overall health of the herd than in growing big antlers.

What he has found through studies of statistics taken from deer reported to the DNR is that Leelanau bucks are growing to an older age, and younger bucks are growing better antlers because of less stress in finding food. One component of the QDM program is to keep the overall deer population at a level acceptable to farmers who are concerned with crop damage.

"Many of our yearlings look like the animals that come from southern Michigan," added Earle.

Consequently, the number of yearlings reported to the DNR as shot in Leelanau jumped from 39 to 64 between 2005 and 2006. At least some of the difference can be attributed to better antler growth, with more young deer sporting the minimum three points on one antler needed to shoot.

Still, yearlings represented only 40 percent of the 162 bucks reported. Some 50 bucks that were 2 1/2 years-old were shot — about 31 percent of the total take, and 37 bucks were 3 1/2 years old, or 23 percent. Toss in seven 4 1/2-year-old bucks, one at 5 1/2 years and another 3 that reached an unlikely age of 6 1/2 years, and the result was pleasing to many hunters.

By comparison, in Benzie County only 121 bucks were reported in 2006, and 90 — some 76 percent — of them were yearlings.

Fewer deer mean healthier deer and happier farmers. And bigger bucks make for happy hunters.

Vern Bauer of Bingham Township has been talking to those happy hunters. He meets them while measuring their trophies for the Commemorative Bucks list. He credits the large number of bucks making the list in 2006 to two factors — QDM rules, and the efforts of Leelanau conservation officer Mike Borkovich to have hunters get their big bucks registered.

"(The number of entries) has been going up every year, although historically it's been one, two or three bucks just like everybody else," said Bauer.

Hunters and landowners, who will be queried as separate groups in DNR surveys in December, will determine whether QDM rules will continue in 2008. Two-thirds of each group must be in support, according to a policy laid out by the state Natural Resources Commission.

Glen Noonan, who with his sons farm large tracts of land in Kasson and Empire townships, will be voting to keep QDM rules should he receive a survey. Although not a hunter himself, his grandsons Casey and Ryan, who work on the farms, enjoy hunting deer.

"They have shot 8-points, but nothing larger yet," said Noonan, also a member of the county Road Commission. "I see a lot of the bucks myself when I'm driving."

He, too, credits Borkovich with helping to make the QDM program a success. "I think we're every fortunate to have a CO like Borkovich in the county. He's taken the younger hunters and taught them stewardship of the land," said Noonan, who also leases some land for hunting.

While hunting was very good in 2006, early reports received by Bauer indicate that a new wave of trophy books await hunters this season. Consequently, young Lammy said he will "probably" hunt in the same stand that delivered his trophy.