It ain’t over till it’s over — in baseball and deer hunting.
The still-famous words of Yogi Berra aptly describe deer hunting, which continues through Jan. 1 in Leelanau County through a late firearms antlerless season and late archery season for does and bucks.
As of Dec. 23, some 888 antlered and 604 anterless deer had been reported to the MDNR website as harvested during all 2024 seasons for a total of 1,492. That number already tops the 2023 harvest of 732 bucks and 520 antlerless deer — 1,252 in all.
But if your idea of an antlerless deer is a doe, consider taking a closer look at your target as some bucks have already lost antlers.
That was the case for a small buck caught on camera by Fred Perzanowski, a seasoned hunter in the Miler Hill area. The photo, shot on Dec. 20, clearly shows a one-antlered buck.
Poor health and low testosterone levels are the most-cited reasons for early antler drop. In general, whitetails in Leelanau County loose their antlers in January or February, but there are exceptions. Hunters trying to ensure that the deer they single out is a doe can examine the animal’s head between the ears. It’s flat on bucks and curved on does.
Trying to differentiate between a fawn and adult deer can also be difficult as yearlings can be nearly the same size at the shoulder. Adult does have longer faces and their ears appear smaller relative to the size of their heads.
Tagging a buck after antler drop or a buck fawn with an antlerless tag is legal. Perzanowski, instead, has a problem with hunters that don’t closely examine antlered bucks before pulling the trigger on deer that don’t have the proper headgear.
Bucks in Leelanau County must have at least three antler points on one side to be legal.
“If you are antlerless hunting and a buck has shed his horns, then it’s legitimate to shoot. What’s a bigger concern to me is people shooting bucks that aren’t legal,” he said.
Perzanowski found an untagged buck while hunting in the Lakeshore, which he reported to the National Park Service. Unfortunately, too much time had expired for the venison to be eaten.
“It wasn’t big enough to be mistaken for something that was legal. I know there are a lot of deer drives, and if you are shooting a buck you can’t count tines,” he said.
Perzanowski, who works May through November at Anderson’s Market in Glen Arbor, harvested a doe during the muzzle loading season after a slow opener to the firearms season.
“Typically on opening day, if you take a ride on Miller Road in the morning there is a car about every 300 yards. This year it was remarkable with hardly any cars. I heard only two or three shots that were close to me in the morning. It was unbelievably quiet. Saturday was a lot busier … I don’t know what happened,” he said.
Still, it’s been a successful hunt in Leelanau County when compared to a year ago.
A young buck in the Miller Hill area has already lost half of his headgear. Photo courtesy of Fred Perzanowski
