Deer harvest down nearly 11% from ‘22

The deer harvest appears headed for an off year in Leelanau County and the state, with the worst outcome coming from the Upper Peninsula.

According to figures provided since the MDNR instituted a mandatory deer-kill reporting program in 2022, the harvest is down nearly 11% in Leelanau County from a year ago with only a few days left in deer seasons that run from September through December.

MDNR stats point to a slow firearms deer hunt as the culprit. The gun hunt opened on Nov. 15 with warm, windy and rainy weather that left deer content to lay low, which played a factor in tagging only 661 deer including 395 bucks. The kill during the 2022 gun season was 767 total deer with 457 of them bucks.