Lots of deer. Good bucks.
Early indications are that Leelanau County hunters, many of whom will participate in the archery season starting next Wednesday, Oct. 1, will find plenty of targets this fall. Youth and disabled hunters have already faired well, and anecdotal evidence is piling up that county deer numbers may be up a tad.
“From what I’ve seen in the field and heard, I think the deer herd is pretty darn healthy,” offered Steve Griffith, a veteran MDNR wildlife biologist stationed at the Traverse City field office. “Talking to hunters, there is a wonderful hard mast crop (mostly acorns) and bears are coming in with a lot of fat, so I’m sure the deer are the same.”
The deer kill for the youth and liberty hunt, held Sept. 13-14, nearly mimicked 2024 results, according to the MDNR website. Some. 29 bucks and 9 does — 38 total deer — were reported killed through the state’s mandatory check-in system. In 2024, the reported kill was 28 bucks and 10 does for again a total take of 38.
The harvests are a pittance compared to a complete season of hunting, which throughout the state extends into January. Nearly 300,000 deer were shot by Michigan hunters in 2024, with 1,611 harvested in Leelanau County, the MDNR reports.
Few deer hunters scout more thoroughly than Mike Burda of Leland Township, and he’s optimistic after watching several trail cameras for weeks.
“From my perspective, I think there are a lot of nice bucks out there. I think there are going to be many 120-inch and better eight-points taken. It was the most consistent spring and summer I can recall for moisture, and that usually means a good year for antler growth,” said Burda, a business partner at Carlson’s Fisheries in Fishtown.
Burda is an avid archer who puts in the legwork needed to succeed, and his son Cooper didn’t fall far from the mast tree. The two scouted an area prior to the youth hunt, finding two mature oaks without lower limbs and suitable for climbing deer stands. They were rewarded on the first evening of the youth hunt by watching 11 deer mosey by, the last of which Cooper arrowed. The eightpoint went down soon after.
“He was the biggest and he came through with about 15 minutes of shooting light. We hiked in and found what we liked and he headed ahead while I dropped back and got to see the whole thing happen. Pretty awesome,” Burda said.
It was the second buck for Cooper, a sophomore at Leland High School. He’ll have a tough time topping the 9-point, 3 1/2-year-old buck he took last year during the regular archery season.
Other youth hunters fared well, including Lily (15-yearsold), and Joseph (10), Herman of Bingham Township. Both hunted once and saw deer, with Joseph taking a fat doe and Lily taking the third and biggest buck of her short hunting career, a 9-point. Both are St. Mary students.
A small number of disabled hunters tagged deer, including Jonathan Tushman of Traverse City who had never hunted before. He shot a 10-point, and James McCulley shot a 6-point. Both are residents of the Lighthouse Neurological Rehabilitation Center, and were hunting with adaptive equipment provided by the Passing Along the Heritage (PATH) foundation.
Leelanau County cherry farmers Glenn LaCross and Bill Walters welcomed the hunters into their orchards for the Liberty Hunt.
Farmer LaCross, who is also owner of Leelanau Fruit Company, also gave permission for a Tribal member to harvest two does in his orchards. He believes the deer herd is getting out of control to the detriment of the agricultural community.
“We have a lot of deer. They were hanging together in herds of 15, and a little fawn got hit by a car a couple days ago. I think the herd has to be bigger because they are almost yarding like they do in winter when they get hungry. It’s something we’ve never seen,” he said.
Burda agrees:“We probably have too many does. I have a huge bed of hostas outside my home and it’s just a bunch of stalks. So there is a lot of opportunity to harvest good, quality meat.”
Biologist Griffith said he’s been issuing a few more crop damage permits to orchardists than in recent years. But he’s also heard from the other side of the equation — folks who take umbrage with allowing hunters to purchase up to ten antlerless licenses per season.
“The one or two I’ve talked to have been very pleasant. They are just concerned. But we’ve had the supplemental anterless tags in the TB zone in the northeast (Lower Peninsula) for years, and they still have plenty of deer,” Griffith said.
He added, “With the dwindling number of hunters, it’s hard to control an animal designed to take advantage of resources and reproduce like crazy when they can.”
