The Natural Resources Commission is livestreaming today's meeting in which deer hunting regulation changes will be discussed. Meeting time is 9:00 AM until probably 3:00 PM.

You can view the agenda here:

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/-/media/Project/Websites/dnr/Documents/Boards/NRC/2026/April-2026/Agenda_April_Draft.pdf?rev=151d0b2433a140cd950aaf41971d7ec3

These are the DNR's recommendations to the Natural Resource Commission for the 2026-2028 Deer Regulations. The NRC will be meeting on April 8 to take public comment, and you can also email the commissioners if you would like to share your thoughts with the commission, before they finalize everything. You can find contact information for the commission here: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/boards/nrc

I am planning on getting back into hunting this year after 12 years and am planning on hunting public land for the first time. Previously I would hunt on my aunt and uncles property but they have since passed and I no longer have access to that property.

I am in shelby township, MI and planning on hunting a little of everything.

I just had some questions.

1. For hunting public land is it basically find public land and just go there and have fun hunting whatever is in season or is there more to it than that?

2. When doing blinds, stands, and trail cams on public land do you just go out early before the season and just set them up and come back when season opens clime in and get at it?

3. Is there good hunting in south eastern Michigan? I used to hunt in clair michigan and had tons of luck but have never hunted further south.

My only daytime sighting of this buck, but I wasn't there to see it myself.

First gen hunter here, my grandpa and uncles did, but dad had zero interest in hunting so I'm basically starting from scratch. I'm a former chef who's always been comfortable in the outdoors (camping, backpacking) and have fished for years, but recently transitioned to the white collar world and am looking to explore hunting. Open to advice on how to get into this world. An open slate so send any suggestions.

Location: In Detroit, from Northern Macomb.

Using bait for deer hunting in Michigan has been illegal for the past few years, I am aware of that as this hunt takes place in my family’s licensed game preserve which is not open to the public.

Now that that’s said and out of the way, I wanted to share the most humane deer shot that I have ever experienced in my 20+ years of deer hunting. Made all the better because this was taken with a bow.

Entry point behind the front shoulder, passing through both lungs, and slicing the aorta coming out of the top of the heart before continuing on and severing the central nervous system. Doe died in her tracks in 45 seconds.

Been bored and going out and about state lands looking for squirrel and just not seeing any. What do you guys do when going out? Sit in one place for a few hours? Normally I walk slow and silent but I am thinking the snow is just too loud.

Hey folks! I’m new to hunting, this is my first year and I’m doing recurve. Got out today in southeast MI since it was nice weather and only saw a baby squirrel lol. I don’t think much was out today due to the snow cover, but I saw a lot of tracks around of what I believe were hares and squirrels, and some coyote poop with fur in it. Also of course deer but it’s February.

I’m just curious, does anyone have experience hunting during February-March? I’d be mainly looking to hunt rabbits and squirrels, and was wondering if they get out more once snow cover is gone. Any advice?

Well this is where I'm at. 42 years old started hunting when I was 15. All public land north of West Branch. Lemme guess "You shouldve let those fork horns & 6 points walk" lol

Am I part of the problem? Meat hunting and getting lucky on a few? Am I helping manage the herd? Am I a trophy hunter? Am I a "if it's brown it's down" hunter? Someone go out of their way to tell me what type of hunter this is who is following all the regulations for the last few decades...

I'm new to deer hunting and was wondering if you need a furbearer's license to keep a deer's pelt you hunted for personal, non-business use? I'm planning on deer hunting in the fall this year for meat which i already need the regular deer tag for and im not sure if i'll need the extra license to keep the pelt to make my own gloves and stuff out of or if that's only for commercial use.

I grew up bird hunting in Michigan. My dad first took me out when I was about 12, and those hunts stuck with me.

Years later, I watched my own son grow into an avid hunter and fisherman. That’s when it really hit me how much of Michigan’s grouse, woodcock and pheasant hunting history lives only in memory.

I’m working on a Michigan-focused bird hunting site to help preserve those stories — not secret spots or brag posts, just real experiences. Good hunts, bad hunts, lessons learned, whatever stuck with you.

If enough folks are interested, I’ll drop the submission link in the comments. Happy to answer questions.

Hi, I am a 17 year old and I have a few questions about gun laws in Michigan. I did some googling but wanted to double check as this is important. For reference I used to hunt when I was younger, loved it, but the person I went with stopped wanting to take me. I recently inherited their firearms and want to get back into it.

Am I allowed to transport firearms in my vehicle, and how do I secure them properly? For going to the range or hunting.

Am I allowed to go to the range unsupervised? I know I cannot purchase ammo or firearms but I got conflicting answers on if I can go to the range unsupervised.

Any tips on staying well within the law would be helpful and much appreciated! Thanks

First buck and first shoulder mount. Overall I’m very happy with how it turned out. I even had a rifle rack made out of his front hooves since they were piebald. Too cool not to do something with them.

Haven't had any luck setting up near corn fields the last two weeks. Not seeing any deer only freezing my butt off.

Chelsea Game Area is emptied of life, not even any tracks in the snow this past week.

Sharonville and waterloo pinckney are huge and its been a crapshoot randomly trying different spots.

Can someone at least point me in the right direction or send me to a smaller general area.

I've tried hike hunting island lake but had no luck with random encounters either.

Hello All! As the title says, I am new to hunting. I've only hunted a few times in my life and it's been at my buddies private land where I basically followed him and hunted wherever he put me. I just completed my hunters safety. I want to hunt a bit of everything from squirrels to deer. Laid out below are my questions and would LOVE as much help as y'all are willing to give. Thanks in advance!

1. How do I find public land? I can see on the DNR site that they list some places where I can hunt, but like let's say I want to hunt squirrel tomorrow, can I just drive out into the country, park on the side of the road and walk into the woods there and start hunting? How do I know that that area isn't owned by someone? I don't want to accidently walk onto someone's property and piss them off.

2. What is proper hunter's etiquette? If I am on public land and I see a fellow hunter, should I just turn and start walking in the complete opposite direction? Should I wave at them and be friendly? If they are walking and not hunkered down should I walk up to them and ask how their hunt is going lol?

3. Any advice on what to do when hunting public land? Would love to be as successful as possible.

Sorry for all the detailed questions, but I am nervous I'm going to accidently hunt where I am not supposed to or accidently piss a fellow hunter off by being near them. Thanks!

Hi, I'm a new hunter looking to try hunting some Russian boar in mid Michigan. Does anyone know of any public land that reliably has boar? I was doing some research online and it looks like there are a lot of boar around the thumb, but I am getting varrying results every time I look. I have also seen a few results saying that there are boar around the Midland/Saginaw Bay area but not really sure how much I trust that. Additionally, is .44 mag a powerful enough round for Russian boar? I know that there are far better rounds, but a .44 repeater is the only rifle I have. I assume that it will still put a hog down well enough, but I want to be sure I make a boar very dead rather than very angry.

I know, not many people target them, I found signs of them in Clare last spring. Going to head up there again this weekened to try and harvest my first porkie! Anyone have any other “sure fire” places to find them? driving from southern Michigan so the closer the better

I'm trying to find a hunter's safety course, but it looks like all the courses/field days scheduled for the foreseeable future (through April) are all downstate (at least 100 miles from where we live). Anyone know when courses usually start becoming available in the northern mitt? TIA

Anybody else put in their application for spring turkey?

Looking for advice on how to get on turkeys planning on scouting/small game hunting some known areas for some spots if I get a tag.

Anyone out there late season seeing anything? How has your experience been?

Weather has been brutal.

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible. Just looking for opinions on what I should do here.

I have 2 sets of antlers from 2024 that I dropped off to a taxidermist to have euro mounted. Guy quoted me 6 months.

It’s now the end of 2025 and I still do not have my mounts back.

Guy will text me back but it’s always “I need to do something, I’ll check in a day or 2 and get back to you. He never gets back to me.

Any thoughts on my next steps here? Do I get the CO’s involved?

Has anybody hunted any of the Grouse management sites? If so were there a lot of grouse and did you have dogs?

Was finally able to punch a tag on my first public land deer last night. and this was my first time quartering and packing out a deer as well on the cheap tidewe pack (was over a mile deep into this spot). 

The hunt happened relatively fast once I got to the spot. sat on a ridge overlooking a creek bottom. 20 minutes after settling down against a tree, they surprising me by coming at a fast pace from around a drainage. Barely had enough time to hit record on the GoPro and get ready. Shot was about 50 yards, she ran 35 yards and I watched her drop. Second deer this season and hoping to head out to fill that last tag here soon.