LANSING, Mich. — Statewide DNR harvest logs showed 18,475 deer checked in for early archery by 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, a figure that will keep rising because hunters still have 72 hours after each kill to file the report.
Friday numbers split roughly into 11,300 antlered animals and 7,100 without antlers. Compared with midweek snapshots, the board jumped by about 2,550 since Oct. 12 and by roughly 6,050 since Oct. 9.
St. Clair County sat atop the early county list with 574 reported deer, including 377 antlered and 201 antlerless. Lapeer County followed at 557. Early archery runs Oct. 1 through Nov. 14; firearm season is set for Nov. 15-30, with late archery Dec. 1 through Jan. 1, 2027.
A Thursday DNR update had the statewide archery total near 17,576 as of Oct. 15, with about 10,700 bucks already on the board, showing how fast weekend reports stack up. Recent early archery seasons have finished above 75,000 deer.
Reports can be filed on the DNR harvest website or through the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish phone app, usually in a few minutes once the kill tag and birth date are ready.
Filed under: Grand Rapids MI Hunting News
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