When state officials put out their 2025 deer hunting preview , they suggested that this year’s harvest could be strong, as it was in 2024: Harvest reports so far are proving them right.

Hunters have taken 39,434 deer already this year, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources , as of 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, Oct. 15.

The DNR said several factors across the state could impact deer harvest totals as fall continues. High snowfall last winter could lead to lower deer numbers in areas of the U.P., an ongoing EHD outbreak in the southern Lower Peninsula, and the March 2025 ice storm in the northern Lower Peninsula all could affect hunting this fall.

"Hunters always benefit from being prepared," said Brent Rudolph, the deer, elk and moose management specialist for the

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