LANSING, Mich. (WNEM) - Michigan elk hunters could have longer harvest periods for the 2026-27 hunting season under proposals by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The proposals would lengthen both elk hunting periods in the northern Lower Peninsula, which the DNR said is home to Michigan’s elk herd.

The first hunt period would run from the second Saturday in September through the second Sunday in October, a 30-day continuous period. Currently the first period is broken up into three, four-day hunts stretching across August and September, 12 total hunting days.

The second period would run from Dec. 1 through Dec. 15. Currently, it runs from Dec. 13 through Dec. 21.

Combined, the DNR said the two hunting periods would provide 45 total days of harvest time, more than double t

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