Michigan must change hunting!

I have been deer hunting since I was 14 years old. The very fist day I went hunting with my dad I killed a 6 point buck near Ithaca on a friends farm. The following year I killed a small 4 point. That was it both years- one and done. That’s the way it should be again.

I could not even begin to tell you how many hunters I hear complain about there’s nothing but ‘small deer’. At the same time they tell me about the nice little 8 point they shot. They’ll hold out they say for a bigger buck for their second tag. Sadly though many don’t. Go to a buck pole in your area and look at all the dinks getting hammered. I don’t mind small bucks getting killed but I do mind the number of small bucks getting killed.

In Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio hunters are allowed one buck, period. As a result people drive to those states to hunt trophy deer. In Michigan we should join the movement and become a one buck state as well. Michigan has a hunting heritage and would be well served to make such a move.

If the DNR implemented such rules many hunters would scream foul and many would be the same ones who complain about a lack of big bucks.

Michigan is still in the top ten all time for Boone and Crockett trophy deer but is about to fall from the list. Kentucky has rocketed toward the top of the list at the same time. The deer in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky have no better breeding than we offer here in Michigan. The only difference is how many we kill each year. It is time to wake up and turn our terrific genetics into giant bucks once again.